Republicans’ New Border Plan: Send Military Into Mexico; Republicans Rally to use US Military to Take Down Mexican Cartels Behind Fentanyl

WSJ: Republicans’ New Border Plan: Send Military Into Mexico

Some GOP candidates and lawmakers want to use the U.S. military to battle drug cartels

epublicans running for president and in Congress are coalescing around a controversial way to wage war against illegal drugs—sending the U.S. military into Mexico.

Former President Donald Trump, who has previously called for building a wall along the southern border and giving drug dealers the death penalty, has also proposed creating a naval blockade of Mexico to prevent drugs like illicit fentanyl from entering the U.S. His leading opponent in the 2024 GOP nomination race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, promised last week to use “deadly force” against anyone caught smuggling drugs across the border.

On Capitol Hill, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and John Kennedy (R., La.) have both voiced support for military operations in Mexico. Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) said in a recent interview on NBC that cartels should be considered terrorist organizations, meriting a military response. And Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas) and Mike Waltz (R., Fla.) have sponsored a bill that would formally declare war on the cartels—meaning the military would be authorized to drop bombs on cartel targets.

There is a simple reason the idea of a military intervention keeps cropping up—it is popular, and not just with Republicans. In an NBC poll taken in late June, sending troops to the border to stop drugs was the single best-liked of 11 GOP proposals tested with Republican primary voters. And it was the only one that gained support from a majority of all registered voters.

The poll findings reflect growing anxiety for Americans, as a continuing opioid crisis fuels record numbers of drug-overdose deaths. In many of those cases, Americans are taking other drugs they don’t realize are laced with deadly fentanyl.

The rhetoric is also useful for Republican candidates eager to campaign on border and immigration policy, a topic that polls have repeatedly shown is a top concern for GOP voters but which ranks as a lower priority for most Democrats. And as illegal crossings at the border have recently plummeted following the implementation of new Biden administration immigration policies, it gives candidates something new to talk about.

“What we see in polling is a pretty big shift toward Republicans on all questions related to border security and immigration,” said Patrick Ruffini, a Republican pollster and digital strategist. “So it’s not surprising that you’re seeing Republican primary candidates up the ante.”

Doris Meissner, who served as the top immigration official under the Clinton administration, said the Republican proposals are problematic because deploying the U.S. military on domestic soil to perform law-enforcement functions is illegal, and performing military operations in Mexico without the explicit cooperation of the Mexican government would be an act of war against a sovereign country. —>READ MORE HERE

Republicans rally to use US military to take down Mexican cartels behind fentanyl:

Republicans are increasingly coalescing around the idea of deploying military troops to Mexico as one way to take action as the fentanyl epidemic rages within the United States.

GOP presidential contenders and Republicans on Capitol Hill have floated a variety of proposals in recent days to take action to cut off the supply of fentanyl precursors being shipped from China to Mexico, where the final product is concocted in underground labs operated by cartels.

Former President Donald Trump called for the Navy to form a maritime wall to block incoming cargo ships from docking in Mexico. Cartels make fentanyl and then move it across the border into the U.S., where it is dispersed across the country. In 2021, as fentanyl became more available in the U.S., drug-related deaths topped 100,000 and were largely fueled by the influx of fentanyl into the illicit drug market.

Fellow 2024 contender Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said in late June that the U.S. should shoot drug smugglers who attempt to breach the border wall, and he also supported the port blockade proposal.

“If the cartels are cutting through the border wall trying to run product into this country, they’re going to end up stone-cold dead as a result of that bad decision,” DeSantis said.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) told NBC’s Meet the Press this weekend that he wants the U.S. “to use the power of the U.S. military to go after these drug cartels,” the Washington Examiner reported Sunday. —>READ MORE HERE

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