YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown is back home after a trip to southern California and a tour of the border with Mexico.

Brown says the tour was part of a Mayor’s Conference in San Diego. He said the port of entry has nearly three dozen lanes of cars and trucks trying to enter the U.S. He learned the problems are much more complex than illegal immigration and human trafficking.

“We had a chance to go to the border, see the border patrol but also customs,” Brown said. “Right there, at the San Deigo port, 46% of fentanyl comes through there — throughout the United States — comes through that area right there.”

Fentanyl that could be winding up on streets in the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys. But Brown said one of his biggest takeaways was the need for additional manpower, especially along the open areas of the border.

“They didn’t have enough agents to cover. They said the New York Police Department had more officers than they have, but they have probably three times as much area to cover,” Brown said.

Brown says mayors attending the conference agreed action is needed by lawmakers on Capitol Hill as well as the Biden Administration. He said targeting drugs coming into this country would have a big impact on crime-fighting here at home.

“That would help me on the streets of Youngstown with fentanyl that makes it to our streets, and it will help make sure our community’s safe and save a lot of lives,” Brown said.