Rep. Chip Roy Introduces Legislation Classifying Drug Cartels As Terrorist Organizations

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced legislation Thursday that would label drug cartels as Foreign Terror Organizations (FTO) under federal law.

Titled the “Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act,” Roy’s bill would classify the Reynosa/Los Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas as terrorist organizations, according to the Daily Caller.

“I’ve spent my time talking to people who actually know what’s happening at the border and I’ve been meeting with former DPS agents, people engage[d] with and rooting out cartels and the violence, and all they are telling me is that cartels are becoming increasingly violent,” said Roy. “All of the data shows it, all of the actions show it. We have people in America being shuttled around by cartel-paid American citizens to put them in human trafficking, sex trafficking.”

Roy highlighted a “situation where there was a woman in San Antonio who was stopped, she can’t read or write, she was being terrorized, being held for ransom by the cartel and they threatened her by showing … [a] picture of her husband, who they had murdered. This is what cartels are doing. They’re doing it in our communities. It is reaching our suburban communities. It’s time for Texas to stand up. It’s time for America to stand up.”

“That’s why I’m introducing a bill to designate them as the terrorist organizations that they are,” Roy continued, adding that the cartels are “undermining our national security. They’re undermining Mexico’s national security. And they are a violent organization that is basically the equivalent of having al-Qaida and ISIS literally operating on our border, and we should stop them.”

Roy’s bill comes amid the surge of illegal border crossings following the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Roy, who represents a border district, recently alleged that the Biden administration is turning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into a “welcome mat” for illegal immigrants.

As The Daily Wire reported:

Speaking with Fox News host Harris Faulkner from a full migrant facility in Carizzo Springs, Texas, Roy laid blame for the worsening border crisis on President Joe Biden. “There’s one thing that’s changed in the last couple months, and it’s the incoming Biden administration,” he said.

“They’re at capacity as of tonight,” Roy said of the facility, which he explained was replete with migrant children who have COVID-19. “This is all the result of a wide-open borders policy by the Biden administration, failure to finish the fence, but most importantly, they’re basically turning DHS into a welcome mat. And they’re just encouraging more dangerous journeys for kids.”

Roy went on to explain that “the dirty little secret” of what’s going on at the border is that with the facilities bursting at the seams, an increasing number of these young migrants will be released into the United States, which he said endangers U.S. citizens and migrants alike.

“Americans are in danger, immigrants are in danger, and it’s the Biden administration’s fault, all for crass political purposes,” Roy said.

Related: Poll: Majority Of Americans Disapprove Of How Biden Is Handling The Southern Border Crisis

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