What This Bill Does
This bill directs the federal government to officially label nine Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. It also creates a task force of government agencies to work together against Mexican cartels and other international criminal groups that bring drugs into the United States.
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Who It Affects
Members of the nine named cartels and affiliated groups; the Director of National Intelligence; the Secretaries of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and the Treasury; the Attorney General; federal law enforcement agencies; federal prosecutors; financial institutions; foreign nationals involved with cartels; and Congress.
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Key Provisions
• Nine specific drug cartels are immediately designated as foreign terrorist organizations: the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas Cartel, Northeast Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Beltran-Leyva Cartel, and La Familia Michoacana (also called the Knight Templar Cartel). (Sec. 3(a))
• The Director of National Intelligence must establish an interagency task force with the Secretaries of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Treasury and the Attorney General to plan and coordinate activities against cartels and criminal organizations. (Sec. 4(b) and (c))
• The task force must serve as the main organization analyzing all government intelligence about cartels and criminal groups, and must develop strategic plans to counter them using all available tools including diplomacy, financial measures, military action, intelligence, homeland security, and law enforcement. (Sec. 4(e))
• Within 30 days of the law passing, the task force must report to Congress on other cartels that should be designated as terrorist organizations, foreign groups supporting cartels, any laws blocking efforts to stop cartels, and a detailed plan to improve intelligence gathering. (Sec. 4(f))
• The cartel designations do not allow any foreign national to claim protection from being removed from the United States. (Sec. 3(b))
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What Changes
If this bill becomes law, these nine cartels will officially be classified as foreign terrorist organizations. This classification allows federal prosecutors to use additional laws to punish people who provide money or support to these groups, allows law enforcement to freeze cartel assets, and allows federal agents to deny cartel members entry into the United States. A new government task force will coordinate cartel-fighting efforts across multiple agencies instead of agencies working separately.
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Important Definitions
The bill defines "transnational criminal organization" as a group that includes one or more foreign persons, engages in serious ongoing criminal activity across at least two foreign countries, and threatens U.S. national security, foreign policy, or economy. (Sec. 4(a)(3))
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 1048
To designate Mexican cartels and other transnational criminal organizations
as foreign terrorist organizations and recognizing the threats those orga-
nizations pose to the people of the United States as terrorism, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 29, 2023
Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. HAWLEY,
Mr. DAINES, Mr. LEE, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Select Committee on Intel-
ligence
A BILL
To designate Mexican cartels and other transnational crimi-
nal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations and
recognizing the threats those organizations pose to the
people of the United States as terrorism, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending the Notorious,
4
Aggressive, and Remorseless Criminal Organizations and
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•S 1048 IS
Syndicates Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘Ending the NARCOS
1
Act of 2023’’.
2
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
3
Congress makes the following findings:
4
(1) The national security of the United States,
5
along with the health and safety of the citizens of
6
the United States, is under attack by Mexican car-
7
tels and other transnational criminal organizations
8
that engage in acts of terrorism to exploit the bor-
9
ders of the United States and further their unlawful
10
business of producing and importing illicitly manu-
11
factured fentanyl, a substance that kills hundreds of
12
thousands of people in the United States each year,
13
methamphetamine, and other controlled substances.
14
(2) Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to
15
50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times strong-
16
er than morphine, and some fentanyl-related sub-
17
stances can have even greater potency.
18
(3) Although pharmaceutical fentanyl is pre-
19
scribed by doctors to treat severe pain, illicitly man-
20
ufactured fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances
21
are created using precursor chemicals that are pre-
22
dominantly imported from China and distributed
23
through illegal drug markets, most commonly by
24
Mexican cartels across the southern border.
25
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•S 1048 IS
(4) According to the Centers for Disease Con-
1
trol and Prevention, nearly 110,000 people in the
2
United States died during fiscal year 2022 from
3
drug overdoses.
4
(5) Approximately 66 percent of those deaths in
5
fiscal year 2022 related to illicitly manufactured
6
fentanyl.
7
(6) In December 2022, the Washington Post re-
8
ported that, from 2019 to 2021, fatal fentanyl
9
overdoses surged 94 percent and an estimated 196
10
people in the United States are now dying each day
11
from the drug, which is the equivalent of a fully
12
loaded Boeing 757–200 crashing and killing every-
13
one on board every day.
14
(7) The single largest loss of life resulting from
15
a foreign attack on United States soil was the Sep-
16
tember 11 terrorist attacks, which killed 2,977 peo-
17
ple, and fentanyl overdoses cause the equivalent of
18
a new September 11 nearly every 2 weeks.
