A resolution expressing concern about economic and security conditions in Mexico and reaffirming the interest of the United States in mutually beneficial relations with Mexico based on shared interests on security, economic prosperity, and democratic values, and for other purposes.

III 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 97 Expressing concern about economic and security conditions in Mexico and reaffirming the interest of the United States in mutually beneficial rela- tions with Mexico based on shared interests on security, economic pros- perity, and democratic values, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 8, 2023 Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. BARRASSO) submitted the following resolution; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Foreign Relations RESOLUTION Expressing concern about economic and security conditions in Mexico and reaffirming the interest of the United States in mutually beneficial relations with Mexico based on shared interests on security, economic prosperity, and democratic values, and for other purposes. Whereas December 12, 2022, marked the 200th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico; Whereas, over the course of 200 years, the Governments and people of the United States and Mexico have developed deep cultural, economic, and diplomatic relations that have been instrumental in creating prosperity in both countries and throughout the hemisphere; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •SRES 97 IS Whereas, according to the United States Trade Representa- tive and the Department of Commerce, United States goods and services trade with Mexico totaled an esti- mated $677,300,000,000 in 2019, and United States ex- ports of goods and services to Mexico supported an esti- mated 1,200,000 jobs in 2015; Whereas, according to the 2022 United States Department of State’s Investment Climate Statement on Mexico, the United States is Mexico’s top source of foreign direct in- vestment with a stock of $184,900,000,000; Whereas, in 2021, the United States exported $25,000,000,000 in agriculture products to Mexico and imported $38,700,000,000 in agriculture products from Mexico; Whereas the government of President Lopez Obrador has pursued major legal and regulatory measures that pose significant risks and uncertainty to cross-border trade, including denying 14 biotechnology applications since May 2018, front-of-packing labeling requirements im- posed in November 2020, unilateral certification require- ments on all United States organic exports to Mexico im- posed in December 2020, the December 31, 2020, Presi- dential Decree to phase out the use of glyphosate and ge- netically modified corn for human consumption, the Feb- ruary 2021 Electricity Industry Law, and the May 2021 Hydrocarbons Law; Whereas the government of President Lopez Obrador has suspended import permits for more than 80 energy com- panies, has ended permits for energy import facilities, which puts United States investment at risk, and is ad- vancing a constitutional reform bill that would dissolve the power market in Mexico, eliminate independent regu- VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •SRES 97 IS lators, and cancel contracts and permits granted to pri- vate companies; Whereas arbitrary and punitive actions against United States businesses operating in Mexico by the government of President Lopez Obrador, such as the recent shutdown of a limestone quarry owned by a United States company that is a critical component of the construction aggre- gates supply chain for the southeast United States, are damaging the economic relationship between the United States and Mexico, disrupting North American supply chains, and threatening to undermine the confidence of United States businesses in Mexico as a viable and pre- dictable marketplace and destination for investment; Whereas United States law enforcement encountered over 2,378,944 migrants attempting to enter the United States illegally through the southern border with Mexico in 2022, reaching an all-time high of 251,978 encounters in December 2022, and have encountered over 156,000 migrants in January 2023; Whereas United States Border Patrol has documented a rise in the number of convicted criminals attempting to enter the United States illegally, including over 3,000 since Oc- tober 2022, 12,028 in fiscal year 2022, 10,763 in fiscal year 2021, and 2,438 in fiscal year 2020; Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection operational statistics showed fentanyl seizures at the United States southern border increased 66.86 percent in January 2023, compared to January 2022, with over a 907 per- cent increase from January 2020; Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported an approximately 207 percent increase in the amount of VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •SRES 97 IS illicit fentanyl seized at the southwest border since fiscal year 2020, and the Drug Enforcement Administration re- ported the seizure of 379,000,000 potentially deadly doses of fentanyl in 2022; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a record of 107,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2022, with more than 71,400 (66.5 percent) of those attributed to synthetic opioids, a sub- stantial amount of which are illicitly produced in Mexico using precursor chemicals imported from the People’s Re- public of China and mixed or reshipped by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) drug cartels; Whereas reports from the United States Northern Command indicate that Mexican cartels now control 30 to 35 per- cent of Mexican territory, with Mexico’s midterm elec- tions in