Texas Governor Greg Abbott has designated certain Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations and ordered the Department of Public Safety to begin dismantling their infrastructure. The move comes as record levels of the deadly drug fentanyl push across the border.
“Fentanyl is a secret killer, and Texans are being victimized by the Mexican cartels who are making it,” Governor Abbott said during a border security roundtable in Midland, Texas, on Wednesday. “Cartels are terrorists, and it’s time we treat them as such. In fact, more Americans have died from fentanyl poisoning in the past year than from all terrorist attacks worldwide in the past 100 years. To save our country, especially our next generation, we must do more to get fentanyl off the streets.”
Specifically, the governor designated the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) as a terrorist organization. He urged President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to create a federal terrorist designation for this cartel and other fentanyl producers and distributors.
Abbott has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement agencies to identify Texas gangs that support Mexican drug cartels. He directed that the funds of these gangs and other criminal organizations that were supporting the cartels.
in the letter In Washington, DC, Abbott wrote:
Mexican drug cartels terrorize the United States and its citizens every day, leaving thousands of dead bodies in their wake. Their sophisticated weapon of choice is the millions of tiny pills laced with fentanyl that they pour into our southern border. As a result, it is now more than ever necessary for you to designate the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and similarly located Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). . This step will help us fight these terrorists and disrupt their deadly attacks on America.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl killed more than 75,000 Americans from drug overdoses between 2021 and February 2022. For context, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism reports 3,905 deaths. American deaths from terrorist attacks worldwide between 1995 and 2019, most of which occurred on September 11, 2001. In this light, the level of terrorism associated with the introduction of fentanyl by Mexican drug cartels is staggering.
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The reason for the explosion of fentanyl deaths in America is that Mexican drug cartels are smuggling more fentanyl across our southern border than ever before, thanks to your open border policy.
“In a letter dated April 2021 to both of you, I requested this position. There was no action, no reaction,” Abbott concluded. “But if you’re prepared to make Americans safer, it’s better late than never. As the number of American deaths due to terrorist acts by the cartels continues to rise, now is the time to act. We have no time to waste.”
Officials in the governor’s office added, “Mexican drug cartels are disguising fentanyl as counterfeit pills and targeting children with ‘rainbow fentanyl’ pills. The governor emphasized in his letter that immediate decisive action is needed from the Biden administration to address this dire crisis. The nation.” “
The governor convened in Midland for a border security roundtable attended by DPS Director Steve McCraw, DPS Regional Director West Texas Region Jose Sanchez, Midland County Judge Terry Johnson, Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis, Midland County Sheriff’s Deputy Police Chief Benny Matlock, O.C. Mike Gerke, Midland Police Chief Seth Herman and Midland Memorial Hospital District Police Chief Steve McNeill.
The governor on Tuesday ordered state agencies to begin preparing for the next session of the Texas Legislature. The governor directed agencies to “outline statutory changes, budget priorities and other initiatives that will increase the state’s ability to ban synthetic opioids, provide emergency overdose treatment and expand substance abuse treatment programs.”
“We must take all appropriate steps to inform Texans of this danger and prevent additional deaths,” Abbott told agency leaders. “Together we can help raise awareness of the threat posed by fentanyl and play our part in addressing this crisis.”
Under Operation Lone Star, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard seized more than 335 million lethal doses of fentanyl from the governor’s office. Report.
