Arizona State Senator Janae Shamp told the Federal Newswire in a statement that the cartels must be designated as terrorist organizations to stop them when asked how to disrupt the cartels from profiting off of human trafficking. 

"First, we need to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations," said Shamp, Arizona State Senator. "That will allow us to disrupt their profits which is their motivation behind these heinous crimes. The heartbreaking reality is that humans can be sold over and over again, while drugs can only be sold once. That is why the cartels are so heavily invested."

Next, Senator Shamp said that legislatures need to "continue to increase penalties" in order to send a message to the perpetrators of human trafficking. As part of her work to combat human trafficking in the Arizona Senate, voters of Arizona will decide this November whether people "convicted of the most egregious forms of child sex trafficking" should receive a life sentence in prison. 

On March 10, 2023, Representative Chip Roy reintroduced H.R. 1564, the Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act, in the House of Representatives. A letter to the Biden Administration urging the President to declare Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations was written by Jason S. Miyares, the Attorney General of Virginia, and signed by 20 state Attorneys General on February 8, 2023.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), cartels' drug trafficking and human smuggling operations gain nearly $1 billion per month. This money is being used to expand operations across the southwest border into the United States.

Shamp said that officially nominating Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations would allow the United States to disrupt their profits more effectively. This would in turn slow their drug and human trafficking operations.

Shamp has served in the Arizona State Senate since 2022 for Arizona's 29th District, according to her website.