Kristi Noem Oversees Coast Guard Offloading ‘Historic’ $500+ Million Drug Seizure

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke at an event on Thursday where the United States Coast Guard offloaded a historic seizure of drugs that were headed for America’s borders.

Speaking at Port Everglades in South Florida, Noem ushered in the offloading of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of drugs that were seized by cutter vessels operating in America’s coastal waters.

“Today is a historic day,” Noem said. “Here at Port Everglades, over 22.5 tons or 45,000 pounds of cocaine and 50 pounds of marijuana — valued at over a half a billion dollars — are going to be offloaded and taken out of circulation.”

“This is an unprecedented seizure of illicit drugs that is the result of 14 different interdictions of drug smuggling vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central, and South America, by the crews of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone and Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk,” she continued.

Noem said that the cutters worked with helicopter tactical squadron air crews and various law enforcement agencies located in the Pacific region.

Touting the work of the men and women in the United States Coast Guard, Noem said that the seizures meant that “fewer families are going to be torn apart by addiction, that fewer lives are going to be lost to overdoses, that communities will be safer and fewer resources will be at the hands of dangerous, violent cartels that seek to do all of us harm.”

WATCH:

.@Sec_Noem: "In the first 100 days of President Trump's administration, he's already delivered on his campaign promises to make America safe again… Here at Port Everglades, over 2.5 tons or 45,000 pounds of cocaine and 50 pounds of marijuana, valued at over half a billion… pic.twitter.com/dnVoRu8XEz

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 20, 2025