Florida Times-Union: BUSSW Student Challenges Misinformation about Immigration and the Opioid Crisis in OpEd
A recent op-ed in the Florida Times-Union by Brooke Long (SSW’26) a MSW student at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW), highlights how some politicians have tied immigration to broader social problems, including the opioid crisis, to build support for reform, despite the data that shows otherwise. For example, the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that 86.4% of fentanyl trafficking offenders in 2023 were U.S. citizens, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that over 90% of the fentanyl they seize is intercepted at official ports of entry. Long makes the case that the false narrative has resulted in prioritizing immigration enforcement being prioritized over addressing substance use and cutting key healthcare funding, including Medicaid which supports treatment services. She discusses how data and research can be used to inform policy analysis, challenge public narratives and misinformation, and connect complex issues to real-world community impact.
Excerpt from, “Immigration has nothing to do with the U.S. opioid crisis” by Brooke Long:
Following the money and other data, a new story emerges to spotlight the fact that immigration and the opioid crisis are not only separate issues within society, but issues that have received vastly different attention from the current administration.
We the people have the responsibility to hold our leaders accountable for addressing pressing public issues, especially when they campaign on those very issues. It’s time for us to take a critical lens to the narratives at play in our current political climate so that we can rewrite a story of which we, as a nation, can be proud.
If nothing else, we owe it to the over 45,000 people who died of opioid overdoses in the U.S. just last year – and to the immigrant community that has been falsely assigned the blame – to dispel the myth that immigration and the opioid crisis are one and the same.