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 relations with Mexico based on shared interests on security, economic prosperity, 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 referred 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; 


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•SRES 97 IS 

Whereas, according to the United States Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce, United States 

goods and services trade with Mexico totaled an estimated $677,300,000,000 in 2019, and United States exports of goods and services to Mexico supported an estimated 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 investment 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 imposed in November 2020, unilateral certification requirements on all United States organic exports to Mexico imposed in December 2020, the December 31, 2020, Presidential Decree to phase out the use of glyphosate and genetically modified corn for human consumption, the February 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 companies, has ended permits for energy import facilities, 

which puts United States investment at risk, and is advancing a constitutional reform bill that would dissolve 

the power market in Mexico, eliminate independent reguVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR97.IS SR97

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lators, and cancel contracts and permits granted to private 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 aggregates 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 predictable 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 October 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 percent increase from January 2020; 

Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported 

an approximately 207 percent increase in the amount of 


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•SRES 97 IS 

illicit fentanyl seized at the southwest border since fiscal 

year 2020, and the Drug Enforcement Administration reported 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 substantial amount of which are illicitly produced in Mexico 

using precursor chemicals imported from the People’s Republic 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 percent of Mexican territory, with Mexico’s midterm elections in June 2021 being the most violent on record driven by cartel violence and attempts to thwart the democratic process; 

Whereas more than 80 politicians were killed prior to the 

June 2021 midterm elections in Mexico, with the Mexican cartels claiming responsibility for the killings of at 

least 35 candidates, according to several reports; 

Whereas, according to the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors of the Brookings Institution, Mexico registered almost 34,000 murders in 2022 near an all-time high, representing 27 murders per 100,000 and primarily attributable to ties related to transnational criminal organizations, while the effective prosecution rate for homicides 

remains around 2 percent; 

Whereas, according to the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, the rivalry between the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG 


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•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 territory and Sinaloa taking over both the legal and illegal 

economies of the territories in dispute; 

Whereas, in 2021, the government of President Obrador disbanded 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 regulatory measures to reduce or eliminate the independence 

of Mexican autonomous institutions and regulators, including the Federal Economic Competition Commission, 

the Federal Institute for Telecommunications, the Energy 

Regulatory Commission, and the National Electoral Institute; 

Whereas, at a March 2022 hearing of the Committee on 

Armed Services of the Senate, United States Northern 

Command Commander, General Glen D. VanHerck, testified that ‘‘the largest portion of [Russian intelligence personnel] in the world is in Mexico right now’’ and ‘‘they 

keep an eye very closely on their opportunities to have influence on U.S. opportunities and access’’; 

Whereas Mexico voted in the United Nation’s General Assembly to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while 

abstaining from suspending Russia as a permanent observer of the Organization of American States and from 

expelling Russia from the United Nations Human Rights 

Council; 


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•SRES 97 IS 

Whereas President Obrador has increasingly turned to the 

People’s Republic of China to finance controversial infrastructure 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 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) reaffirms the interest of the United States 

3 in mutually beneficial relations with Mexico based on 

4 shared interests on security, economic prosperity, 

5 and democratic values; 

6 (2) reaffirms support for stronger economic re7 lations with Mexico, including to strengthen the re8 siliency of critical supply chains in North America 

9 and the Western Hemisphere in general; 

10 (3) expresses deep concerns about the wors11 ening investment climate in Mexico, and calls on the 

12 President to take meaningful actions to defend 

13 United States economic interests in Mexico and up14 hold the integrity of the United States-Mexico-Can15 ada Agreement (USMCA); 


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1 (4) urges the President to address the humani2 tarian and security crisis at the border with Mexico 

3 by— 

4 (A) establishing effective immigration con5 trols in the United States; 

6 (B) targeting United States foreign assist7 ance efforts to strengthen border security and 

8 migration management capacities in the region; 

9 and 

10 (C) leveraging existing bilateral extradition 

11 treaties and the Palermo Protocols to prosecute 

12 transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal 

13 migration to the United States; 

14 (5) reaffirms the urgent need for the Govern15 ment of Mexico to implement a detailed and well16 resourced strategy to combat the growing sophistica17 tion of transnational criminal organizations in its 

18 territory, and reduce the production and trafficking 

19 of illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals being 

20 used for the manufacture of synthetic opioids in its 

21 territory, including by— 

22 (A) increasing information sharing between 

23 Mexican authorities and the DEA on seizures of 

24 fentanyl and precursor chemicals in Mexico; 


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1 (B) partnering with the United States to 

2 jointly dismantle and take down clandestine 

3 labs across Mexico; and 

4 (C) prioritizing the arrest and extradition 

5 of more individuals with drug-related charges to 

6 the United States; and 

7 (6) urges the Government of Mexico to uphold 

8 its domestic and international commitments to legal, 

9 safe, and orderly immigration, uphold its obligations 

10 under the USMCA, respect the independence of au11 tonomous regulatory institutions, and guard against 

12 the negative influence of the People’s Republic of 

13 China and the Russian Federation in North America 

14 and the Western Hemisphere in general. 

Æ 


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