Representative Mike Waltz (R., Fla.) said this weekend that he will introduce legislation to authorize the use of certain U.S. military capabilities against drug cartels in Mexico.
“They are defeating the Mexican army. These are paramilitary entities with billions and billions at their disposal,” he said during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures this weekend.
Waltz’s comments came just ahead of President Biden’s trip to Mexico City this week, where he discussed fentanyl trafficking, immigration, and economic cooperation with Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Raging violence in northern parts of Mexico since the start of the year has prompted Washington’s renewed focus on combating the threat posed by cartels.
Last week saw an explosion of cartel-related violence in the immediate wake of a Mexican military operation to arrest kingpin Ovidio Guzmán, the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the notorious drug trafficker currently serving a U.S. prison sentence. Though the younger Guzmán was successfully apprehended, dozens of people died during intense combat between members of the Sinaloa Cartel and Mexican soldiers throughout Culiacán, Sinaloa state’s capital city.
Earlier this month, 17 people were killed in Ciudad Juárez, a city 9 miles from the U.S. border, during a prison break in which over 25 inmates escaped and gunfights ensued.
Waltz told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo that his proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) resolution would only cover certain operations: “I’m not talking about U.S. troops. But I am talking about cyber, drones, intelligence assets, naval assets.”
As part of his 2024 election bid, former president Donald Trump last week also called for the use of U.S. special forces, cyber warfare, and other capabilities to “inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.”
The Waltz AUMF proposal and Trump’s campaign pledge about using military force against cartels are kicking off a public debate similar to one that reportedly took place internally among administration officials during Trump’s presidency.
Former defense secretary Mark Esper wrote in a memoir released last year that Trump, in 2020, had asked him about the possibility of launching missile strikes against cartel-run drug labs. During a political event in New Hampshire in September, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo was asked about that conversation, reportedly answering that “that was actually me.”
The Trump administration also considered designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that would subject them to penalties such as asset freezes and visa denials.
Waltz has not yet introduced the AUMF resolution, nor has White House commented on the proposal, which comes amid a long-running bipartisan effort to restrict congressional military-force authorizations currently on the books.