Republicans Call for US Military to Target Mexican Drug Cartels as Terrorist Groups

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa commercial facility seized more than 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder, fentanyl pills and heroin as part of the second largest methamphetamine bust along the southwest border in the history of the agency on Oct. 9, 2020. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Mexican cartels are pushing illegal immigrants across the border in orchestrated surges to distract law enforcement from drug-smuggling operations targeting other sections of the border, contributing to the corresponding wave of deaths related to fentanyl poisoning, a 25-year U.S. Border Patrol agent and a Texas sheriff told congressional lawmakers.

“Each and every day along the entirety of our southwest border, criminal cartels dictate when, where, and how illegal border crossers enter our country,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, who represents 16,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents and support staff, said during testimony before members of the Oversight & Investigations subcommittees of both the House Energy & Commerce and Health committees on Feb. 15.