Culpeper Star-Exponent: Spanberger sponsors bipartisan bill targeting cartels, adds 1,000 new staff at border

CULPEPER STAR-EXPONENT,

A bipartisan measure would increase inspections of outbound traffic at the U.S. border with Mexico by adding 1,000 staff members, as well as more equipment to combat illicit firearms and money that fuel cartel operations, such as fentanyl trafficking.

Cartels — transnational criminal organizations — are taking advantage of gaps in outbound inspection enforcement to traffic firearms, illegal money from drug sales and other contraband into Mexico to fuel the illegal drug trade, human trafficking and other criminal operations, according to a release from Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th.

Criminals rely on a steady supply of firearms and ammunition to fuel their operations, the release states, and outbound inspections deter the activity by cutting off resources needed to continue illegal operations.

Between FY 2018 and 2022, $58 million in currency and 2,306 firearms were seized through outbound inspections.

“However, these inspections are not being conducted consistently at our southern border,” Spanberger stated.

The “Enhancing Southbound Inspections to Combat Cartels Act,” which she is sponsoring with fellow House Intelligence member, Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw, would strengthen outbound inspection processes at the southern border. It would also require the hiring of 500 additional inspection officers and another 500 Homeland Security personnel to help with investigating currency and firearms smuggling at the southern border.

The bill would also authorize purchase of 50 additional imaging systems — technology allowing officers to screen a larger portion of traffic at the southern border more quickly and efficiently.

“As a former CIA case officer who tracked cartels, I understand how these criminals smuggle firearms and bulk currency across our southern border to move the illicit proceeds that continue to fuel their criminal operations,” said Spanberger in a statement.

“We must continue working to stem the flow of deadly fentanyl into our communities — and we can do so by working to cut off the steady supply of contraband that props up the drug trade. We must provide the men and women who secure our southern border with the resources necessary to cut off this supply and keep our communities safe,” she said.

She said she was grateful to Crenshaw for working with her on the bill.

“Southward bound guns and money fuel the cartel’s war in Mexico and the fentanyl crisis that is poisoning Americans. We have to stop the flow,” Crenshaw said.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection do not have the resources to monitor southbound flows — but this bill helps fix that and serves as a good step in taking the fight to the cartels and disrupts their business operations.”

The measure would require at least 10% of all outbound conveyances at the southern border be inspected, to the extent practical, with a goal of increasing inspection rates to 15 and 20 percent, according to the release.

Companion legislation is being led in the U.S. Senate by Oklahoma Republican James Lankford and New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan.