Joe Biden is responding to the staggering uptick in fentanyl overdoses by cracking down on the synthetic opioid supply chain, most of which is entering the U.S. by way of the southern border.
The president’s imposition of sanctions comes as Republicans are upping their calls for military action in Mexico – and even conducting bombings – to stop the drug cartels from continuing the flow of deadly fentanyl into the country.
Nearly 71,000 American deaths in 2021 were connected to fentanyl and other synthetic-opioid overdoses, a 26 percent increase from 2020, according to the National Safety Council.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) assessed in a December report that ‘most’ fentanyl distributed by two massive cartels ‘is being mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely from China.’
The Biden administration announced Tuesday it plans to issue new economic sanctions on illicit drug syndicates in Mexico after nearly 71,000 Americans died in 2021 from fentanyl overdoses
The Biden administration released a fact sheet Tuesday morning detailing steps it plans to take to tackle the massive increase in illicit drug smuggling from Mexico, only exacerbated by the southern border crisis.
The main move would be to issue sanctions in an attempt to financially cripple the illegal drug syndicates, which Republicans want classified as foreign terrorist organizations because they claim they operate ‘more like ISIS than the mafia.’
‘Drug traffickers, who are primarily driven by profits, require significant funds to operate their illicit supply chains,’ the White House fact sheet notes. ‘The Biden-Harris Administration will expand its efforts to disrupt the illicit financial activities that fund these criminals by increasing accountability measures, including financial sanctions, on key targets to obstruct drug traffickers’ access to the U.S. financial system and illicit financial flows.’
But Republicans are likely to say that economic sanctions don’t go far enough to address the crisis.
While the Texas National Guard has already been deployed to the border for the last few years with the spike in illegal immigration, some Republicans want to move military action into Mexico to attack the root of the problem.
Republican Reps. Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Mike Waltz of Florida, a former Green Beret, introduced a bill that seeks authorization of military force to go to ‘war with the cartels.’
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas also said that he is open to targeting drug cartel leaders by sending troops into Mexico – as long as the U.S. southern neighbors agree.
‘We need to start thinking about these groups more like ISIS than we do the mafia,’ Rep. Waltz told Politico.
Some administration officials have pushed back on designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, claiming that this change in title would not impact any authority to act against the groups.
Migrants continue to flow over the southern border, leading to more confusion and ability for smugglers to get through to the U.S. with illicit drugs. Pictured: Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants approach the border by foot on Monday, April 10 from Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas
‘The Biden-Harris Administration will expand its efforts to disrupt the illicit financial activities that fund these criminals by increasing accountability measures, including financial sanctions,’ a Tuesday White House fact sheet on the fentanyl crisis notes
The White House noted in its fact sheet on the fentanyl crisis that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has already designated nearly 100 individuals and entities for involvement in the illicit drug trade.
This includes, according to the administration, those tied to major trafficking organizations like the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
Republicans blame Democrats for the drug crisis, claiming that weak border policies have not only led to a mass migration crisis, but have also facilitated an environment ripe for drug smugglers to covertly cross and bring deadly loads of fentanyl over.
The Biden administration has lauded its massive seizure of fentanyl as proof that they are quelling the crisis, but Republicans point to the fact that the amount making it through far outweighs what is recovered.
Listing fentanyl recovered at the border, the White House notes that the DEA has seized more than 57.5 million fentanyl-laced pills in 2022 and 13,740 pounds of powder.
Additionally, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 14,700 pounds in the last fiscal year – a 31 percent increase from what it seized in 2021.
