GOP lawmakers call on Biden to use military force against drug cartels

Republican lawmakers have called on President Joe Biden to authorize use of military force against drug cartels orchestrating trafficking operations across the U.S. border with Mexico.

GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, S.C., and John Kennedy, La., have introduced legislation this week to brand nine Mexican gangs as terrorist organizations and to authorize military force against them, the Washington Times reported. The move follows a lethal episode in which a group of four Americans were kidnapped amid a firefight in the Mexican border town of Matamoros.

The town plays host to competing drug cartels due to its status as a jumping off point for trafficking operations. Two of the Americans died during the incident while the remaining pair were recovered and repatriated to the U.S. to receive medical treatment in Texas.

Graham lamented that criminal organizations were able to operate against Americans and vowed to bring them to heel, saying "[w]e are going to unleash the fury and might of the United States against these cartels. "We're going to destroy their business model and their lifestyle because our national security and the security of the United States as a whole depends on us taking decisive action."

"It's time now to get serious and use all of the tools in the toolbox. Not just in the prosecution lane, not just in the law enforcement lane, but in the military lane as well," he added.

A primary source of concern remains the likely stalwart opposition of the Mexican government. Graham brushed aside the concerns of Mexico City, asserting that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had allowed his nation to "slide into the hands of narco-terrorists."

"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 challenged the head of state.

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