Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, is calling on Congress to put more support behind joint efforts between the U.S. and Mexico to combat Mexican drug cartels in the wake of the death of “El Mencho,” the leader of the “most violent and deranged cartel.”
“This is the beginning of the war against the most violent and deranged cartel in Mexico: El Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación or OJNG,” Crenshaw said in a post to X on Monday morning.
Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, believes the strike on El Mencho represents a needed expansion of U.S. efforts to combat cartels and a window of opportunity for increased coordination between U.S.-Mexican forces.
“Over the past year, most of the attention has been on the Sinaloa cartel. This is a much-needed refocusing on CJNG. Both are major traffickers of fentanyl, but CJNG is more like ISIS than the mafia,” Crenshaw said.
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Crenshaw believes Congress has a role to play in combating that threat.
“I’ve authored a dozen pieces of legislation to support our military, intelligence and law enforcement efforts in Mexico. It’s time for committees to take them up.”
Among them, Crenshaw introduced a bill in 2023 alongside 24 other cosponsors that would have authorized the U.S. military to “combat, attack, resist, target [and] eliminate” narcotraffickers.
If implemented, the bill would allow President Donald Trump to use the American military against foreign nations, organizations or persons that the president determines are trafficking fentanyl into the U.S.
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More recently, Crenshaw has spearheaded the North America Security Initiative — an effort to shore up U.S. support of Mexican special forces resources. Crenshaw has called on the U.S. to put more resources behind Mexico’s special forces in the same way the U.S. has diverted parts of its arsenal to support Ukraine’s war with Russia.
He has urged the U.S. to provide Mexico with equipment, weapons and intelligence — an act Crenshaw believes will strengthen its relationship with Mexico.
“Unilateral action will only serve to alienate existing partnerships. Our near-term goal is the disruption of fentanyl networks that are killing Americans on a daily basis,” an information packet provided by Crenshaw’s office said about the initiative.
A person familiar with Crenshaw’s thinking said he’s been coordinating with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on bringing similar cartel-focused pieces of legislation up for consideration in the near future.
“We finally have a solid partner in the Mexican government to work with. We are finally focusing huge intelligence collection efforts on the cartels (due in large part to my amendment to FISA two years ago authorizing collection on the cartels),” Crenshaw said. “We are finally taking them on. It won’t be over soon. But it’s about time we started.”
