As Introduced
135th General Assembly
Regular Session S. R. No. 242
2023-2024
Senator Johnson
Cosponsors: Senators Brenner, Cirino, Dolan, Lang, Reynolds, Romanchuk,
Schaffer, Schuring
A RESOLUTION
To urge the United States Congress to designate the 1
Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel New 2
Generation, as well as similar drug cartels like 3
the Zheng Cartel, as foreign terrorist 4
organizations and to recognize the threats those 5
organizations pose to the people of the United 6
States as terrorism. 7
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
WHEREAS, The 118th Congress of the United States has found 8
that the national security of the United States, along with the 9
health and safety of the citizens of the United States, is under 10
attack by Mexican cartels and other transnational criminal 11
organizations, such as the Zheng Cartel of China and its 12
storefront Global United Biotechnology Inc., that engage in acts 13
of terrorism to exploit the borders of the United States and 14
further their unlawful business of producing and importing 15
illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a substance that kills hundreds 16
of thousands of people in the United States each year, as well 17
as methamphetamine and other controlled substances; and 18
WHEREAS, Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 19
times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, 20
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As Introduced
and some fentanyl-related substances can have even greater 21
potency; and 22
WHEREAS, Although pharmaceutical fentanyl is prescribed by 23
doctors to treat severe pain, illicitly manufactured fentanyl 24
and fentanyl-related substances are created using precursor 25
chemicals that are predominantly imported from China and 26
distributed through illegal drug markets, most commonly by 27
Mexican cartels across the Unites States' southern border; and 28
WHEREAS, According to the Centers for Disease Control and 29
Prevention, nearly 110,000 people in the United States died 30
during fiscal year 2022 from drug overdoses; and 31
WHEREAS, Approximately 66 per cent of those deaths in 32
fiscal year 2022 were related to illicitly manufactured 33
fentanyl; and 34
WHEREAS, In December 2022, the Washington Post reported 35
that, from 2019 to 2021, fatal fentanyl overdoses surged 94 per 36
cent and an estimated 196 people in the United States are now 37
dying each day from the drug, which is the equivalent of a fully 38
loaded Boeing 757–200 crashing and killing everyone on board 39
every day; and 40
WHEREAS, The single largest loss of life resulting from a 41
foreign attack on United States soil was the September 11th 42
terrorist attacks, which killed 2,977 people, and fentanyl 43
overdoses cause the equivalent of a new September 11th nearly 44
every two weeks; and 45
WHEREAS, In fiscal year 2022, the United States suffered 46
more fentanyl-related deaths than gun- and automobile-related 47
deaths combined; and 48
WHEREAS, Illicit fentanyl is now the number one cause of 49
death among people in the United States between the ages of 18 50
and 45; and 51
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As Introduced
WHEREAS, Due to the fact that many nonfatal opioid 52
overdoses are not reported, it is not possible to know exactly 53
how many fentanyl overdoses occur in Ohio or nationwide, nor is 54
it possible to know the rate at which fentanyl overdoses are 55
fatal or nonfatal; and 56
WHEREAS, According to the National Institutes of Health, 57
the overdose fatality rate in Ohio is significantly higher than 58
the national average, and this is due, in part, to a sharp 59
increase in illicitly manufactured fentanyl-adulterated heroin 60
overdose deaths since 2016; and 61
WHEREAS, According to the Centers for Disease Control, the 62
drug overdose death rate in Ohio in 2021 was 48.1 per 100,000, 63
higher than the national average of 32.4 per 100,000; and 64
WHEREAS, According to the Ohio Department of Health, 65
fentanyl was involved in 81 per cent of overdose deaths in 2020, 66
often in combination with other drugs. That percentage was up 67
from 76 per cent in 2019, 73 per cent in 2018, and 71 per cent 68
in 2017; and 69
WHEREAS, A 2017 analysis, accounting for the costs of 70
health care, criminal justice, lost productivity, and social and 71
family services, estimated that the total cost of the drug 72
epidemic of the United States facilitated by Mexican cartels and 73
other transnational criminal organizations was more than 74
$1,000,000,000,000 annually, or five per cent of gross domestic 75
product; and 76
WHEREAS, Law enforcement and immigration officers report 77
that smugglers evade apprehension and successfully bring large 78
quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs 79
into the United States; and 80
WHEREAS, Despite seizures both at and between ports of 81
entry, like the recent seizure by U.S. Customs and Border 82
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Protection of nearly 54 pounds of fentanyl pills and 32 pounds 83
of methamphetamine at the Andrade Port of Entry, domestic supply 84
of these controlled substances indicate that a massive amount of 85
controlled substances are still pouring across our border; and 86
WHEREAS, The federal government possesses unutilized 87
resources and lawful measures to combat the cartels through the 88
designation of those groups as foreign terrorist organizations; 89
and 90
WHEREAS, Foreign terrorist organizations are foreign 91
organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State in 92
accordance with section 219 of the "Immigration and Nationality 93
Act," 8 U.S.C. 1189; and 94
WHEREAS, The designation of organizations as foreign 95
terrorist organizations plays a critical role in the fight 96
against terrorism and is an effective means of curtailing 97
support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get 98
out of the terrorism business because such a designation gives 99
law enforcement agencies and prosecutors greater powers to 100
freeze the assets of an organization, to deny members of the 101
organization entry into the United States, and to seek tougher 102
punishments against those who provide material support to the 103
organization; and 104
