The U.S. government has long assessed that Mexican drug cartels are the greatest criminal threat to the country and earlier this year federal sources in counterterrorism, intelligence and drug enforcement confirmed in a congressional hearing that the illicit operations have seized unprecedented control of the southwest border. They are officially known as Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) and the Biden administration’s reckless open border policies are facilitating their business model, which includes operating in cities throughout the nation with the help of U.S.-based street gangs that have overrun American communities with drugs. To address the crisis President Trump issued an executive order in 2017 to dismantle TCOs and prevent international trafficking by, not only strengthening the enforcement of federal law, but also ensuring that Homeland Security agencies devote sufficient resources to identifying, interdicting and disrupting TCOs. “These organizations derive revenue through widespread illegal conduct, including acts of violence and abuse that exhibit a wanton disregard for human life,” Trump’s order states. “They, for example, have been known to commit brutal murders, rapes, and other barbaric acts.” In the document the former president also directs federal agencies to share information and coordinate with each other to identify, interdict and destroy TCOs. This includes improvements in the collection, reporting and sharing of relevant data as well as quarterly reports detailing convictions in the U.S. relating to TCOs and their subsidiaries.
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