80,000 American lives a year: The case for a congressional war on cartels

Bodies hanging beneath underpasses. Government institutions systematically bribed. Political candidates assassinated by the dozens. Teenage boys lured into “job centers” only to be tortured and killed. Police ambushed and executed. 

This is not a description of my time fighting terrorists abroad; it is the grim and harrowing reality of life in Mexico today.

The crises spread beyond Mexico. The fentanyl trafficked into our country by the Mexican drug cartels and their Chinese partners kills around 80,000 Americans per year. That’s the equivalent of 25 9/11 attacks every year. This reality is what led to me working with then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy to establish a task force to combat the cartels.

What exactly is a congressional task force? They vary in size and scope, but typically a task force is a group of members focused on a specific problem. We had no additional staff or resources, only a common goal. 

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Despite severely limited resources, I personally traveled to eight locations across the country, went on three international trips, including two visits to Mexico City, held almost 30 briefings, and led the task force to generate a comprehensive list of legislative proposals.

Our solutions varied in size and scope. In 2023, along with the incoming national security adviser for President Trump, Congressman Mike Waltz, I introduced the Authorization of the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against cartels to empower the U.S. military to operate against cartels in coordination with Mexico. 

Our bipartisan task force largely agreed on the need for a “big” idea like this that vastly increases military cooperation with Mexico and takes the fight to the cartels.  We also realized our laws do not adequately deter dealing fentanyl, and we worked on legislation to significantly increase penalties for cartel members and their facilitators, including local drug dealers, U.S. banks, and foreign governments complicit in their operations. 

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We acknowledged the need to choke off the cartel’s weapon supply by focusing on southbound illicit flows across our southern border in addition to addressing northbound flows. We found that penalties on fentanyl precursor suppliers shipping product illegally to the U.S. were nothing but a slap on the wrist, thus necessitating higher penalties to deter Chinese companies from falsifying shipping manifests.

These are only a portion of the solutions needed to combat the Mexican cartels. But if Congress is serious about aligning with President Trump’s promise to fight the cartels, we  need significantly more congressional firepower. It will require professional staff, a travel and investigative budget, and substantially more focus from Congress than my limited task force can currently provide to pass legislation.

We need a select committee to defeat the Mexican drug cartels.

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What’s the difference?

Combating the Mexican drug cartels requires dismantling every aspect of their operations – from fentanyl precursor suppliers in China to the falsified manifests used to smuggle cargo into the United States. This means targeting precursor mixers, pill pressers, traffickers, lawyers, corrupt politicians, and bankers who sustain cartel activities. 

It means building up the right capabilities inside the government of Mexico, and deeper coordination between our military and theirs. It means increased intelligence collection on the cartels that must be funded and authorized. The list goes on. 

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What might at first seem like straightforward legislative solutions quickly become a complex web of measures spread across no fewer than nine committees – an incredibly inefficient way to address an insurgency at our border.

The Select Committee to Defeat the Mexican Drug Cartels would act as a central coordination hub for this multifaceted crisis, which means one committee of jurisdiction. Rather than navigating bills through committees with overlapping jurisdiction, a select committee would streamline the process, allowing us to swiftly move critical legislation to the floor, much like the Select Committee on China achieved with the TikTok CCP divestment last Congress.

Ignoring the Mexican cartels is not an option. Even one more year of preventable fentanyl overdoses in America is an unacceptable future, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on.

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With new administrations in both the U.S. and Mexico – each with a record of taking decisive action against the cartels – the timing is right. The only question now is whether the House will step up and lead, which is why I am calling on Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to support my proposal to establish a Select Committee to Defeat the Mexican Drug Cartels.

The time to eliminate them is now.

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