Rep. Mary Miller Proposes Designation of Mexican Cartels as Terrorist Orgs

Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) proposed a resolution on Thursday which would designate a non-exhaustive list of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.

Miller’s proposal comes as the nation faces a deadly fentanyl crisis stemming from China and the porous U.S.-Mexico border — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized more than 12,000 pounds of fentanyl during the first four months of Fiscal Year 2023, which nearly equals the nearly 12,500 pounds seized during the entire previous fiscal year. The proposal also comes just days after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that the Gulf Cartel shot and kidnapped four U.S. citizens in the border city of Matamoros. 

“Fentanyl is pouring into our country and has become the number one killer of young Americans because Joe Biden opened our southern border. Biden, Harris, and Mayorkas are lying to the American people when they say that the border is secure,” Miller told Breitbart News.

“Our border is wide open, and our country is being invaded by criminal cartels. I am introducing a House Resolution to put America First and designate the cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Our first priority must be the safety and security of the American people,” she continued.

The resolution “condemns the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Beltran Levya Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Los Zetas, the Tijuana Cartel, the La Familia Michoacana/Knights Templar Cartel, and any similarly situated Mexican drug cartels.” The resolution then calls for the designation of those cartels and any similarly situated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The resolution also calls for the Biden administration to “freeze cartel financial assets and allow Federal investigators and prosecutors to pursue enhanced criminal sentences that apply to drug traffickers who fund foreign terrorist organizations.”

Miller FTO Resolution by Breitbart News on Scribd

Congressional Republicans have been hammering the Biden administration over its border policies and resulting crises, including overdose deaths, violent crime, and human trafficking. During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) argued for U.S. intervention in Mexico against drug cartels responsible for the “killing of hundreds of thousands” of Americans.

“It is a terrible news story about the loss of two American lives and other two wounded,” Cotton said. “Lindsey Graham is right, though. We’re losing 100,000 Americans every single year to drug deaths almost exclusively because of Mexican drug cartels. If the Mexican government will not or cannot stop these cartels from killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, then America should.”

Other Republican officials have slammed President Biden’s open border policies while calling his presidency “the best thing that ever happened” to the drug cartels and blaming the Biden team for having “empowered” them.

“For the past 2 years, cartels have been running our border, killing Americans at record rates with fentanyl,” wrote Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) on Wednesday. “Now, cartels have murdered 2 Americans.”

“The admin saying the border is ‘secure’ is disrespectful to every American who has lost a loved one due to this crisis,” he added.

“Mexican Cartels are directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans and migrants, and the Biden Administration is asleep at the wheel,” wrote Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX).

“We must knock their knees out and regain operational control of the border,” he added.

President Joe Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland notably said last week that there are “diplomatic concerns” with treating and designating the Mexican drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.” During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) questioned Garland on whether he would support or oppose lawmakers seeking to classify the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

“They are already designated in any number of ways and sanctioned,” Garland said before Graham asked the question again. “I wouldn’t oppose it, but again, I want to point out that there are diplomatic concerns. We need the assistance of Mexico in this.”

United States, senators such as Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Rick Scott (R-FL), as well as Roy, have also previously sought to have the State Department designate the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations akin to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in September of 2022 designated specific Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations and ordered the Department of Public Safety to begin dismantling their infrastructure. He also requested President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris create federal terrorist designations for these cartels and others producing and distributing fentanyl, although the governor noted that his request in April of 2021 went unanswered. 

“Fentanyl is a clandestine killer, and Texans are falling victim to the Mexican cartels that are producing it,” Abbott said during a border security round table in Midland, Texas, at the time. “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. In order to save our country, particularly our next generation, we must do more to get fentanyl off our streets.”