Dem Lawmakers Aim to Stop Guns Going Into Mexico

Three Democrat lawmakers are introducing legislation aimed at suppressing the trafficking of U.S.-made guns and ammunition into Mexico.

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., insists the Disarming Cartels Act will help reduce the amount of fentanyl that enters 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, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement, CBS News reported.

"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."

Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, are joining Goldman in introducing the bill, which directs the Department of Homeland Security to enhance collaboration among federal immigration agencies and other partners to "identify, target, disrupt and dismantle" criminal groups behind the exporting of firearms and other weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Disarming Cartels Act is co-sponsored by Democrat Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., Danny Davis, D-Ill., Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C', Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Glenn Ivey, D-Md., Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

Castro is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

"For years, American guns have fueled violence, instability, and forced migration across the Western Hemisphere," Castro said in a statement. "The United States can — and must — do more to stop the weapons we manufacture from landing in the hands of criminal organizations."

Thompson, chair of the Gun Violence Prevention task force, said the bill will help secure the southern border.

"Firearms purchased in the United States are being illegally trafficked to Mexico, arming the cartels and fueling the fentanyl epidemic," Thompson said in a statement. "Going after the bad actors that facilitate the exchange of guns for fentanyl will help us crack down on illegal drug trade while preventing firearms from getting into the hands of cartels and other criminal organizations."

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