‘If ISIS fired a rocket at Texas, we would wipe them off the planet’: Lindsey Graham says cartels are terrorist organizations as he outlines plan to allow military FORCE to destroy drug labs mexicans
- Senator Lindsey Graham wants Mexican drug cartels to be designated as foreign terrorist organizations
- Additionally, he pushed Congress on Wednesday to approve an authorization of military force against cartels.
- “If there was an Islamic State or Al Qaeda cell in Mexico launching a rocket into Texas, we would wipe them off the planet,” the South Carolina Republican said.
Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday released a plan to label Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and pressed Congress to authorize the use of military force to destroy Mexican drug labs.
The Republican from South Carolina held a press conference on Capitol Hill where he stood alongside Republican Senator from Louisiana John Kennedy to detail his plans.
“I think John and I think if there was an ISIS or al-Qaeda cell in Mexico launching a rocket into Texas, we would wipe them off the planet,” Graham said. “They do it thousands of times and our response is inadequate.”
Graham was referring to the plague of fentanyl deaths plaguing the country.
“We will unleash the fury and might of the United States against these cartels,” Graham continued. “We are going to destroy their business model and their way of life because our national security and the security of the United States as a whole depends on us taking decisive action.”
Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday released a plan to label Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and pressed Congress to authorize the use of military force to destroy Mexican drug labs.
The first step, Graham said, was to improve how cartels are designated by the US government.
He called the foreign terrorist organization’s label “the top of the food chain.”
And said that by treating drug cartels as FTOs, the United States can sue Chinese chemical companies that supply the raw ingredients to make fentanyl, among other actions.
“We think the Democrats will be involved,” Graham noted.
The second stage, Graham explained, is less likely to happen because it would require congressional approval and President Joe Biden’s signature.
Graham said he thinks the House and Senate should pass a bill authorizing the use of military force against Mexican drug cartels.
He said the U.S. military would be used “not to invade Mexico, not to shoot down Mexican planes, but to destroy the drug labs that are poisoning Americans.”
Mexican police officers are pictured walking through a clandestine drug lab in Carrizalejo, Mexico in 2018. Graham wants to use US military force to go after Mexican drug labs producing fentanyl
Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel pose with masks and guns. Graham wants Mexican drug cartels to be considered foreign terrorist organizations so their suppliers in China can also be prosecuted
The military would “pursue these organizations wherever they exist,” Graham explained.
Graham recalled how the US military partnered with the Colombian military to tackle the “narcotic state of cocaine” and wondered why the same thing was not happening in Mexico.
“Mexico is a safe haven. It is a narco-terrorist state. The safe haven gives Mexican cartels the ability to deliver lethal doses of fentanyl into our country with impunity,” Graham said.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed Graham’s idea that naming Mexican drug cartels as FTOs would make a difference.
“Designating these cartels as FTO would grant us no additional authority,” Jean-Pierre said.
She argued that sanctioning the cartels through the Treasury Department was a better route to prosecute them.
“And that means drug traffickers can no longer use family or friends to hide their assets out of reach of the US government,” she said. “Again, we don’t think this will grant us any additional powers.”
