Democratic Bill Asks DHS to Disrupt Gun Smuggling to Mexico
A dozen House Democrats, led by Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., recently introduced a bill that asks the Biden administration to coordinate with Mexico to increase outbound inspections by CBP on the land border with Mexico, with the aim of reducing the number of guns smuggled from the U.S. to Mexico.
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The Disarming Cartels Act, whose text was published Dec. 5, also directs Homeland Security Investigations to share aggregated information about interdicted firearms in the U.S. and the introduction of U.S.-sourced firearms in Mexico with other federal law enforcement agencies.
The news release announcing the bill's introduction says more than half a million U.S.-manufactured guns are trafficked to Mexico each year, and 70% of firearms recovered from Mexican crime scenes come from the U.S.
“Democrats and Republicans alike recognize the devastating threat posed by the fentanyl trade and human smuggling and trafficking, all of which are predominantly controlled by Mexican drug cartels at our southern border,” Goldman said. “But Republicans simply ignore that the source of the cartels’ power is the hundreds of thousands of American-manufactured weapons of war that flow out of the United States and into the hands of the cartels. If we want to address crime across our southern border, then we must address the exportation of American guns across the border. The Disarming Cartels Act will do just that.”
The bill asks the agency to establish performance measures for suppressing gun smuggling to Mexico, and asks that the agency submit annual reports to congressional committees of jurisdiction on how the effort is going.