Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) made a statement about the importance of designating Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and authorizing the U.S. military to retaliate.
“Drug cartels in Mexico have been terrorizing Americans for decades. We’re going to destroy their business model and their lifestyle because our national security ... depends on us.”
The proposed bill would include the following cartels in the FTO designation: Senile Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, Northeast Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Beltran-Leyva Cartel, La Familia Michoacana.
Graham and Kennedy argue that the designation of these cartels as FTOs would allow the U.S. military to wipe them out and increase the cost to others of doing any business with them.
They also said they believe the designation would allow the United States to go after foreign companies that support the cartels.
Graham noted that law enforcement could bring Chinese chemical companies with known ties to the cartels into court in the United States to stand trial.
The senators argue that the cartels are driven by fentanyl and due to the drug’s power to kill, the aggressive opioid should be seen as a weapon of mass destruction.
“Here’s what I hope will happen: we’re going to terrorize the terrorists,” Graham said. “If you get on the cell phone, it may be the last call you make.
“The terrorists live in caves; they’re committed to their cause. The narco-terrorists live in mansions out in the open, buying fancy cars. We know where you live, and we know how you make your money.”
The lawmaker outlined his plan in categorizing the cartels as terrorists.
“My goal is to make sure that you don’t sleep well at night. That the cost of doing business—when it comes to poisoning America—goes up. That’s when you try to get someone to join your cartel, they‘ll say ’no, thank you, the last guy got killed or went to jail.’
“Until you do that, nothing’s going to change.”
Graham asserted that Mexico is a haven for the cartels, and the senators argue that the country has become a “narco-state.”
They called on both President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to take action against the cartels and eradicate them.
“We’re not going to sit on the sidelines and watch our neighbor become a narco-state that kills more Americans every year than we lost in Vietnam,” Graham said.
Graham and Kennedy hope that the bill will receive bipartisan support and that the United States can work with Mexico to stop organized crime in that country.
