COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2013 It\u2019s become fashionable for Republican political candidates to say some drastic actions are needed to deal with the flow of drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n
This includes at a recent U.S. Senate candidate forum in Medina<\/a>, where Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the U.S. government should declare the various drug cartels that control wide swaths of Mexico foreign terrorist organizations. Cleveland-area businessman Bernie Moreno took it a step further, saying that he also would back sending in the U.S. military \u201cto wipe the drug cartels off face of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd cheered. Polls show<\/a> American voters \u2013 especially Republicans \u2013 like the idea of sending the military to Mexico, as long as the government there signs off on it (although 40% of Republican voters said in a recent Reuters\/Ipsos poll they\u2019d be OK going in unilaterally, too). Designating the Mexican cartels terrorist groups is a popular Republican position, but Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have said they\u2019re weighing it as an option.<\/p>\n But how plausible, exactly are these proposals? And what would they do?<\/p>\n Experts in military operations and counterterrorism are split on the terrorism component, but are on the same page in opposing sending the military to Mexico, something the government there has been resolutely against.<\/p>\n Javed Ali, a former FBI agent who served in senior intelligence and counterterrorism roles during ex-President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, personally supports putting the cartels on the same list as groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS.<\/p>\n But, he said sending the military to Mexico isn\u2019t realistic, absent some extreme hypothetical scenario like an actual terrorist attack.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we get to 2024, people are going to use that as a position to help win votes,\u201d Ali said. \u201cBut it would take something dramatic to bring this all up again.\u201d<\/p>\n Todd Huntley, director of the Georgetown University Law Center\u2019s national security law program, opposes designating the cartels terrorists. But he too said sending the military to Mexico isn\u2019t a serious idea.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a campaign bumper sticker that they drag out to say \u2018I\u2019d be tough. I would do something more than what the current administration is doing,\u2019\u201d said Huntley, a former Navy judge\u2019s advocate whose resume includes time he spent advising the U.S. Special Operations Command.<\/p>\n The idea of adding the cartels to a list of foreign terrorist organizations dates back for years. Trump considered the move while he was in office but decided against it in 2019 at the request of Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador.<\/a> Mexican concerns include the blow the move would deal to the country\u2019s reputation and the potential economic damage that would follow.<\/p>\n The idea\u2019s been revived during Biden\u2019s administration. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a March congressional hearing that the Biden Administration is considering doing so, as Republicans have been urging them to do, according to media reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n The topic picked up steam after cartel members kidnapped and murdered two Americans in February in Matamoros, a Mexican city across the border from Brownsville, Texas. The move was unauthorized, cartel leaders said in a public apology as they turned over five people who they said were the culprits to local police.<\/p>\n Proponents of the idea say that designating cartels as terrorist groups would make it easier to charge and prosecute low-level associates with high-level crimes. Providing material support to a terrorist organization, a charge that doesn\u2019t require prosecutors to prove someone is directly involved with planning a terrorist attack, carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. It could be used against people in the United States, although the U.S. has charged people overseas with the crime while seeking their extradition to face charges here.<\/p>\n Ali, the University of Michigan professor, says declaring the cartels terrorist organizations also carries a symbolic value that could have real consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t want any more of the limelight from the U.S. government to be on them, and I do think it would perhaps change some of their behavior,\u201d Ali said.<\/p>\n Opponents commonly say that declaring cartels terrorists carries no significant legal benefit. The conservative Heritage Foundation argued this in a 2019 report<\/a>, while saying that cartels also lack political motivations that would make them qualify as a terrorist group.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not necessary,\u201d said Huntley, the Georgetown national security law professor. \u201cYou already have other designations that are being used to sanction the drug cartels and people doing business with the drug cartels.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the potential downsides: upsetting the Mexican government and damaging cooperation on related and unrelated issues, while also inflaming the cartels, perhaps driving them to begin attacking Americans or American-linked targets in Mexico or elsewhere. The Heritage Foundation has argued a designation also could cause more illegal immigration by allowing migrants to cite terrorism as a reason they should be allowed to remain in the U.S. while their asylum cases are being processed.