Moody to Biden: Declare Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody called on President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to declare Mexican drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations under federal law.”

Moody’s statement comes after months of her pushing the Biden administration to crack down on illegal immigration, human trafficking, and drug trafficking at the country’s southern border.

“It’s evident that the Mexican drug cartels are terrorist organizations—they are trafficking deadly fentanyl directly across the border, and it is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year,” she said. “They are also fueling extreme violence at the southwest border and beyond.”

Moody said the Biden administration has “emboldened” the cartels to continue committing crimes “through his lawful immigration policies.

“So, today, I am demanding that Biden better equip the federal government to fight back by declaring the drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations,” she said.

A press release from the attorney general’s office said if the Biden administration declares the cartels as terrorist organizations, state and federal agencies will have the authority to “freeze assets, deny entry to cartel members and pursue stricter punishments.”

“Cartel violence is escalating in both countries. The groups are assassinating rivals, killing Americans at the border and engaging in an armed insurgency against the Mexican government,” her office said. “Last month, a cartel-style execution occurred in California that reportedly involved a Mexican drug cartel.”

Moody was joined by 20 other state attorneys general in a letter to Biden and Blinken, which urged they “take swift and decisive action to abate this deadly scourge.”

In the letter, they point to the U.S. having seized more than 8,000 pounds of fentanyl in the first nine months of 2022.

They also highlighted a Washington Post report that 196 Americans are dying daily from fentanyl.

“The Mexican drug cartels are essentially conducting chemical warfare on everyday Americans affecting every community, town, and city in our nation. It is time to respond.”

Moody has taken continued action urging the federal government tighten security at southern border.

In January, the attorney general demanded Biden confront Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the fentanyl crisis.

Moody also highlighted a study that found children under 14 are drying at the “fastest rate” because of fentanyl.

Last year, she called on Biden to declare fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction,” citing more than 75,000 American deaths from the drug.