The Biden administration is waving off calls to follow the lead of former President Donald Trump and designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).
"Designating these cartels as FTOs would not grant us any additional authorities that we don't really have at this time," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Wednesday's daily press briefing. "So, the United States has powerful sanction authorities specifically designated to combat narcotics trafficking organizations and the individuals and entities that enable them."
Jean-Pierre noted the Treasury Department has sanctioned Mexican companies and individuals connected to drug trafficking in recent months, targeting the cartels that are "a danger to the public safety."
Her comments come as four Americans were kidnapped by armed men in Mexico last Friday. Two were later found dead.
The killings were "unacceptable," the White House said Tuesday, promising investigations.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is vowing to take the fight to the cartels directly.
"Drug cartels in Mexico have been terrorizing Americans for decades," Graham tweeted Wednesday. "We are going to unleash the fury and might of the U.S. against these cartels."
Graham spoke at a news conference Wednesday with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pushing for the foreign terrorist organization designations.
"That's the top of the food chain," Graham told reporters. "An FTO designation is the highest designation you can give a criminal terrorist enterprise that's not a nation-state."
Graham said that adding the FTO designation would allow the American government to prosecute individuals and groups for "providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations — something you cannot do today."
"So, we're going to open up the prosecution lane, but I am a firm believer that the prosecution model as it exists today is not working," Graham said. "We're going to up the ante."
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