Sen. Lindsey Graham announced that he will propose a bill that will order to deploy the US military force against Mexican drug cartels.
On Monday, Graham claimed that he will introduce legislation that will lay the groundwork for US President Joe Biden to use the country’s military force as part of the Senator’s effort to combat the increasing number of Mexican drug cartels.
Graham’s announcement was made in response to the kidnapping of four Americans in the border city of Matamoros. Authorities revealed that two of whom were found dead Tuesday.
The bill will also respond to “the continued proliferation of dangerous drugs, including highly lethal fentanyl, brought into the United States by the cartels,” New York Post reported.
In an interview with Fox News, Graham claimed that “this administration has done nothing about it.”
“I’m going to introduce legislation, Jesse, to make certain Mexican drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations under US law and set the stage to use military force if necessary to protect America from being poisoned by things coming out of Mexico,” the senator added.
According to Graham, he agreed with former Attorney General Bill Barr’s argument in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week where he claimed that the “US should designate the cartels as terrorist groups and confront them the same way past administrations confronted ISIS in the Middle East,” Fox News added.
“I would follow Bill Barr’s advice and get tough on Mexico. It is not just the hostages. Number one, I’d do everything I could to get them back. I’d do what [former President Donald] Trump did. I’d put Mexico on notice. ‘If you continue to give safe haven to fentanyl drug dealers, then you’re an enemy of the United States,’” Graham argued.
The senator also claimed that he would warn Mexico “to clean up your act” or “we’re going to clean it up for you.”
Furthermore, Barr, who also appeared on the show, claimed that the government of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is at the mercy of the cartels.
“The Mexican government is being held hostage by tens of thousands of paramilitary members of terrorist organizations that effectively control Mexico. It’s pretty close at this stage to a failed narco-state. They can use violence and oceans of cash to corrupt the government. The government has no will, and it doesn’t have the ability to deal with the cartels,” Barr said in a statement.
He also urged Obrador to “stand aside” and let the United States take on the cartels if he doesn’t want to do so.
“[W]e have to methodically dismantle these groups. And we have to tell the Mexicans they’re either coming along with us for the ride or step aside, we’re going to do it by ourselves,” Barr added.