<\/p>\n Ali and Huntley agree that sending the military to Mexico is a bad and unserious idea. Ali said there\u2019s no basis for it, while Huntley said, especially if the Mexican government didn\u2019t consent to it, it would cause numerous problems while stirring up bad feelings among everyday Mexicans, given the history of American military intervention in Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cI think given our recent history in Afghanistan and Iraq, I don\u2019t think it would be effective. I think it would be counterproductive and probably result in an increase in violence along the border,\u201d Huntley said. \u201cSo it probably would place more Americans at risk than there are currently.\u201d<\/p>\n The countervailing arguments haven\u2019t discouraged Republicans from suggesting that the U.S. military should go into Mexico to help fight the cartels. Trump privately floated bombing cartel-owned drug labs in Mexico while he was in office<\/a> and has described military actions he would use if he\u2019s elected president next year.<\/p>\n Other Republicans have followed suit. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio endorsed the idea in a national TV interview in July<\/a> and it\u2019s become a common policy position from the various candidates competing with Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.<\/p>\n The entire field of Republican U.S. Senate candidates running in Ohio\u2019s March primary election also say they support declaring the cartels foreign terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n They differ somewhat on the military option though.<\/p>\n State Sen. Matt Dolan, who\u2019s running a less bombastic, more traditional campaign, described a list of options that didn\u2019t include going across the border.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must use the full scale of U.S. power and influence to secure the border and stop the flow of fentanyl,\u201d Dolan said in an email. \u201cThat includes the appropriate applications of our national defense capabilities, including military personnel at the border and cyber warfare to inflict maximum damage on cartel operations, leadership and infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n LaRose, a former U.S. Army Green Beret, didn\u2019t rule the idea out in a statement. \u201cAll options need to be on the table to stop the dangerous drugs that are flooding our streets and killing our citizens,\u201d LaRose said.<\/p>\n Moreno, a former luxury car dealer who\u2019s running to the political right in the GOP primary, has been vocal in supporting the idea, including during his unsuccessful run for the Senate in 2021 and at the candidate forum in Medina.<\/p>\n In an interview, Moreno ruled out sending the military into Mexico without its leaders\u2019 permission.<\/p>\n But, he said he thinks he can talk Mexico into it, through a mix of economic pressure and persuasion. He cited his business background and personal background as a native of Colombia, which worked with the U.S. military to fight drug traffickers including Pablo Escobar in previous decades.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a disrespectful gringo coming in and telling them what to do. I\u2019m someone who shares a common language and a common perspective with them. I can be very respectful and walk them through this,\u201d Moreno said. He added that he thinks changing asylum laws could address the argument the Heritage Foundation made that the terrorist designation would spur more illegal immigration.<\/p>\n Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who will face off against whoever wins the Republican primary, in a statement referenced a bipartisan bill he sponsored, which passed the Senate with support from law enforcement in July<\/a>, that would impose new economic sanctions and other penalties on drug cartels and Chinese suppliers.<\/p>\n Brown has not endorsed calling the cartels terrorists, although he thinks the option is worth considering, or sending the military to attack them.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been clear that we must use every tool we can to crack down on foreign cartels that bring deadly fentanyl into our country. It\u2019s why I wrote the FEND Off Fentanyl Act and worked to pass it in the Senate, to crack down on the entire illicit fentanyl supply chain, from the chemical suppliers in China to the cartels in Mexico. It\u2019s the most effective way to actually stop fentanyl at its source \u2014 before it ever reaches Ohio,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n Andrew Tobias covers state politics and government for cleveland.com<\/a> and The Plain Dealer<\/a> <\/p>\n \u00a92023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com<\/a>. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a> <\/p>\n KeyWords:: 9b2d5277-993d-5b40-95e8-b54576629ea4 COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2013 It\u2019s become fashionable for Republican political candidates to say some drastic actions are needed to deal with the flow of drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. This includes at a recent U.S. Senate candidate forum in Medina, where Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the U.S. government should declare the various drug cartels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33629,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33628\/revisions\/33629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The debate<\/strong> <\/h3>\n
What do Ohio\u2019s Senate candidates think?<\/strong> <\/h3>\n
\n9b2d5277 993d 5b40 95e8 b54576629ea4
\nPLD-OHIO-REPUBLICAN-US-SENATE-CANDIDATES-BACK-MILITARY-ACTION-20231102
\nPLD OHIO REPUBLICAN US SENATE CANDIDATES BACK MILITARY ACTION 20231102<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"