Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Dome Politics she believes Mexican drug cartels are terrorists and supports a declaration of war against them. President Donald Trump (R), who was just inaugurated on Monday, labeled drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Rep. Taylor Greene said that she's been asking for this type of executive action on Mexican drug cartels for a long time.
"I fully support, and I have supported in the past, actually declaring war on the cartels. They are terrorists. This is something that I had said almost four years ago. President Trump is sending 1,500 military troops to the border today. I think, I think he could quadruple that, and I think Americans would cheer overwhelmingly for it," said Rep. Taylor Greene.
In 2023, Representative Dan Crenshaw R-TX), along with then-Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL), penned legislation that would provide the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Mexican cartels. However, it stalled in the lower chamber.
Rep. Crenshaw stated that the cartels have already been fighting us, just not necessarily with guns and ammunition.
“The cartels are [at] war with us – poisoning more than 80,000 Americans with fentanyl every year, creating a crisis at our border, and turning Mexico into a failed narco-state,” Rep. Crenshaw said. “It’s time we directly target them. My legislation will put us at war with the cartels by authorizing the use of military force against the cartels. We cannot allow heavily armed and deadly cartels to destabilize Mexico and import people and drugs into the United States. We must start treating them like ISIS – because that is who they are.”
Moreover, Rep. Waltz, who has been picked for National Security Advisor in the Trump administration, said two years ago that it was "time to go on offense." With Trump as the Commander-in-Chief, that might happen.
“The situation at our southern border has become untenable for our law enforcement personnel largely due to the activities spurred by the heavily armed and well financed Sinola and Jalisco cartels,” said then-Rep. Waltz. “It’s time to go on offense. Not only are these paramilitary transnational criminal organizations responsible for killing an unprecedented number of Americans, but are actively undermining our sovereignty by destabilizing our border and waging war against US law enforcement and the Mexican military."
He continued, "An AUMF would give the President sophisticated military cyber, intelligence, and surveillance resources to disrupt cartel operations that are endangering Americans. The US was successful in assisting the Columbian government dismantle cartels in the 1990s and must do the same now.”
A war against Mexican drug cartels could get messy, but with the majority of finished fentanyl product coming from Mexican cartels, it could be worth the try.