June 2021 being the most violent on record driv- en by cartel violence and attempts to thwart the demo- cratic process; Whereas more than 80 politicians were killed prior to the June 2021 midterm elections in Mexico, with the Mexi- can cartels claiming responsibility for the killings of at least 35 candidates, according to several reports; Whereas, according to the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Ac- tors of the Brookings Institution, Mexico registered al- most 34,000 murders in 2022 near an all-time high, rep- resenting 27 murders per 100,000 and primarily attrib- utable to ties related to transnational criminal organiza- tions, while the effective prosecution rate for homicides remains around 2 percent; Whereas, according to the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Ac- tors, the rivalry between the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •SRES 97 IS Cartel has violently spread to Colombia, one of the United States closest allies in the Western Hemisphere, with CJNG deploying drone-mounted bombs to seize ter- ritory and Sinaloa taking over both the legal and illegal economies of the territories in dispute; Whereas, in 2021, the government of President Obrador dis- banded a select Mexican anti-narcotics unit that, for a quarter of a century, worked hand-in-hand with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to tackle organized crime; Whereas President Obrador has spearheaded legal and regu- latory measures to reduce or eliminate the independence of Mexican autonomous institutions and regulators, in- cluding the Federal Economic Competition Commission, the Federal Institute for Telecommunications, the Energy Regulatory Commission, and the National Electoral Insti- tute; Whereas, at a March 2022 hearing of the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate, United States Northern Command Commander, General Glen D. VanHerck, testi- fied that ‘‘the largest portion of [Russian intelligence per- sonnel] in the world is in Mexico right now’’ and ‘‘they keep an eye very closely on their opportunities to have in- fluence on U.S. opportunities and access’’; Whereas Mexico voted in the United Nation’s General Assem- bly to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while abstaining from suspending Russia as a permanent ob- server of the Organization of American States and from expelling Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council; VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •SRES 97 IS Whereas President Obrador has increasingly turned to the People’s Republic of China to finance controversial infra- structure projects, including the Dos Bocas Refinery and the Maya Train, while the People’s Republic of China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) acquired Mexican renewables power company Zuma Energy during a time when private corporations were fleeing the sector; and Whereas Mexico remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists and media workers, with 2022 marking the deadliest year on record with 19 deaths: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate— 1 (1) reaffirms the interest of the United States 2 in mutually beneficial relations with Mexico based on 3 shared interests on security, economic prosperity, 4 and democratic values; 5 (2) reaffirms support for stronger economic re- 6 lations with Mexico, including to strengthen the re- 7 siliency of critical supply chains in North America 8 and the Western Hemisphere in general; 9 (3) expresses deep concerns about the wors- 10 ening investment climate in Mexico, and calls on the 11 President to take meaningful actions to defend 12 United States economic interests in Mexico and up- 13 hold the integrity of the United States-Mexico-Can- 14 ada Agreement (USMCA); 15 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •SRES 97 IS (4) urges the President to address the humani- 1 tarian and security crisis at the border with Mexico 2 by— 3 (A) establishing effective immigration con- 4 trols in the United States; 5 (B) targeting United States foreign assist- 6 ance efforts to strengthen border security and 7 migration management capacities in the region; 8 and 9 (C) leveraging existing bilateral extradition 10 treaties and the Palermo Protocols to prosecute 11 transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal 12 migration to the United States; 13 (5) reaffirms the urgent need for the Govern- 14 ment of Mexico to implement a detailed and well- 15 resourced strategy to combat the growing sophistica- 16 tion of transnational criminal organizations in its 17 territory, and reduce the production and trafficking 18 of illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals being 19 used for the manufacture of synthetic opioids in its 20 territory, including by— 21 (A) increasing information sharing between 22 Mexican authorities and the DEA on seizures of 23 fentanyl and precursor chemicals in Mexico; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •SRES 97 IS (B) partnering with the United States to 1 jointly dismantle and take down clandestine 2 labs across Mexico; and 3 (C) prioritizing the arrest and extradition 4 of more individuals with drug-related charges to 5 the United States; and 6 (6) urges the Government of Mexico to uphold 7 its domestic and international commitments to legal, 8 safe, and orderly immigration, uphold its obligations 9 under the USMCA, respect the independence of au- 10 tonomous regulatory institutions, and guard against 11 the negative influence of the People’s Republic of 12 China and the Russian Federation in North America 13 and the Western Hemisphere in general. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB