WASHINGTON– Representative Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) addressed President Donald Trump's approach to targeting drug cartels in an exclusive interview with Cactus Politics, responding to criticism from House Democrats.
When asked about Democratic pushback against President Trump's cartel policies, including concerns from lawmakers like Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) about the administration's unilateral approach, Ciscomani defended the administration's stance.
"The cartels and the leaders of these cartels and what they do, they represent the worst people that we've ever encountered," Ciscomani said. "What they've done to their own country is horrific and what they do in feeding poison to our kids here is terrible."
Ciscomani pointed to Trump's terrorist organization designation for cartels as enabling stronger enforcement. "That pretty much unleashed a lot of actions after that so that we can secure our border and protect our families and our kids here from this poison coming in, this fentanyl or any of the other drugs," he said.
The congressman described how cartels have evolved beyond traditional drug trafficking.
"These cartels aren't just the old narcos running around trying to cross marijuana over the border," he commented. "What you have now is high technology drone capability that they're operating. They're very well funded."
Ciscomani stated that before recent policy changes, "the cartels were the ones that actually managed the border."
Mexico’s Support
Despite supporting strong enforcement, Ciscomani emphasized the need for partnership with Mexico. "From all the reports that I'm seeing, and I can't discuss some of them because they're classified, but overall we are seeing the most cooperation from Mexico on tackling this issue that we've seen in a long time," he said.
He noted Mexico's stake in addressing cartels, saying, "They're the ones that are being the most impacted by these gangs and these cartels running their communities." "They're our neighbors. They're our number one trading partners. A lot of us have family on both sides of the border. We want to do this in a binational cooperative way," he added.
The comments come as lawmakers debate various approaches to addressing cartel operations and drug trafficking.
“It's very important that we do this in partnership with Latin American countries,” Ciscomani concluded.
