# Stop the Cartels Act: What You Need to Know

This bill focuses on gathering better intelligence about drug trafficking organizations and human smuggling networks operating in countries south of the U.S. border, particularly Mexico and Central America. The government would spend the next several years collecting detailed information about how these criminal organizations operate, where they get their money, and how they're connected to human trafficking. Intelligence agencies would produce reports analyzing the threat these groups pose and whether current efforts to monitor them are adequate. The bill also requires the government to review and potentially strengthen cooperation with Mexico on law enforcement and intelligence sharing, noting that recent Mexican policies have created barriers to this cooperation.

The bill includes provisions aimed at disrupting cartel operations through financial means. It allows the government to designate major drug trafficking organizations as "Special Transnational Criminal Organizations," which would make it illegal for Americans to provide them with material support and allow the government to freeze their assets in U.S. financial institutions. Additionally, the bill would cut off federal funding to any state or local government that has policies protecting people from immigration enforcement—essentially penalizing so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions by withholding grant money.

On immigration enforcement, the bill makes several changes to how the government handles asylum cases and migrant processing at the border. It requires the Department of Homeland Security to submit monthly reports on migrant arrivals and includes provisions related to asylum fraud prevention and the hiring of additional border personnel. The bill also addresses the processing of refugee applications and centers where these applications would be handled. Finally, the legislation reauthorizes federal drug prevention and treatment programs, suggesting these resources should be repurposed to support the bill's enforcement priorities.

Stop the Cartels Act

Davidson, Warren

Stop the Cartels ActThis bill addresses various issues relating to immigration, law enforcement cooperation with Mexico, and drug cartels.The bill bars federal financial assistance for state or local jurisdictions that (1) restrict compliance with immigration detainers issued by the Department of Homeland Security, or (2) have any law or policy that violates immigration laws.Furthermore, under this bill, the detention of alien minors must be governed by specified sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act and not any judicial decree or settlement. (A 1997 settlement agreement imposes requirements related to the treatment of such minors, including limits on how long they may be detained under certain conditions.)The bill also makes various changes to asylum applications, including by (1) increasing the burden that an asylum applicant must meet to establish a credible fear of persecution, and (2) establishing refugee application and processing centers in Central America.In addition, certain Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development assistance may not be made available to Mexico's government until the State Department certifies that Mexico has removed certain barriers to law enforcement cooperation and intelligence sharing between the United States and Mexico.The bill also establishes the foreign Special Transnational Criminal Organization designation and establishes penalties related to designated organizations, such as making it a crime to knowingly provide material support to such an organization. The State Department must designate specified organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel, with the designation, and may designate other organizations that fit the bill's criteria.