WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Representatives Rob Menendez (NJ-08) and Dan Goldman (NY-10) joined Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) in leading a letter signed by 10 of their colleagues urging the Trump Administration to use its recent designation of Latin American cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) to take aggressive action to stop the illegal trafficking of American firearms south across the Southern Border.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the lawmakers called for a coordinated federal response to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of American firearms that arm violent drug cartels, fuel lawlessness along the Southern Border, and bring drugs into communities across the United States.
“We were pleased that President Trump agreed to address the outflow of hundreds of thousands of American-made firearms across the southern border when he initially postponed the implementation of tariffs on our ally Mexico. Accordingly, we urge you to utilize the FTO designation to take aggressive action to stem the flow of American guns to the cartels,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers continued, “The new FTO designation for these cartels provides additional legal tools to bolster interagency coordination, disrupt their financial networks, and impose stricter penalties on those who provide material support to these criminal enterprises. Specifically, under current statute, it is unlawful to knowingly provide material support or resources to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and those who do so can be fined or imprisoned for up to 20 years.”
The members urged the Administration to effectively and strategically employ the full suite of legal options this new designation enables and offered their assistance to empower it to specifically address the “Iron River” of American firearms that are fueling violence and destruction in communities across the United States and Mexico.
“We hope that you move swiftly and use these new legal authorities to combat southbound arms trafficking. We stand ready to assist in this effort in any way we can, including through legislation that expands your programmatic authorities to address this critical issue,” the lawmakers concluded.
Anywhere between 200,000 and 500,000 American firearms are smuggled across U.S. borders into Mexico every year, arming Latin American criminal organizations that have used them to undermine domestic law enforcement and assert control over fentanyl and human trafficking operations back into the United States.
For full text of the letter, click here.
