Anne Fundner never anticipated that the tragic loss of her 15-year-old son, Weston, due to a fake Percocet pill tainted with fentanyl, would propel her into the national spotlight in the battle against this deadly drug.
Currently, as the Trump administration targets suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific with military strikes, Fundner finds purpose in her son’s passing, using it as a driving force to combat fentanyl within the United States.
“These individuals are killers,” Fundner expressed to Fox News Digital. “Those aboard these ships are delivering a product that could claim the lives of countless Americans. President Trump is taking bold steps, ensuring that such tragedies are prevented.”
The U.S. military recently executed a strike on a vessel in the Pacific, resulting in the deaths of four individuals, as reported by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Identifying as an “Angel Mom,” Fundner has emerged as a prominent advocate in the fight against fentanyl, following the 2022 incident where Weston unknowingly consumed a counterfeit pill.
Her advocacy aligns with the White House’s aggressive stance against drug traffickers, which includes targeting vessels suspected of transporting precursor chemicals and synthetic opioids.
On Wednesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the bombing of a boat in the Pacific that was “carrying narcotics.”
“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a post on X. He added that U.S. forces were not harmed.
That campaign has drawn scrutiny on Capitol Hill and on Oct. 8, the Senate narrowly rejected a resolution, 51 to 48, that would have required the administration to seek congressional authorization for future strikes.
Only Republicans Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski joined nearly all Democrats in supporting the measure, while John Fetterman was the lone Democrat to oppose it. By defeating the resolution, the Senate effectively affirmed Trump’s authority to continue the maritime operations, a development cheered by families like Fundner’s.
“When one boat can carry enough fentanyl to kill millions, there’s no question — those shipments must be stopped,” Wanda De Quardo, another “Angel Mom” whose son Christian died after taking a fentanyl-laced pill, told Fox News Digital. “Traffickers who knowingly charter boats to bring this poison into our communities must be held fully accountable. They were warned — there is no excuse.”
A group of “Angel Moms” came together in Washington, D.C., for their annual day of remembrance for their loved ones who were killed by fentanyl poisoning. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
‘One boat, two boat, three boat—boom’
Last weekend, the families of those who lost their children to fentanyl poisoning took to the nation’s capital for their annual day of remembrance.
“One boat, two boat, three boat—boom! Who did it? Trump did it!” April, another “Angel Mom,” told Fox News Digital, describing the march.
“For the first time, families like mine finally feel heard. We’ve begged for real action against the cartels for years. It means everything to finally have a president taking bold, decisive steps to protect American families.”
The chants echo what Fundner said is the rallying cry for families who lost their children to fentanyl.
“We’re all cheering every step of the way,” she said. “He’s a president who loves us — even the haters. He’s doing it for you too, for your kids.”
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) looks on as Anne Fundner speaks about losing her 15-year-old son to fentanyl during a visit to the Justice Department March 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Critics in Washington have questioned the legality of striking vessels in international waters, noting that intelligence on what those boats actually carry is often incomplete. But to Fundner, the debate feels disconnected from the reality she lives with daily.
“People say it’s illegal but these aren’t fishermen,” she insists. “They are narco-terrorists. They don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican. They’re here to murder your children.”
For her, the argument is about accountability.
“We’ve stopped criminalizing people who push drugs,” she says. “They’re caught with thousands of pills and told to come back in two weeks, but they’re gone. President Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act. It’s a 10-year minimum sentence. We need every governor to do their part.”
Her home state of New Jersey is moving ahead with Weston’s Law, a six-part bill she co-wrote with Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia that would toughen penalties on dealers and what she calls “drug groomers,” those who lure teens into trying counterfeit pills.
Fundner says that fentanyl-laced prescription drugs and even Halloween candy are “targeting children.”
“No one deserves to be deceived to death,” she said. “These are children who think they’re taking something safe because they’ve seen it prescribed before. It would be like ordering a Jack-and-Coke and being served cyanide.”
“That’s why these strikes matter. Every ship stopped means lives saved.”
