Bodies hanging beneath underpasses. Government institutions systematically bribed. Political candidates assassinated by the dozens. Teenage boys lured into "job centers" only to be tortured and killed. Police ambushed and executed. 

This is not a description of my time fighting terrorists abroad; it is the grim and harrowing reality of life in Mexico today.

The crises spread beyond Mexico. The fentanyl trafficked into our country by the Mexican drug cartels and their Chinese partners kills around 80,000 Americans per year. That’s the equivalent of 25 9/11 attacks every year. This reality is what led to me working with then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy to establish a task force to combat the cartels.

What exactly is a congressional task force? They vary in size and scope, but typically a task force is a group of members focused on a specific problem. We had no additional staff or resources, only a common goal. 

US TO SANCTION MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL JALISCO OVER FENTANYL TRAFFICKING

Despite severely limited resources, I personally traveled to eight locations across the country, went on three international trips, including two visits to Mexico City, held almost 30 briefings, and led the task force to generate a comprehensive list of legislative proposals.

Our solutions varied in size and scope. In 2023, along with the incoming national security adviser for President Trump, Congressman Mike Waltz, I introduced the Authorization of the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against cartels to empower the U.S. military to operate against cartels in coordination with Mexico. 

Our bipartisan task force largely agreed on the need for a "big" idea like this that vastly increases military cooperation with Mexico and takes the fight to the cartels.  We also realized our laws do not adequately deter dealing fentanyl, and we worked on legislation to significantly increase penalties for cartel members and their facilitators, including local drug dealers, U.S. banks, and foreign governments complicit in their operations. 

'MOST RUTHLESS' MEXICAN CARTELS OPERATE IN ALL 50 STATES, BRING TURF WARS TO US: DEA

We acknowledged the need to choke off the cartel’s weapon supply by focusing on southbound illicit flows across our southern border in addition to addressing northbound flows. We found that penalties on fentanyl precursor suppliers shipping product illegally to the U.S. were nothing but a slap on the wrist, thus necessitating higher penalties to deter Chinese companies from falsifying shipping manifests.

These are only a portion of the solutions needed to combat the Mexican cartels. But if Congress is serious about aligning with President Trump’s promise to fight the cartels, we  need significantly more congressional firepower. It will require professional staff, a travel and investigative budget, and substantially more focus from Congress than my limited task force can currently provide to pass legislation.

We need a select committee to defeat the Mexican drug cartels.

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What’s the difference?

Combating the Mexican drug cartels requires dismantling every aspect of their operations – from fentanyl precursor suppliers in China to the falsified manifests used to smuggle cargo into the United States. This means targeting precursor mixers, pill pressers, traffickers, lawyers, corrupt politicians, and bankers who sustain cartel activities. 

It means building up the right capabilities inside the government of Mexico, and deeper coordination between our military and theirs. It means increased intelligence collection on the cartels that must be funded and authorized. The list goes on. 

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What might at first seem like straightforward legislative solutions quickly become a complex web of measures spread across no fewer than nine committees – an incredibly inefficient way to address an insurgency at our border.

The Select Committee to Defeat the Mexican Drug Cartels would act as a central coordination hub for this multifaceted crisis, which means one committee of jurisdiction. Rather than navigating bills through committees with overlapping jurisdiction, a select committee would streamline the process, allowing us to swiftly move critical legislation to the floor, much like the Select Committee on China achieved with the TikTok CCP divestment last Congress.

Ignoring the Mexican cartels is not an option. Even one more year of preventable fentanyl overdoses in America is an unacceptable future, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on.

With new administrations in both the U.S. and Mexico – each with a record of taking decisive action against the cartels – the timing is right. The only question now is whether the House will step up and lead, which is why I am calling on Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to support my proposal to establish a Select Committee to Defeat the Mexican Drug Cartels.

The time to eliminate them is now.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REP. DAN CRENSHAW

FIRST ON FOX — Dozens of former Justice Department (DOJ) officials sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday urging confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, later this month— praising both her commitment to the rule of law and her track record as Florida’s former attorney general that they said makes her uniquely qualified for the role.

The letter, previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, was signed by more than 110 senior Justice Department officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including former U.S. attorneys general John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr and Edwin Meese. 

Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, deputy attorneys general Rod Rosenstein and Jeffrey Rosen, and Randy Grossman, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California under the Biden administration, are among the other notable signatories. 

The DOJ alumni expressed their "strong and enthusiastic support" for Bondi, Florida’s former attorney general, who also spent 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office.

"It is all too rare for senior Justice Department officials—much less Attorneys General—to have such a wealth of experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe," they wrote.

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"As a career prosecutor, Attorney General Bondi will be ready from the first day on the job to fight on behalf of the American people to reduce crime, tackle the opioid crisis, back the women and men in blue, and restore credibility to the Department of Justice," they wrote in the letter sent to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

The letter praised Bondi's work as Florida's attorney general, where she led an aggressive crackdown on opioid drugs and the many "pill mills" operating in the state when she took office. They also praised what they described as Bondi's "national reputation" for her work to end human trafficking, and prosecuting violent crime in the state.

Officials also emphasized Bondi's other achievements in Florida, where she secured consumer protection victories and economic relief on behalf of residents in the Sunshine State. After the 2008 financial crisis, her work leading the National Mortgage Settlement resulted in $56 billion in compensation to victims, the letter said — and in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Bondi's lawsuit against BP and other companies responsible resulted in a $2 billion settlement in economic relief.

The letter also stressed Bondi's commitment to the rule of law, and what the former officials touted as her track record of working across the aisle during the more than two decades she spent as a prosecutor. 

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"Some of us have worked directly with Attorney General Bondi during her time in office and can personally attest to her integrity and devotion to the rule of law," they wrote. "Many more of us know and admire her well-earned reputation from her long and accomplished career in government service in Florida, her litigation and advocacy on the national stage, and her demonstrated courage as a lawyer."

"As former DOJ officials, we know firsthand the challenges she will face as Attorney General, and we also know she is up to the job."

Those close to Bondi have praised her long record as a prosecutor, and her staunch loyalty to the president-elect, alongside whom she has worked since 2020—first, helping to represent him in his first impeachment trial, and, more recently, in her post as co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) a think tank set up by former Trump staffers.

She also served in Trump's first presidential term as a member of his Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission.

Bondi's former colleagues have told Fox News Digital they expect her to bring the same playbook she used in Florida to Washington—this time with an eye to cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl use, and the cartels responsible for smuggling the drugs across the border. 

"We firmly believe the Justice Department and the Nation will benefit from Attorney General Bondi’s leadership," the DOJ officials  said in conclusion, adding: "We urge you in the strongest manner possible to confirm her as the next Attorney General of the United States."