On Thursday, Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Mike Waltz introduced legislation creating the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to target Mexican drug cartels facilitating the fentanyl crisis at America’s southern border.
“The cartels are war with us – poisoning more than 80,000 Americans with fentanyl every year, creating a crisis at our border, and turning Mexico into a failed narco-state,” Rep. Crenshaw said. “It’s time we directly target them. My legislation will put us at war with the cartels by authorizing the use of military force against the cartels. We cannot allow heavily armed and deadly cartels to destabilize Mexico and import people and drugs into the United States. We must start treating them like ISIS – because that is who they are.”
“The situation at our southern border has become untenable for our law enforcement personnel largely due to the activities spurred by the heavily armed and well financed Sinola and Jalisco cartels,” said Rep. Waltz. “It’s time to go on offense. Not only are these paramilitary transnational criminal organizations responsible for killing an unprecedented number of Americans, but are actively undermining our sovereignty by destabilizing our border and waging war against US law enforcement and the Mexican military. an AUMF would give the President sophisticated military cyber, intelligence, and surveillance resources to disrupt cartel operations that are endangering Americans. The US was successful in assisting the Columbian government dismantle cartels in the 1990s and must do the same now.”
The Authorization for Use of Military Force (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.
This is the latest piece of legislation Rep. Crenshaw has introduced providing real solutions to the Biden border crisis – following the Declaring War on the Cartels Act, the CBP Crisis Hardship and Incentive Pay Act, and the Flores Settlement Update and Establishment Act.