Graham says 'America is under attack' from Mexican drug cartels: 'We need to be at war with them'

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Graham says U.S. is under attack from drug cartels in Mexico

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a Senate hearing on Tuesday that America "is under attack" from Mexican drug cartels. CREDIT: C-SPAN

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Tuesday warned that America "is under attack" from Mexican drug cartels, and urged fellow lawmakers and the head of Homeland Security that the U.S. needs "to be at war with them" in response to the fentanyl crisis.

"What are we going to do about the poisoning of America?" Graham said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, which had DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as a witness. "So here's what I would say: America is under attack. Our nation is being attacked by foreign powers called drug cartels in Mexico." 

Graham noted that around 70,000 Americans die a year due to fentanyl – which is produced in Mexico using Chinese precursors and then smuggled across the U.S. land border. Cartels facilitate both the production and the transport of fentanyl into the U.S.

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"When the Japanese attacked America at Pearl Harbor, they killed about 3,000 Americans; 9/11 when we were attacked, about 3,000. This is the largest attack on American homeland by a foreign power in the history of the nation," he said.

Graham used the hearing to re-up his calls for cartels to be declared foreign terrorist organizations and for the U.S. to use military force to take out cartel labs.

Attorney General Merrick Garland recently told lawmakers Mexico was helping the U.S. with the issue of fentanyl, but could still be doing more. He also said the epidemic is being "unleashed on purpose" by Mexico. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, told lawmakers that parts of Mexico are controlled by the cartels.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reacted angrily to the increased rhetoric from Washington and falsely claimed that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico as he attempted to shift the blame onto the U.S.

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"Here, we do not produce fentanyl, and we do not have consumption of fentanyl," López Obrador said. "Why don't they [the United States] take care of their problem of social decay?"

He also threatened to meddle in U.S. elections by launching an "information campaign" against Republicans."And if they do not change their attitude and think that they are going to use Mexico for their propaganda, electoral and political purposes, we are going to call for them not to vote for that party, because it is interventionist, inhumane, hypocritical and corrupt," López Obrador said, later adding that Mexico would be insisting that "not one vote" goes to Republicans from Mexicans and Hispanics.

But Graham is not backing down. On Tuesday he pointed to a map showing all the "do not travel" areas issued by the State Department.

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"Who controls these red zones? Drug cartels that are making billions of dollars of bringing fentanyl in the country and human trafficking due to a broken immigration system," he said.

He added that it was time to "take the gloves off."

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"They're at war with us. We need to be at war with them."