Source: National Association of Police Organizations.
The Washington Report: The Newsletter of the National Association of Police Organizations
September 26, 2025
NAPO Thanks President for
Closing the De Minimis Loophole
NAPO joined fellow members of the Coalition to Close the De Minimis Loophole in a letter to President Trump thanking him for taking decisive action to close the de minimis tariff loophole. Since the end of de minimis treatment for low-value commercial packages coming in through the international mail system on August 29, media coverage of the impact of this action has been largely negative and we are working to counter that narrative.
Prior to the President’s July 30th executive orders, de minimis packages containing tariff-dodging products flooded the United States, unfairly undermining American workers and producers and aiding the smuggling of illicit goods like fentanyl and fentanyl precursors that poison our communities. By ending de minimis, the President’s executive actions closed a gateway into our country for illegal and toxic goods.
We continue to stand with the President in his fight against the scourge of fentanyl in our communities.
NAPO Backs Bill to Combat Illicit Pill Presses
NAPO pledged our support for Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act, introduced by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Fetterman (D-PA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Chris Coons (D-DE). This bill would give law enforcement another tool to use to stop the production of counterfeit and fentanyl-laced pills by requiring pill presses, punches, and dies to be engraved with serial numbers, making it easier to act against cartels.
In 2024, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) seized more than 61.1 million fentanyl-laced pills. Cartels now have access to the same type of pill presses used by pharmaceutical companies and are creating counterfeit pills that are often indistinguishable from real medication with tragic results. NAPO fought the importation of pill presses by advocating for the closure of the de minimis loophole, which President Trump closed at the end of August. Criminal organizations were using the loophole to send dismantled illegal pill presses through the international mail system into our country virtually undetected.
The Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act would build on the closure of the de minimis loophole by giving federal law enforcement agencies the ability to trace pill presses back to cartels. It would also impose criminal penalties for the removal or alteration of the serial number and for the transportation or possession of any pill press with a removed or altered serial number.
NAPO thanks Senators Cornyn, Moran, Fetterman, Tillis, Klobuchar, and Coons for their support of law enforcement’s fight against fentanyl in our communities.
