Peach Tree Times

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) designated the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in a recent executive order and urged President Joe Biden to do the same.

Abbott defended the move at a press conference in late September, according to a news release from his office. He said "cartels are terrorists" and should be treated in that manner. The governor sent a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris "requesting federal terrorist classifications" for the cartels. Abbott's goal is to raise national awareness about fentanyl and pursue harsher sentences for convicted drug traffickers.

"Designation, apprehension, and prosecution would also heighten public awareness of the cartels' trafficking of deadly fentanyl while signaling to the international community that the United States will not tolerate terrorists who poison our citizens," Abbott said in the letter. 

Four people were arrested by the Tift County Sheriff's Office earlier this week for trafficking fentanyl and other drugs at a combined value of over $700,000, a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) noted. The arrests were the result of a two-month-long investigation in conjunction with the GBI Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office. 

Over 2,400 overdose deaths were reported in Georgia from March 2021 to March 2022, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Abbott sent a letter to Biden in April 2021 as well; the governor said he received no response. When the Supreme Court declared Biden's ending of the so-called Remain in Mexico policy as constitutional in June, Abbott published a statement, another news release noted. He warned that the decision would create more significant problems regarding illegal immigration in the future. 

"Reinstating and fully enforcing Remain in Mexico would deter thousands more migrants from making that deadly trek, and President Biden should take that simple step to secure the border because it is the only humane thing to do," Abbott said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) witnessed more than 2.1 million border enforcement encounters since October 2021.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) voted against a bill that would have appropriated $300 million to CBP to engage in the fight against trafficked opioids in 2021. Abbott urged state leaders since then to allocate more resources to Border Patrol agents in order to better equip them for the escalating crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.