A Department of Homeland Security official warned House lawmakers Thursday that Mexican cartels are able to exert leverage in dozens of cities across the U.S., and remain a major U.S. national security threat through their efforts to flood the U.S. with illegal drugs.
Paul Beeson, director of DHS’ Joint Task Force — West, told the House Homeland Security Committee that the government continues to face challenges at the border and within the U.S. due to the expanding “reach and influence” of these cartels.
“Much of the illegal drug trafficking encountered by [Customs and Border Protection] officers and agents is facilitated by TCOs operating in Mexico,” he said in his prepared remarks, referring to transnational criminal organizations.
“The reach and influence of Mexican cartels, notably Los Zetas, and the Gulf, Juarez, Jalisco New Generation, and Sinaloa Cartels, stretches across and beyond the Southwest border, operating through networks and loose affiliations with smaller organizations in cities across the United States,” he said.
He said the latest federal report on the issue shows that Mexican cartels “pose the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States,” and are able to control gangs that operate in the U.S.
“These criminal organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation routes and distribution networks,” he said. “TCOs also maintain influence over U.S.-based gangs as a way to expand their domestic distribution process.”
“These TCOs pose a significant threat to both U.S. and international security,” Beeson added in his testimony. “The illegal operations of TCOs affect both public safety and economic stability.”
Another witness, Coast Guard Adm. Charles Ray, warned that drug cartels are a “sophisticated and well-funded adversary” that employ multiple strategies for getting drugs into the United States. He said a record increase in coca cultivation in Colombia is only adding to the pressures that border officials face.
“To meet this growing threat, the Coast Guard has dedicated additional focus and assets to the Western Hemisphere Transit Zone, and is investing in the people and platforms necessary to carry out an aggressive interdiction effort, in addition to helping build regional partner capabilities,” he said in his prepared remarks.
As one example, Ray said the new Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton returned from patrol in mid-December carrying 24 metric tons of cocaine from 27 interdictions, which was valued at $700 million.
“Mexico is a major source and transit country for illicit drugs destined for the United States, including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and, more recently, fentanyl,” said Matthew Allen, assistant director of DHS’ Homeland Security Investigative Program.
“Intelligence reports indicate that Mexico is not only a source country for the production of fentanyl, it is also a transit country for fentanyl originating from Asia,” Allen said. “Finally, in the last two decades, Mexico has also become the largest transit country for South American sourced cocaine destined for the United States.”
