With the majority of fentanyl and others

narcotics in the United States entering through California’s southern border, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he would immediately reinforce a California National Guard presence along the border to try to stem the flow.

Fentanyl is a deadly poison that tears families and communities apart,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday. “California is cracking down and today we are moving forward by deploying more CalGuard soldiers to fight this crisis and keep our communities safe.

The number of CalGuard members stationed along the southern border will increase from 40 to about 60, a 50% increase, said Major General Matthew P. Beevers of the California Military Department.

Beevers oversees a dual federal and state military reserve force, including 367 CalGuard service members deployed to support anti-narcotics efforts in most of the state’s 58 counties.

Officials estimate that 65% of the United States’ drug supply enters the country through the California border, Beevers said.

As the fentanyl crisis has intensified, overdose deaths have risen in recent years, and LA County has become a major fentanyl distribution center for Mexican drug cartels, who market counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, often disguised to look like prescription painkillers.

Beevers noted at a news conference Wednesday that CalGuard had “had a number of extraordinarily successful operations over the past year.”

The governor’s office reported that CalGuard helped police seize more than 11,763 pounds of fentanyl so far this yearand last year 28,765 pounds of fentanyl were seized throughout California.

CalGuard’s anti-narcotics program is supported by a $41 million budget, of which $26 million is provided by the federal government and $15 million from the California state budget.

“We recognize this as a unique challenge for California, and I think the additional $15 million from the governor really means something going forward,” Beevers said, adding that it was “unprecedented” to receive state funding for such efforts .

CalGuard’s staff expansion, which begins Thursday, focuses solely on the five gateways along the southern border: Otay Mesa, San Ysidro, Tecate, Calexico East and Calexico West.

While U.S. Customs and Border Protection field officers perform the primary work at these locations, CalGuard members assist with two main tasks: secondary vehicle inspections, which search vehicles for smuggled narcotics; and vehicle x-rays, which scan to detect narcotics in vehicles.

The increased staffing will enable near-24-hour operation of the X-rays, according to Beevers, “dramatically increasing the number of vehicles analyzed by the machines.”

Newsom’s latest move at the border comes after similar CalGuard staff increases were made in San Francisco in the spring, targeting drug traffickers and suppliers in the city. Beevers said CalGuard analysts had supported local law enforcement efforts and helped deliver a “marked improvement” in recent months.