Declaring a state of war between certain cartels and the United States of America and making provision to prosecute the same.

Bill: 118-hjres-95
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Greene, Marjorie Taylor [R-GA-14]
Introduced: 2023-10-11
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2023-10-25
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:

tv_txt: IA 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. J. RES. 95 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 11, 2023 Ms. Greene of Georgia submitted the following joint resolution October 25, 2023 Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs JOINT RESOLUTION Declaring a state of war between certain cartels and the United States of America and making provision to prosecute the same.

Whereas over 7,580,000 illegal border crossers from over 160 countries have invaded our country since 2021; Whereas, in August 2023, over 304,000 illegal border crossers invaded our country, surpassing all national records for monthly encounters; Whereas there have been approximately 1,600,000 known got-aways who have evaded United States authorities; Whereas many of these illegal border crossers are military-aged men, are on the United States terrorist watchlist, and are gang members who are killing Americans and are a direct threat to our national security; Whereas the Mexican cartels are executing the complete invasion of our country; Whereas fentanyl is the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45; Whereas fentanyl kills approximately 300 Americans a day; Whereas, to date in fiscal year 2023, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized approximately 24,000 pounds of fentanyl attempting to be smuggled into the United States; this is enough fentanyl to kill every single American 15 times over; Whereas, according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Beltran-Leyva Organization, Los Zetas and Cartel del Noreste, Guerreros Unidos, the Gulf Cartel, Juarez Cartel and La Linea, La Familia Michoacána, and the Los Rojos have the greatest drug trafficking impact on the United States; Whereas the DEA’s top operational priority is to defeat the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Mexican drug cartels, both of which have been declared to be the greatest criminal drug threat the United States has ever faced; Whereas these ruthless, violent, criminal organizations have associates, facilitators, and brokers in all 50 States of the United States; Whereas the Mexican cartels employ an estimated 175,000 members; Whereas human trafficking is a $150 billion dollar-a-year industry; Whereas the United States is one of the top destinations for human trafficking; Whereas the cartels made approximately $13 billion just from human trafficking and smuggling in 2021; Whereas human trafficking cases in the United States increased drastically in fiscal year 2022, with arrests increasing by 50 percent and convictions by 80 percent; Whereas, in February 2021 alone, Border Patrol estimated that the cartels made $14,000,000 per day smuggling illegal aliens across the border; Whereas the cartels charge illegal border crossers between $10,000 and $70,000 per person to cross our border illegally and invade our country; Whereas the Sinaloa Cartel employs gatekeepers assigned to Ports of Entry and controls the Arizona and California smuggling corridors into the United States; Whereas former special agent for DEA’s Special Operations Division testified under oath that the cartels have total control over the United States southern border; Whereas, in March 2022, inside 4 houses controlled by a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel in the northern state of Sonora, the Mexican army recovered 2,800,000 rounds of ammunition, 89 hand grenades, 20 machine guns, 6.50 caliber sniper rifles, more than 150 handguns and automatic rifles, and bulletproof vests; Whereas, in May 2022, United States authorities broke up a Cartel del Noreste scheme to buy $500,000 worth of machine guns, grenades, and rocket-propelled launchers to be smuggled south from the United States into Mexico; Whereas, according to the American Sheriff Alliance, transnational criminal organizations like the cartels and gangs are directly responsible for the increases in deaths, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and unprecedented violence occurring in cities and counties across our Nation; and Whereas, by the acts of the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New General Cartel, the Los Zetas and Cartel del Noreste, the Gulf Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel and La Linea, the Beltran-Levya Organization, the Guerreros Unidos, the Los Rojos, and La Familia Michoacána (together, the Cartels ), a state of war exists between these Cartels and the United States of America: Now, therefore, be it

1. Declaration of War (a) Pursuant to Article 1, section 8 of the United States Constitution, the Congress hereby formally declares that a state of war exists between the United States and— (1) the Sinaloa Cartel; (2) the Jalisco New General Cartel; (3) the Los Zetas and Cartel del Noreste; (4) the Gulf Cartel; (5) the Tijuana Cartel; (6) the Juarez Cartel and La Linea; (7) the Beltran-Levya Organization; (8) the Guerreros Unidos; (9) the Los Rojos; and (10) La Familia Michoacána and Knights Templar Cartel. (b) The President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against such Cartels; and, to protect the citizens of the United States, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States. 2. Recognition of Mexico That— (1) the United States is not in a state of war with the United Mexican States (Mexico); and (2) it is in the interest of the United States to work with the Government of Mexico to carry on war against such Cartels.