WASHINGTON—Today, Rep. Jim Banks announced he is cosponsoring legislation introduced last week by Reps. Mike Waltz and Dan Crenshaw creating the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to target Mexican drug cartels facilitating the fentanyl crisis at America’s southern border. Read the bill text here.

“Fentanyl traffickers have killed more Americans in the past year than the Vietcong did during the entire Vietnam War. Instead of putting a stop to it, Joe Biden has ceded control of U.S. territory on our border to these murderous gangs. Republicans in Congress need to work with the next president to use any means necessary, including mobilizing our armed forces, to stop the cartels that have poisoned hundreds of thousands of Americans. I’d like to thanks Reps. Waltz and Crenshaw for leading this important legislation.”

The AUMF allows the President to use military force against cartels based on their fentanyl trafficking, production, and distribution; their use of force against US law enforcement and/or military, law enforcement and/or military of a neighboring country, and/or to gain control of territory to use for their criminal enterprise. The AUMF specifically names the biggest cartels operating in Mexico, specifically Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartel – the main importers of fentanyl into the United States. This AUMF also establishes limitations that prohibit the use of military force against foreign persons outside the territory of the United States to ensure the civil liberties of U.S. citizens are protected and includes a sunset five years after enactment to ensure the war against cartels does not become an endless war.