19
(8) In fiscal year 2022, the United States suf-
20
fered more fentanyl-related deaths than gun- and
21
auto-related deaths combined.
22
(9) Illicit fentanyl is now the number one cause
23
of death among people in the United States between
24
the ages of 18 and 45.
25
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•S 1048 IS
(10) A 2017 analysis, accounting for the costs
1
of health care, criminal justice, lost productivity and
2
social and family services, estimated that the total
3
cost of the drug epidemic of the United States facili-
4
tated by Mexican cartels and other transnational
5
criminal
organizations
was
more
than
6
$1,000,000,000,000 annually, or 5 percent of gross
7
domestic product.
8
(11) Law enforcement and immigration officers
9
report that smugglers evade apprehension and suc-
10
cessfully bring large quantities of fentanyl, meth-
11
amphetamine, and other illicit drugs into the United
12
States.
13
(12) Despite seizures both at and between ports
14
of entry, like the recent seizure by U.S. Customs
15
and Border Protection of nearly 54 pounds of
16
fentanyl pills and 32 pounds of methamphetamine at
17
the Andrade Port of Entry, domestic supply of these
18
controlled substances indicate a massive amount of
19
controlled substances are still pouring across our
20
border.
21
(13) The Federal Government possesses unuti-
22
lized resources and lawful measures to combat the
23
cartels through the designation of those groups as
24
foreign terrorist organizations.
25
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•S 1048 IS
(14) Foreign terrorist organizations are foreign
1
organizations that are designated by the Secretary
2
of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immi-
3
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189).
4
(15) The designation of organizations as for-
5
eign terrorist organizations plays a critical role in
6
the fight against terrorism and is an effective means
7
of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pres-
8
suring groups to get out of the terrorism business
9
because such a designation gives law enforcement
10
agencies and prosecutors greater powers to freeze
11
the assets of an organization, to deny members of
12
the organization entry into the United States, and to
13
seek tougher punishments against those who provide
14
material support to the organization.
15
(16) Under section 219 of the Immigration and
16
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189), the Secretary of
17
State may designate an organization as a foreign
18
terrorist organization if—
19
(A) the organization is a foreign organiza-
20
tion;
21
(B) the organization engages in terrorist
22
activity or terrorism, or retains the capability
23
and intent to engage in terrorist activity or ter-
24
rorism; and
25
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•S 1048 IS
(C) the terrorist activity or terrorism of
1
the organization threatens the security of
2
United States nationals or the national security
3
of the United States.
4
(17) Mexican cartels satisfy each of those three
5
criteria, as they are foreign organizations based out-
6
side the United States, they engage in ‘‘terrorist ac-
7
tivity’’ such as assassinations, kidnaping, or use of
8
explosives and firearms, and their terrorist activities
9
threaten the security of the United States and the
10
people of the United States.
11
(18) For instance, four United States citizens,
12
including 3 people from South Carolina, were re-
13
cently kidnaped by Mexican drug cartels in Mata-
14
moros, Mexico, where at least 2 were tragically killed
15
in cartel violence.
16
(19) Mexican cartels and other transnational
17
criminal organizations, as foreign organizations,
18
make billions of dollars each year importing deadly
19
drugs into the United States, especially fentanyl and
20
methamphetamine, which results in the deaths of
21
hundreds of thousands of people in the United
22
States each year.
23
(20) United States Southern Command reports
24
that criminal organizations, including drug cartels,
25
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•S 1048 IS
in their Area of Responsibility generate an estimated
1
annual revenue of approximately $300,000,000,000
2
more than 5-times the combined defense budget for
3
the region, including Mexico.
4
(21) The death and destruction caused by the
5
illicit drug trade is not limited to overdoses and
6
gang violence, rather, it extends to a significant pro-
7
portion of nearly all other criminal activity in the
8
United States, including burglary, carjacking, rob-
9
bery, aggravated assault, domestic violence, felony
10
traffic violations, and much more, and it also ex-
11
tends to drug addictions that often result in home-
12
lessness, suicide, human trafficking, child sex traf-
13
ficking, broken families, birth defects, and other
14
maladies that are devastating communities across
15
the United States.
16
(22) The national security threat posed by
17
Mexican cartels and other transnational criminal or-
18
ganizations extends beyond the sale of fentanyl and
19
other drugs, as these organizations have also shown
20
a lethal willingness to protect their business by any
21
means necessary, including organizing Armed Forces
22
to fight both their rivals and the Government of
23
Mexico, creating a dangerous and unstable situation
24
on the southern border of the United States with in-
25
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•S 1048 IS
nocent people of the United States caught in the
1
crossfire.
