Republican Congressmen Chip Roy (TX) and Dr. Mark Green (TN) believe Mexico's drug cartels should be classified as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), according to Breitbart. The two Republicans plan to send a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking for the declaration.
“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. Roy said statement. “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 specific cartels Reps. Roy and Green want to be considered FTOs include:
• The Reynosa/Los Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel
• The Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas
• The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, an offshoot of the Sinaloa Cartel
Breitbart's Brandon Darby has followed border related issues for years. He explained why these various cartels deserve to receive the FTO classification:
1. Both the Reynosa faction of the Gulf Cartel and CDN of Los Zetas long ago crossed the line from being drug cartels to being terror groups. They directly use acts of terror to obtain and hold complete control over every facet of society in the territories they control.
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) February 13, 2019
2. Each news outlet in their territories has a “link” who works with the cartels and tells editors, journalists, columnists, and tv anchors what they can and can’t report, which politicians to support, and which policies to support.
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) February 13, 2019
3. Both factions of both cartels are headquartered in cities directly on the Texas border—and both regions lack proper fencing or border barriers. Both regions lack proper border security.
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) February 13, 2019
4. Mass graves are routinely discovered in the territories of both factions of both cartels, often incineration sites are also discovered where their victims bodies have been burned in barrels or ovens.
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) February 13, 2019
5. Thousands of innocent people have been killed by these two groups in recent years. Thousands of innocent people have been kidnapped and extorted right along our border by both groups.
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) February 13, 2019
6. These two factions of these two cartels should be designated as foreign terror orgs, and the unsecured areas of the Texas border where they operate should be immediately secured—whether by the federal government or the State of Texas.
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) February 13, 2019
Declaring these cartels as FTOs is a no-brainer. They cause havoc in the United States and Latin America. They continually bring drugs to our country and kill innocent people. In fact, cartels were fighting over territory in Cancun this weekend, where American tourists were visiting. And five people died as a result of the territory fight.
If the cartels were carrying out this kind of carnage in other parts of the world, America would be quick to jump in and fend them off. But when it comes to our own safety and security, we seem to look the other way. It's definitely contradictory.
Here's a full copy of the draft letter: