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Sen. Schumer Wants Some Of President Trump's Opioid Detection Money To Battle Fentanyl Smuggling At JFK

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Senator Chuck Schumer is calling for federal funds to crack down on fentanyl smuggling through John F. Kennedy Airport.

The lawmaker wants New York to receive at least $5 million of the $16 million President Donald Trump has requested to enhance opioid detection equipment across the country.

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Schumer said the funds would help with critical detection and infrastructure upgrades at JFK's international mail processing facility, which is the largest in the nation.

"JFK should be our firewall in preventing fentanyl from being sent to the whole New York metropolitan area and the whole Northeast and that's what we intend to do here today," the New York Democrat said.

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On Thursday, Schumer formally unveiled a fentanyl sanctions bill on China to pressure the country into cracking down on exports of the drug.

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