III 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 704 

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 

JULY 13, 2022 

Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. CASSIDY, 

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, marks 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 704 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 United States Bureau of Economic 

Analysis, the United States is Mexico’s top source of foreign direct investment in 2019 with $100,900,000,000, 

or 39.1 percent of all inflows (stock) to Mexico, according 

to Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy; 

Whereas the United States exports roughly $20,000,000,000 

in agricultural products to Mexico annually, nearly 

$6,000,000,000 of which are biotech crops and derived 

products; 

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 


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the power market in Mexico, eliminate independent regulators, 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 

1,700,000 migrants attempting to enter the United 

States illegally through the southern border with Mexico 

in 2021, and have encountered over 1,500,000 in the 

first months of 2022, reaching an all-time high of 

239,416 encounters in May 2022; 

Whereas United States law enforcement is seeing increasing 

numbers of criminals trying to enter the United States 

illegally, arresting nearly 6,000 in the first few months 

of 2022, compared to 10,763 in 2021 and 2,438 in 2020; 

Whereas, in May 2022, Secretary of Homeland Security 

Alejandro Mayorkas declared with regards to encounters 

of illegal immigrants at the United States southern border, ‘‘We’re seeing about a seven-day average of over 

7,500 people, so we have not seen a significant decrease 

in the flows.’’; 


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•SRES 704 IS 

Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection operational 

statistics showed fentanyl seizures at the United States 

southern border increased 56 percent in March 2022 

compared to March 2021, with over a 300 percent increase from March 2020; 

Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection noted a 1,066- 

percent increase in fentanyl seizures at 8 South Texas 

ports of entry during Fiscal Year 2021, and Texas law 

enforcement seized enough fentanyl to comprise over 

36,200,000 lethal doses during the same time period; 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC) reported a record of 106,000 overdose deaths in 

the United States, with more than 70,000 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 Mexican 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 35,000 murders in 2021 near an all-time high, representing 27 murders per 100,000 and primarily attribVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Jul 14, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR704.IS SR704

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•SRES 704 IS 

utable 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 Cartel 

Jalisco Nueva Generacio ́n (CJNG) has violently spread to 

Colombia, one of the United States’ closest allies in the 

Western Hemisphere, with CJNG deploying dronemounted 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’’; 


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•SRES 704 IS 

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; 

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, including the 

deaths of 12 journalists to date in 2021 alone: 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 


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1 President to take meaningful actions to defend 

2 United States economic interests in Mexico and up3 hold the integrity of the United States-Mexico-Can4 ada Agreement (USMCA); 

5 (4) urges the President to address the humani6 tarian and security crisis at the border with Mexico 

7 by— 

8 (A) establishing effective immigration con9 trols in the United States; 

10 (B) targeting United States foreign assist11 ance efforts to strengthen border security and 

12 migration management capacities in the region; 

13 and 

14 (C) leveraging existing bilateral extradition 

15 treaties and the Palermo Protocols to prosecute 

16 transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal 

17 migration to the United States; 

18 (5) is deeply concerned about the growing so19 phistication and territorial control of transnational 

20 criminal organizations in Mexico, and reaffirms the 

21 urgent need to prioritize a detailed and well22 resourced plan to reduce the production and traf23 ficking of illicit narcotics in Mexico, including the il24 licit traffic of precursor chemicals imported from the 

25 People’s Republic of China for the manufacture of 


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1 synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, and that such ef2 forts do not result in a breakdown in the rule of law 

3 or respect for internationally recognized human 

4 rights in Mexico; and 

5 (6) urges the Government of Mexico to mean6 ingfully reduce the threat of deadly synthetic 

7 opioids, uphold its domestic and international com8 mitments to legal, safe, and orderly immigration, up9 hold its obligations under the USMCA, respect the 

10 independence of autonomous regulatory institutions, 

11 and guard against the negative influence of the Peo12 ple’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation 

13 in North America and the Western Hemisphere in 

14 general. 

Æ 


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