Crenshaw urges Biden to use military force against ‘extremely dangerous’ drug cartels with new joint resolution

Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) have introduced a joint resolution authorizing President Biden to use military force to combat the cartels that are transporting fentanyl and other dangerous drugs across the U.S. border.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

On Thursday, Crenshaw and Waltz introduced legislation creating the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to target Mexican drug cartels facilitating the fentanyl crisis on the border.

Crenshaw sat down with Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Thursday to discuss the legislation he filed last week. He asserts that the spread of fentanyl requires a strong governmental response.

“This is not a drug problem,” Crenshaw argued. “This is not a war on drugs problem. This is a poisoning problem. And they are killing about 80,000 Americans a year. The Mexican government does very little to thwart this.”

He claimed that the AUMF would give Biden the leverage he needs to force Mexico to take action against the drug cartels if it passes.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

“These people are well-equipped,” Crenshaw noted. “And they’re extremely dangerous.”

“I wonder what would Mexico think of American troops at the border,” Cavuto remarked. “They might interpret it differently.”

“Well, we always had trouble getting the Mexican government to work with us,” Crenshaw responded. “You compare it to Colombia. We’ve been dealing with Colombia for decades. America was very involved throughout the ’90s and the cartel wars there and then throughout the guerrilla wars. We called it Plan Colombia and it was a very successful operation.”

He went on to charge that Mexico has been less than cooperative and has been resistant to the US getting involved.

“Their resistance is not only hurting them, it’s killing our citizens,” he pointed out. “And that’s when we have to say, ‘Enough is enough. You’re gonna cooperate with us. We have an AUMF here. We’ve given the president military authority now. And so, you better work with us because we don’t want to do this without you, but we will.’”

Crenshaw told Fox News Digital that the cartels “are responsible for about 360,000 homicides this year in Mexico” and that they are “militaristic in nature,” mirroring “an all-out civil war” in many cases.

He said that Republicans in the House are showing interest in the resolution and then quipped that his “message to Democrats” is he’s “giving the Democrat president authority to look good for the American people.”

“Why don’t you take me up on that? How about that? Because this is a problem that faces every American. This is not partisan,” Crenshaw stated. “You know, this is not a partisan bill. This is a strong national security bill.

In a press release, Crenshaw was even more adamant.

“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 railed. “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.”

“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,” Rep. Waltz also commented via the press release.

“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. 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,” he added.

The two congressmen, who both served in the military, contend they have limited the scope of the AUMF so that it won’t target “foreign persons” outside the US and it expires after five years, according to the Washington Examiner.

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