A U.S. representative from Louisiana recently appointed to the new Task Force to Combat Mexican Drug Cartels has promised that the task force will show how to “restore law and order” at the U.S. border.
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) was appointed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to the task force that, among several duties, will examine cartel human smuggling and drug trafficking, how cartels are enriched by open-border policies, raise Americans’ awareness on cartel violence and give recommendations to the Committees of Jurisdiction, a press release said.
“Since the day that Biden was inaugurated, America has been suffering from wave upon human wave of misery flooding across our border with Mexico. We’re losing our country down there,” Higgins said in the press release. “The criminal cartels control 100% of the Mexican side of our southern border, and they’re smuggling humans and illicit drugs into the United States at unprecedented levels. This task force will produce a detailed report for the historical record, revealing Biden/Mayorkas failures and illuminating the path forward to restore law and order.”
Of particular concern is the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to stop fentanyl from entering the U.S. The department launched operations “Artemis” and “Rolling Wave” to disrupt the supply chain “in the development and movement of fentanyl,” another press release said. The two new operations come after the success of operations “Blue Lotus” and “Four Horsemen,” which stopped the entry of nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl and led to 284 arrests in two months.
A prescription drug that is also made and used illegally, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, the National Institute on Drug Abuse said. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are the most common drugs in overdose deaths in the U.S.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be deadly, “depending on a person’s body size.”
Federal border agents confiscated over 2,000 pounds, equivalent to over a ton, of fentanyl between March 6 and May, the DC Enquirer said. That could cause the death of over 450 million people.
Higgins, the chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, announced a hearing for July 12 to look at the role of Mexican drug cartels and other organizations in the trafficking of fentanyl into the U.S., a media advisory said.
Higgins said, “with the help of the Chinese Community Party, [the cartels] have smuggled an unprecedented amount of fentanyl, taken a record number of American lives, brought in billion-dollar profits, and have torn families apart.” Higgins blamed much of the border crisis on U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for his current border policies.
According to the Washington Examiner, Republican presidential hopefuls and Republican members in Congress have continued to put forth several suggestions to address the issue of halting the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China to Mexico. These chemicals are ultimately transformed into the final product within laboratories controlled by drug cartels. Using military force against the cartels has been suggested several times.
In a September 2022 press release, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott officially classified Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations because of the escalating fentanyl crisis.
Abbott said, “Fentanyl is a clandestine killer,” and he called for more action to be taken to remove fentanyl from communities.
“Cartels are terrorists, and it’s time we treated them that way. In fact, more Americans died from fentanyl poisoning in the past year than all terrorist attacks across the globe in the past 100 years,” Abbott said in the release.
According to the Department of State, for an organization to be considered a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) it must be of foreign origin, involved in acts of terrorism or terrorist activities and it must pose a threat to the security of U.S. nationals or the national security of the United States.
