Washington— US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the fentanyl seizures on the southern border contradicts the testimony of the heads of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the assertions made by the House Blanca on the designation of Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
US Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, asked Blinken at Wednesday’s hearing if he agreed that fentanyl came from Mexico and “is killing tens of thousands of Americans.” Blinken replied: “That’s right. And it is also killing Mexicans.”
Graham also asked if it was time to “change our policy” on cartel violence and the fentanyl crisis “because it’s not working?” Or do you think it’s working? Do you think our policies towards drug cartels are working?
He replied: “They need to be more effective. … One way to do that is to make sure that we have, for example, the technology at our borders to detect and interdict fentanyl.”
Blinken also repeated a claim made by many Democrats that “96% of the fentanyl entering the United States comes from legal ports of entry” and that by expanding the technology there, more would be seized.
Last month, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Jamie Raskin, D-Md., claimed that 90 percent of fentanyl was being seized at ports of entry.
However, Tucson Sector Border Patrol Chief John Modlin countered that half of fentanyl seizures occur in the field, not at ports of entry. In his sector alone, agents seized 700 pounds of fentanyl in 2022, about half of which was in the field.
“To give you an idea of the lethality of fentanyl, that’s enough to kill everyone in Arizona 21 times or basically half the population of the United States,” he said. Agents seized 52 percent at the port of entry and the rest in the field after it was “introduced by backpackers across the border” into the spaces between ports of entry, Modlin said.
Later that month, the Arizona State Police seized enough fentanyl to kill nearly 800,000 people; that drug was found in a single pickup truck approximately 150 miles north of the border.
Texas law enforcement officers working through Operation Lone Star (OLS) between ports of entry have seized enough fentanyl to kill everyone in the United States, Gov. Greg Abbott said. As of March 17, OLS officers have seized more than 367 million lethal doses of fentanyl, according to his office.
Florida law enforcement officers also seized enough fentanyl in a few months last year to kill the entire population of the state. The fentanyl seizures were linked to a network of Mexican cartels, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said.
Graham also asked Blinken if he would designate the Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
“How about this idea? Instead of just intercepting at the border, we go to the source and declare the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations under United States law, would you consider that?” he asked.
“Yes, we would certainly consider that,” Blinken replied.
His response conflicted with what White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters two weeks ago that “designating these cartels as FTOs would not give us any additional authority that we don’t really have at this time.” ”.
The FTO designation is not up to Congress or the President. Under 8 United States Code Section 1189, the Secretary of State has the authority to designate an organization as an FTO. Doing so gives state and federal agencies the authority to freeze assets, deny entry to cartel members and apply harsher punishments.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott last September was the first governor to designate Mexican cartels as FTOs. He has since asked the Biden administration to do the same, but he has not received a response, his office told The Center Square.
“Texas designated the Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations last year,” Abbott said earlier this month. “I have repeatedly urged Biden to do the same. … It is time for Biden to step up and call these cartels for what they are: terrorists.”
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares led a coalition of 22 attorneys general last month to ask the president to designate the cartels as FTOs. Instead, they argue, Biden’s plan includes having “more drug detection machines,” expanding cargo screening to “stop pills and powder coming across the border,” “working with couriers, like FedEx, to inspect more packages for drugs,” and implementing “heavy penalties to crack down on fentanyl trafficking.”
US Senators Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, and Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas, introduced the Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act, which Moody said would “do the job Biden refuses to do: protect the American people.” ”. She said the president “prevented Mexican drug cartels from being designated federal terrorist organizations (which they are), (is) further evidence that he is the trafficker-in-chief.”
