Alabama lawmakers fume over apparent Mexican takeover of U.S. company's port facility

Alabama Republican Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt have demanded that the White House respond to the Mexican military's apparent seizure of a port facility owned by a U.S. company over the weekend.

Surveillance footage at the Vulcan Materials marine terminal in Mexico appeared to show Mexican forces entering the facility on March 14. Vulcan has condemned the takeover of their facility as illegal. The company is a Birmingham-based construction firm.

Tuberville on Monday expressed his displeasure at the takeover, asserting that the incident was another instance of Mexico acting boldly against U.S. interests with the expectation of a weak response from the White House.

"The illegal seizure of Vulcan’s port facility is just the latest example of the Mexican government exploiting President Biden’s weakness, and the situation will only get worse until the President addresses it head on," he tweeted. "President Biden’s failure of leadership has only emboldened Mexico to continue taking hostile action against Vulcan that puts employees at risk and jeopardizes our supply chains in the southeast region of the United States."

"For more than 30 years, Vulcan Materials Company has operated a limestone quarry in Mexico that has created good jobs both in Mexico and in Alabama," he wrote. "Yet time and again, President López Obrador and the Mexican government have undermined Vulcan’s ability to operate in Mexico. Last year, I urged [President Joe Biden] to confront President López Obrador about the Mexican government’s aggression toward Vulcan Materials."

"As usual, President Biden buried his head in the sand," he lamented.

Alabama's junior senator, meanwhile, demanded that the White House take decisive action and address the matter with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

"This forcible seizure of private property is unlawful and unacceptable. It is shameful that this Mexican presidential administration would rather confiscate American assets than the fentanyl killing hundreds of Americans per day," she said on Sunday. "Mexico should be more focused on going after the cartels than law-abiding businesses and hardworking people."

"President Biden must raise this directly with President López Obrador and assure the American people that this will not be tolerated," she demanded.

The Mexican military action comes amid mounting calls for the White House to take military action against the drug cartels that occupy much of Mexico's territory, an approach the Biden administration remains hesitant to pursue, in part due to concerns that Mexico would not accept military action by Washington within its borders.

Amid both an unprecedented migration surge and a rise in criminal narcotics trafficking at the Mexican border, GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, S.C., and John Kennedy, La., have introduced legislation to label nine Mexican gangs as terrorist organizations and to authorize the use of military force to eliminate them.

Graham had particularly harsh words for Lopez Obrador, saying in early March that he had allowed Mexico to "slide into the hands of narco-terrorists." He further challenged the Mexican president, contending that he lacked the resolve to take decisive action against the cartels.

"Your capability or your will doesn't exist to stop what is, I think, the poisoning of America. You're leaving us with no other choices," he said at the time.

The White House has remained opposed to Graham's approach.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.