Head of the DEA Interviewed About the Sinaloa Cartel, the CJNG, AMLO, and Fentanyl

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat 

Anne Milgram, the head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was interviewed on the NBC program Meet the Press about the fentanyl crisis in America.

She was asked about if Mexico and China are cooperating with the DEA in their fight against fentanyl and about if designating the cartels as a terrorist organization would help their efforts.  

The Interview 

Meet the Press is the longest-running program on American television. The show is the premier media outlet for interviews with leaders in US politics, government, and foreign policy.

The program is hosted by Chuck Todd, who sat down with Anne Milgram in an interview broadcast on Sunday, July 2, 2023.

Some the Key Moments from the Interview 

“The only limit of the amount of fentanyl that could be made is the amount of precursor chemicals that can be purchased.”

“What we see the cartel doing is they're hiding that fentanyl powder in other drugs, like cocaine, like heroin, like methamphetamine. And they're pressing it into these fake pills made to look exactly like oxycodone or percocet or or adderall, when it's just fentanyl and filler. So tens of thousands of Americans are dying without having any idea that they're taking fentanyl.” 

The two primary cartels they are focused on

“We have changed the way we work. Our mission right now is to save lives by defeating these two cartels that are responsible for almost all of the fentanyl in the United States, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel. And we have to stop the fentanyl from being made.”

On no longer focusing on capturing high value targets

“Our core task right now is to attack every single part of that supply chain. And this is one way in which we're working differently than we have worked before. So for many years, we've been focused on the high value target or the leader of an organization. That can be an effective way to deal with drug trafficking. But we are now talking about vast global criminal enterprises, with thousands of people in more than 45 countries around the world.”

Chuck Todd asked if China’s cooperation with the DEA has disappeared in the last few years 

“For about the past year, we have not had the cooperation that we want to have.”

Chuck Todd asked “we have two countries that are not doing business with the United States in an honest basis. One is China, and I'd argue the other is Mexico. And I'd ask you this: these cartels, who's in charge of Mexico? Is it the government, or is the government afraid of these cartels?”

“Our relentless focus right now is on these two cartels. And while there are two countries that are the major – obviously, Mexico is where Sinaloa and Jalisco are based, and the vast majority of precursor chemicals are coming from China. We are now tracking these two cartels in more than 45 countries, many of whom are good partners to the United States. And so as we look at this as a global supply chain issue, we are able to do work that we have never done before.” 

Chuck Todd asked “The Mexican president basically denied that [fentanyl production occurs in Mexico…] It does not seem like he accepts the premise that this fentanyl issue is a problem in Mexico.

“One of the things that we did in April, we announced charges against the Sinaloa Cartel. I would argue to you that they're the leaders right now in fentanyl trafficking to the United States. [...] What we showed in those charges, and that case is still pending, but what we showed is that there's no question that fentanyl, as alleged in the indictment, is being synthesized in Mexico. So there are many things that we are doing and investigating through our cases that I think are critically important.” 

Chuck Todd asked if the DEA is getting cooperation from the Mexican government on fighting fentanyl

“The United States is now taking an across-government approach. And so in the past six months, 12 months, we have sat with the Treasury [Department]. We have sat with the State [Department]. We have sat with other federal law enforcement agencies. And the Deputy Attorney General has been to Mexico, as has the President's Homeland Security Advisor. And they're all delivering the message of how important and critical this is. So what we are seeing is some increased cooperation with Mexican law enforcement and the military.”

Chuck Todd asked about if designating the cartels as a terrorist organization would help their efforts

“So, the DEA has vast [legal] authorities. We have the ability to prosecute cases under the 959 Statute, globally. If there was a foreign terrorist organization designation, that would not change our current authorities.”

Chuck Todd asks "Is our fentanyl issue a bigger problem at the border or a bigger problem on social media?"

"The border's an important part of this conversation because most of the fentanyl that we see coming into the United States is coming in through the southwest border. In the indictments we announced in April, what we've charged is that the fentanyl's coming in through every way possible, by air, by land, by sea, by underground tunnels."

Chuck Todd: By Americans?

"By both. But essentially, coming in at very high rates through the southwest border, often in trucks or cars. But yes, coming in through the border. It's an important part of the conversation. Social media is also a vital part of the conversation. It is what I call the last mile. Because what the cartels need – they're selling the deadliest poison we've ever seen – they need that to get – [a platform to advertise.] To be able to expand and sell more, they need to be able to reach people at massive rates. And that's what social media's doing."

On if social media companies are collaborating with the DEA when it comes to fentanyl. 

"Law enforcement needs to get information from the social media companies. We have not, until recently, gotten nearly as much cooperation as we need. And finally, this is an outright emergency. So they need to be doing absolutely everything they can to get the deadly drugs off their platform."

Source: NBC News