United States Senator and former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine was in the Rio Grande Valley on Thursday.

He was visiting a Brownsville port of entry and the U.S. Border Patrol in McAllen to spread awareness and discuss efforts to curb fentanyl from coming into the country.

Currently, fentanyl overdoses are the leading cause of death in Americans between ages 18 and 45.

Last year, Kaine helped get the bipartisan Disrupt Fentanyl Trafficking Act signed into law, which invests funds and resources along the border.

"I wanted to come because we're doing investments, technology investments, but I haven't really seen them in action, so when we're putting dollars in the appropriations, in those bills, we did a supplemental bill. Most people thought it was about Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, but it also had some significant funding to stop fentanyl and I want to see what these investments are actually doing," Kaine said.

According to statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there were less than eight pounds of fentanyl seized in the Rio Grande Valley sector.

Four pounds of fentanyl were seized the previous fiscal year.

Sen. Kaine says he wants less of the drug to come into the U.S. More than 1,800 fentanyl overdoses were reported in Kaine’s state in 2023.

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