WASHINGTON – Reps. Mark Green and Chip Roy will lead a group of House Republicans on a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting drug cartels that utilize terrorist tactics be labeled as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The purpose behind labeling cartels as terrorist organizations are as follows:
• To make it unlawful for any person who knowingly provides “material support or resources” to the cartel to enter the United States.
• To prevent any member of a designated drug cartel from legally entering the United States.
• To allow the Secretary of the Treasury to block all assets possessed or controlled by the drug cartels.
• To further stigmatize these groups both at home and abroad.
“These cartels have utilized barbaric tactics including those adopted by ISIS and al Qaeda – murdering and torturing innocents, destabilizing countries and assassinating members of law enforcement,”said Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), M.D., who served on tours in Iraq and Afghanistan during the War on Terror. “Moreover, they threaten our homeland security. Our communities suffer from the powerful and dangerous drugs cartels make available to our citizens. Fentanyl and heroin overdoses have taken thousands of lives.”
“Cartels are the problem and it is time we started acting like it. These cartels undermine our national security with a relentless attack on our border while trafficking in human beings and dangerous narcotics,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). “Cartels are endangering American citizens, our Mexican neighbors, and the migrants who seek to come here. I am proud to join my friend Rep. Mark Green to urge the State Department to consider designating them as a Foreign Terror Organization.”
The U.N.’s Security Council has previously acknowledged the clear link between drug trafficking and terrorism.
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