U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Special Agent Brendan Iber emphasized that the Trump administration instructed them to take a “strong action” to curb gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico.
The new policy includes treating cartels as “terrorist organizations” in order to be able to charge them with more severe offenses. “With this designation, we can add new crimes and aggravated sentences,” Iber stated at a press conference in Arizona, following an interagency meeting that also included Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security Investigations, and the Attorney General for the District of Arizona.
Authorities displayed weapons seized in recent operations to highlight the results of CBP-led Operation Desert Lightning.
Iber stated that the ATF’s primary mission “is to reduce violent crime and combat arms trafficking by cartels and terrorist organizations (…) we do this to prevent Mexican cartels and terrorist organizations from acquiring illegal weapons for their criminal activities.”
The agent also stated that “for five years, cartels have infiltrated the United States through the southern border and operated in communities” and affirmed that the ATF “will continue to track firearms traffickers and hold them accountable.”
Guadalupe RamÃrez, director of Field Operations for CBP-Tucson, stated that “the designation of major Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations will ensure lengthy enhanced sentences for terrorism for those arrested and convicted under these interdiction initiatives.” He also mentioned that the “consequences” of arms trafficking “have increased, and there is no consideration of whether the person is a Mexican citizen supporting international terrorist organizations or a U.S. citizen.”
For his part, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Timothy Courchaine, stated that “The U.S. Attorney’s Office stands ready to support our law enforcement partners and prosecute arms trafficking cases, especially those that support Foreign Terrorist Organizations engaged in violent activities in Mexico and other countries,” in order to “stop this illegal activity and dismantle the organizations that support trafficking.”