2
(23) The chaos and calamity caused by Mexican
3
cartels and other transnational criminal organiza-
4
tions at the southern border teeters on all-out war,
5
with the Government of Mexico deploying more than
6
200,000 Federal troops to fight the cartels, and even
7
with that military presence, the kidnaping, decapita-
8
tions, and terror continue, including on and near
9
United States soil.
10
(24) According to statistics of the United Na-
11
tions, the homicide rate in the United States South-
12
ern Command’s Area of Responsibility was a stag-
13
gering 15.7 per 100,000 in 2020, out of a global av-
14
erage of 5.6 per 100,000, no doubt due to the vio-
15
lence of transnational criminal organizations in the
16
region.
17
(25) The Department of State has already rec-
18
ognized the reality of the terror caused by Mexican
19
cartels, issuing its highest level of travel warning for
20
all but 2 of Mexico’s 32 States due to increased
21
threats of crime and kidnaping and having already
22
named Colombia-based groups like the Revolutionary
23
Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC–
24
EP), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-
25
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•S 1048 IS
Segunda Marquetalia (FARC–SM), and the Na-
1
tional Liberation Army (ELN) as foreign terrorist
2
organizations.
3
(26) There are already known links between
4
transnational criminal organizations and designated
5
foreign terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah,
6
al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Islamic State.
7
(27) Existing counter-narcotics efforts under
8
the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (21
9
U.S.C. 1901 et seq.), focusing on financial sanc-
10
tions, and designating these organizations as foreign
11
terrorist organizations are better methods for ad-
12
dressing the increasing violence and supply of deadly
13
fentanyl and other drugs being shipped across the
14
border.
15
(28) Designating Mexican cartels and other
16
transnational criminal organizations as foreign ter-
17
rorist organizations would enable—
18
(A) the use of section 1010A of the Con-
19
trolled Substances Import and Export Act (21
20
U.S.C. 960a) to prosecute drug traffickers asso-
21
ciated with these organizations for providing pe-
22
cuniary support to a foreign terrorist organiza-
23
tion;
24
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•S 1048 IS
(B) the use of section 2339B of title 18,
1
United States Code, to prosecute anyone who
2
knowingly provides material support or re-
3
sources to these organizations, including paying
4
human traffickers or those who provide any
5
logistical support or services to these organiza-
6
tions;
7
(C) the use of such section 2339B to im-
8
pose civil penalties on any financial institution
9
that fails to freeze and report any funds in
10
which these organizations have any interest;
11
and
12
(D) through those statutes, the use of
13
extraterritorial jurisdiction to target and pros-
14
ecute foreign nationals involved with Mexican
15
cartels and other transnational criminal organi-
16
zations.
17
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN DRUG CARTELS AS FOR-
18
EIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS.
19
(a) DESIGNATIONS.—The following cartels, including
20
any faction of such a cartel, associated forces, or subse-
21
quent groups, are hereby deemed to be foreign terrorist
22
organizations pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration
23
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189):
24
(1) The Sinaloa Cartel.
25
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(2) The Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
1
(3) The Gulf Cartel.
2
(4) The Los Zetas Cartel.
3
(5) The Northeast Cartel.
4
(6) The Juarez Cartel.
5
(7) The Tijuana Cartel.
6
(8) The Beltran-Leyva Cartel.
7
(9) The La Familia Michoacana, also known as
8
the Knight Templar Cartel.
9
(b) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
10
sion of law, the designation of any organization as a for-
11
eign terrorist organization under this section shall not pro-
12
vide a basis for any alien to obtain any withholding, defer-
13
ral, relief, or protection from removal of any kind.
14
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO
15
COMBAT MEXICAN CARTELS AND OTHER
16
TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS.
17
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
18
(1) AGENCIES.—The term ‘‘agencies’’ has the
19
meaning given the term ‘‘Executive agencies’’ in sec-
20
tion 105 of title 5, United States Code.
21
(2)
APPROPRIATE
COMMITTEES
OF
CON-
22
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-
23
gress’’ means—
24
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•S 1048 IS
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations,
1
the Committee on the Judiciary, the Select
2
Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on
3
Armed Services, the Committee on Finance,
4
and the Committee on Homeland Security and
5
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
6
(B) the Committee on For
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]