WHEREAS, Under section 219 of the "Immigration and 105
Nationality Act," 8 U.S.C. 1189, the U.S. Secretary of State may 106
designate an organization as a foreign terrorist organization if 107
the organization is a foreign organization, and if the 108
organization engages in terrorist activity or terrorism, or 109
retains the capability and intent to engage in terrorist 110
activity or terrorism, and if the terrorist activity or 111
terrorism of the organization threatens the security of United 112
States nationals or the national security of the United States; 113
and 114
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WHEREAS, "Terrorism," as used in the "Immigration and 115
Nationality Act," is defined as "premeditated, politically 116
motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by 117
subnational groups or clandestine agents" (22 U.S.C. 2656f(d)); 118
and 119
WHEREAS, Transnational criminal organizations, such as 120
Mexican and Chinese cartels, satisfy each of those three 121
criteria, as they are foreign organizations based outside the 122
United States, they engage in "terrorist activity" such as 123
assassinations, kidnapping, or use of explosives and firearms, 124
and their terrorist activities threaten the security of the 125
United States and the people of the United States; and 126
WHEREAS, For instance, four United States citizens, 127
including three people from South Carolina, were recently 128
kidnapped by Mexican drug cartels in Matamoros, Mexico, where at 129
least two were tragically killed in cartel violence; and 130
WHEREAS, Mexican cartels and other transnational criminal 131
organizations, as foreign organizations, make billions of 132
dollars each year importing deadly drugs into the United States, 133
especially fentanyl and methamphetamine, which results in the 134
deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the United States 135
each year; and 136
WHEREAS, United States Southern Command reports that 137
criminal organizations, including drug cartels, in their "Area 138
of Responsibility" generate an estimated annual revenue of 139
approximately $300,000,000,000, more than five times the 140
combined defense budget for the region, including Mexico; and 141
WHEREAS, The death and destruction caused by the illicit 142
drug trade is not limited to overdoses and gang violence, 143
rather, it extends to a significant proportion of nearly all 144
other criminal activity in the United States, including 145
burglary, carjacking, robbery, aggravated assault, domestic 146
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violence, felony traffic violations, and much more, and it also 147
extends to drug addictions that often result in homelessness, 148
suicide, human trafficking, child sex trafficking, broken 149
families, birth defects, and other maladies that are devastating 150
communities across the United States; and 151
WHEREAS, The national security threat posed by Mexican 152
cartels and other transnational criminal organizations like the 153
14K, Wo Shing Wo, and Sun Yee On triads extends beyond the sale 154
of fentanyl and other drugs, as these organizations have also 155
shown a lethal willingness to protect their businesses by any 156
means necessary, including organizing armed forces to fight both 157
their rivals and the government of Mexico, creating a dangerous 158
and unstable situation on the southern border of the United 159
States with innocent people of the United States caught in the 160
crossfire; and 161
WHEREAS, The chaos and calamity caused by Mexican cartels 162
and other transnational criminal organizations at the southern 163
border teeters on all-out war, with the government of Mexico 164
deploying more than 200,000 federal troops to fight the cartels, 165
and even with that military presence, the kidnapping, 166
decapitations, and terror continues, including on and near 167
United States soil; and 168
WHEREAS, According to statistics of the United Nations, the 169
homicide rate in the United States Southern Command's "Area of 170
Responsibility" was a staggering 15.7 per 100,000 in 2020, out 171
of a global average of 5.6 per 100,000, no doubt due to the 172
violence of transnational criminal organizations in the region; 173
and 174
WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of State has already 175
recognized the reality of the terror caused by Mexican cartels, 176
issuing its highest level of travel warning for all but two of 177
Mexico's 32 states due to increased threats of crime and 178
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kidnapping and having already named Colombia-based groups like 179
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC– 180
EP), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Segunda Marquetalia 181
(FARC–SM), and the National Liberation Army (ELN) as foreign 182
terrorist organizations; and 183
WHEREAS, There are already known links between 184
transnational criminal organizations and designated foreign 185
terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and 186
the Islamic State; and 187
WHEREAS, Existing counter-narcotics efforts under the 188
"Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act," 21 U.S.C. 1901, et 189
seq., focusing on financial sanctions, and designating these 190
organizations as foreign terrorist organizations are better 191
methods for addressing the increasing violence and supply of 192
deadly fentanyl and other drugs being shipped across the border; 193
now therefore be it 194
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the Senate of the 135th 195
General Assembly of the State of Ohio, urge the members of the 196
118th Congress of the United States to pass S. 1048 to designate 197
the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels, as well as other 198
transnational criminal organizations based in China and 199
elsewhere that meet the criteria of a foreign terrorist 200
organization and participate in the illicit global drug trade, 201
as foreign terrorist organizations pursuant to section 219 of 202
the "Immigration and Nationality Act," 8 U.S.C. 1189; and be it 203
further 204
RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly 205
authenticated copies of this resolution to the Congressional 206
delegation from Ohio and the news media of Ohio. 207