(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, said on Sunday that he would “empower” the president to use the military to fight Mexican drug cartels that increasingly gain power day by day.
Vance told Meet The Press host Chuck Todd that the fentanyl crisis that’s originating outside American borders should be combatted with “real American leadership.”
“I want to empower the president of the United States, whether that’s a Democrat or Republican, to use the power of the U.S. military to go after these drug cartels,” Vance said.
He also added that the U.S. must take action because drug cartels have become very influential.
“Here’s the real problem with Mexico, and it’s sort of two-fold: on the one hand, you have the cartels which are arguably the best-funded criminal terrorist organization in the entire world,” Vance said.
“The second thing, Chuck, is we have to recognize the Mexican government is being in a lot of ways destabilized by the constant flow of fentanyl.”
Vance warned that drug cartels could become even more powerful than the country of Mexico three years from now, using Colombia for comparison. Drug Enforcement Administration agents informed Vance that drug cartels’ revenue has increased “fourteen-fold” in the last couple of years. Vance said it is a result of “bad border policies.”
He also said that Americans shouldn’t assume “good faith” from China and Mexico since these two countries are the primary sources of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances entering the U.S., according to the DEA. The United States must begin to exert economic pressure on China, Vance said.
“The Chinese export a ton to the American markets. They absolutely need the American consumer to be able to run their businesses,” he said.
“We should be willing to say that if you don’t stop sending fentanyl precursors to Mexico and to our own ports of entry, we’re going to really penalize you guys economically.”
The Biden administration should pressure the communist country economically through increasing tariffs to “extract a massive economic cost,” Vance said.
