Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lives in one of San Francisco's poshest neighborhoods -- that nonetheless sits only about 2 miles from the Tenderloin, one of the most drug-infested corners of the city.
In 2019, when President Donald Trump was in his first term and Bill Barr was serving as attorney general, David Anderson, who was then the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, announced a special program aimed at improving life in the Tenderloin.
"The program, called the Federal Initiative for the Tenderloin, brings together the resources of more than 15 federal law enforcement agencies to combat endemic drug trafficking, firearms offenses, robberies, and other crime in the neighborhood," said a press release Anderson's office published on Aug. 7, 2019.
The U.S. attorney's online posting of this release included a link to another press release describing a criminal complaint Anderson had filed on July 26, 2019.
"The complaint, described by U.S. Attorney Anderson in a press conference today," said this release, "is one of the first steps in the Federal Initiative for the Tenderloin."
"The complaint describes a conspiracy involving a large-scale drug trafficking organization(,) a network extending across the Bay Area," it said.
Where did this organization get the drugs it was trafficking?
"The defendants brought the drugs from Mexico through Los Angeles to the Bay Area," said the U.S. attorney's release.
"The defendants then repackaged the drugs for redistribution both in the Bay Area and in Seattle," it said.
"Street-level drug dealing has, unfortunately, become somewhat 'normalized' in the Tenderloin," said Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent in Charge Chris Nielsen, according to the release. "As for me and my law enforcement partners, and I suspect most people in this community, we are tired of drug traffickers preying on and profiting from the vulnerable. This case and the Federal Initiative for the Tenderloin is a sustained effort, and we are focused on drug dealers, their sources of supply and anyone else who assists them, while keeping in mind we need to help those suffering from addiction."
Last week, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced the sentencing of a Honduran national who had been indicted for drug trafficking in San Francisco in 2019.
After this man had been indicted, he was released from detention and fled the country.
"Jorge Viera-Chirinos was originally charged by criminal complaint on July 29, 2019, and arrested the same day," said the March 14 release by the U.S. attorney's office. "A federal grand jury indicted Viera-Chirinos and 13 co-defendants in August 2019 on charges of trafficking large quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine base, and cocaine in San Francisco.
"In September 2020, while released on bond," said the release, "Viera-Chirinos fled to Honduras in violation of the terms of his bond. He was extradited to the United States in February 2024. On Oct. 16, 2024, Viera-Chirinos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine base, and cocaine beginning around June 2018 to about Aug. 7, 2019.
"According to the plea agreement," said the release, "Viera-Chirinos helped arrange housing for street-level drug dealers who purchased drugs from him and other co-conspirators and then resold those drugs in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Viera-Chirinos also coordinated sourcing drugs that other co-conspirators then provided to street-level dealers."
He was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
In 2020, according to a report published by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for San Francisco, there were 726 accidental overdose deaths in the city. Of these, 23% happened in the Tenderloin's 94102 zip code. Another 17% happened in the nearby South-of-Market 94103 zip code.
By 2024, according to the Chief Medical Examiner, the number of accidental overdose deaths in San Francisco had dropped modestly to 635. Of these, 22% were in the Tenderloin's 94102 zip code and 20% were in the South-of-Market's 94103 zip code.
All of the accidental overdose deaths in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods were in California's 11th Congressional District, which is represented by Pelosi.
When then-House Minority Leader Pelosi appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" on April 23, 2017, she expressed strong opposition to President Trump's plan to build a border wall.
"The Democrats do not support the wall," she said.
"The wall is, in my view, immoral, expensive, unwise, and when the president says, 'Well, I promised a wall during my campaign,' I don't think he said he was going to pass billions of dollars of cost of the wall on to the taxpayer."
"The president, I think, talking about this wall is expressing a sign of weakness," she said. "He's saying, 'I can't control our borders. I have to build a wall.'"
"We have a responsibility to control our borders," Pelosi said then. "Building a wall is not an answer, not here or any place."
So, what steps would Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues take to stop deadly drugs from coming across our border and putting lives at risk?