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US Customs and Border Protection finds oxycodone pills in a parcel at John F. Kennedy International Airport's US Postal Service facility on June 24, 2019. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2022, US law enforcement seized enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States. Now, Chinese money laundering organizations using ambitious new techniques have made cracking down on Mexican drug cartels harder than ever.
In this Hudson policy memo, Kleptocracy Initiative Research Fellow Nate Sibley gives eight policy recommendations to help hold the cartels—and the Chinese Communist Party—accountable.
Key Insights
1. Pressure the Chinese Communist Party to increase international cooperation.
Transnational threats can only be defeated by international cooperation, but the US should also be prepared to take serious steps unilaterally if necessary. Imposing sanctions on implicated Chinese officials, companies, and criminal organizations may initially be only symbolic. But if the CCP refuses to change course, the US can incrementally expand sanctions to target entire cities or regions identified as centers for production and money laundering.
2. Designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Besides the much more serious debate over authorizing US military force against the cartels, designating them as foreign terrorist organizations would allow the US to bring criminal charges against corrupt Mexican officials and others providing them with “material support.” This move would give US law enforcement a powerful new tool to deter and prosecute those who facilitate the financial networks underpinning the fentanyl trade.
3. Empower law enforcement to follow the money.
US anti-money laundering laws and regulations currently impose rigorous requirements on US banks, but they do not cover other sectors that can also handle client funds. By extending regulations to include legal firms, investment funds, real estate professionals, and other high-risk sectors, Congress could enable the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to capture a far broader snapshot of the money laundering ecosystem than is currently possible.
Quotes may be edited for clarity and length.
Go Deeper
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Reversing the Overdose Epidemic Attack on America In February, Hudson President and CEO John P. Walters testified before the House Intelligence Committee on the murderous threat that fentanyl made in Mexico with precursors from China poses to the US. In The Hill, he explains how a strategy modeled on America’s response to terrorism can meet this extreme danger. |
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The US Has to Defeat Mexico’s Drug Cartels The cartels have Mexico in a python-like stranglehold, and over 100,000 Americans died of overdoses last year. In the Wall Street Journal, Hudson Distinguished Fellow William P. Barr writes that the US should respond to the crisis by treating the cartels like terrorist groups. |
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Cartels Working with China to Poison America On NewsNation, Hudson Senior Fellow David Asher explains how Chinese nationals in the US help cartels to launder money, and why dealing a drug as deadly as fentanyl only makes sense if the goal is to harm Americans. |
