The crisis at the southern border of the United States continues to be driven by the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels; and in a recent executive order, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated those cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
In a recent press conference called on behalf of the executive order, Abbott urged President Biden to do likewise for the twin purposes of raising national awareness around fentanyl and pursuing harsher sentences for convicted traffickers.
During the press conference, Abbott defended his designation of the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels as terrorist organizations, a press release from his office said.
“Cartels are terrorists, and it’s time we treated them that way,” he said in the release.
Abbott also sent a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, requesting that they follow suit in classifying the groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
“Designation, apprehension, and prosecution would also heighten public awareness of the cartels’ trafficking of deadly fentanyl, while signaling to the international community that the United States will not tolerate terrorists who poison our citizens,” he said in the letter.
Abbott noted that he sent a similar letter to Biden in April of 2021, which drew no response.
In the same press release, Gov. Abbott urged state leaders to be willing to allocate more resources that prioritize training personnel prepared to deal with the rapidly escalating crisis. Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) voted against increased funding for the now-defunct Migrant Protection Protocols, a Trump-era policy that required many asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while the U.S. adjudicated their claims for asylum.
When the Supreme Court in June declared Biden’s ending of the Remain-in-Mexico policy to be constitutional, Abbott issued a statement warning that the decision would open the door to more significant problems down the road revolving around illegal immigration.
“Reinstating and fully enforcing Remain-in-Mexico would deter thousands more migrants from making that deadly trek, and President Biden should take that simple step to secure the border because it is the only humane thing to do,” he said in the statement.
U.S. News reported that a recent traffic stop north of Ely, Nev., turned into a major drug bust. Fifty-six pounds of fentanyl was seized—a quantity with an approximate value of $3.6 million.
In Nevada alone, more than 1000 overdose deaths were reported from March 2021 to March 2022; data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed.
Since October 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had more than 2.1 million border enforcement encounters.
