Joint US-Mexico Task Force on Fentanyl Trafficking Planned During Biden/AMLO Meeting

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) met with President Biden at the White House.

On July 12 President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) met at the White House to discuss a plethora of topics from migration to trade and manufacturing and climate change emissions. Drugs, particularly fentanyl, trafficking, and border security were also on the agenda. In a joint statement, the pair confirmed they would see the creation of a new “U.S.-Mexico operational task force to disrupt the flow of fentanyl between their respective countries”.

The rise of fentanyl has had deeply damaging effects, particularly in the US as they face a growing opioid crisis. Last year the US saw a record number of overdose deaths, 107,000, with the majority being the result of a fentanyl overdose. Fentanyl is a particularly strong form of synthetic opioid, which is often within, unknown to consumers, other opioids.

Fentanyl precursors are primarily sent from China, and increasingly India, to Mexico where drug trafficking groups make fentanyl often in clandestine factories. Mexico saw one of the largest fentanyl busts ever last week when over a half-ton of fentanyl was seized in a warehouse in Culiacán, Sinaloa.

The nature and operational action of this fentanyl task force are still unknown. Undoubtedly, the fentanyl crisis is deeply damaging. However, will a doubling down on drug-war rhetoric and action, attempting to dismantle the drug supply chains and criminalize users, be an effective strategy?

Portions of the Official Joint Statement

Through the Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities, we reaffirmed our commitment to work together to address major security issues affecting our nations, including the challenges of fentanyl, arms trafficking, and human smuggling, and to reduce levels of drug abuse and addiction. We committed to deepening our cooperation to combat transnational criminal organizations that foment violence in both our countries. We reaffirmed the robust operational efforts between law enforcement agencies to address these paramount security efforts. We pledged to establish a U.S.-Mexico operational task force to disrupt the flow of fentanyl into our countries.  

The tragic deaths of migrants at the hands of human smugglers in San Antonio further strengthen our determination to go after the multi-billion-dollar criminal smuggling industry preying on migrants and increase our efforts to address the root causes of migration. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office have coordinated to arrest and prosecute those who endanger the lives of vulnerable migrants, including through the work of Joint Task Force Alpha and its Mexican partners. This year our countries will celebrate 200 years of formal diplomatic relations. As neighbors, friends, and family, we are united as two nations that share one future. 

Sources White House, Atlas News