WASHINGTON, DC – Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), both members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced the Enhancing Southbound Inspections to Combat Cartels Act to increase inspections of traffic going from the US to Mexico, which will help combat the flow of illicit firearms and money that fuel drug cartels.

“US Customs and Border Protection doesn’t currently have the resources they need to stop the flow of guns and money going south from the US to the cartels in Mexico,” Lankford said. “With all the resources tied up dealing with the flow of people and drugs coming from the south into the US, we need to provide border law enforcement the additional people and technology they need to help address the flow of criminal activity going south from the US into Mexico.”

“Shutting down drug cartels requires disrupting the supply chains that bring illicit guns and cartel profits from the US to Mexico,” Hassan said. “By significantly increasing inspections of southbound traffic at the Southern border, this bipartisan legislation will crack down on fentanyl and other drug trafficking and help save lives. I will continue working to address the opioid crisis that is devastating New Hampshire and urge my colleagues to join this important legislation.”

Specifically, the Enhancing Southbound Inspections to Combat Cartels Act would:

• Require that at least 20 percent of southbound vehicles are inspected, to the extent practicable

• Authorize at least 500 additional Customs and Border Protection officers to assist with southbound inspections

• Authorize at least 100 additional Homeland Security Investigations agents

• Authorize 50 additional x-ray inspection systems for southbound inspections In addition to supporting the necessary resources for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Lankford remains the leading voice in the Senate to secure our southern border, end catch-and-release, and fix the broken asylum process. Lankford got Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to admit that our asylum process is broken and being abused and that our entire immigration process is broken.

Lankford recently visited the US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona, after Title 42 authority was lifted, and he saw first-hand the national security risk the wide-open border has presented because CBP has been forced to process illegal migrants into the US instead of protecting the border. Lankford also called out the Biden Administration for fudging the illegal border crossing numbers to fake success of their Title 42 plan.