[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 97 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 97
Expressing concern about economic and security conditions in Mexico and
reaffirming the interest of the United States in mutually beneficial
relations with Mexico based on shared interests on security, economic
prosperity, and democratic values, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 8, 2023
Mr. Risch (for himself, Mr. Hagerty, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Wicker,
and Mr. Barrasso) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing concern about economic and security conditions in Mexico and
reaffirming the interest of the United States in mutually beneficial
relations with Mexico based on shared interests on security, economic
prosperity, and democratic values, and for other purposes.
Whereas December 12, 2022, marked the 200th anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico;
Whereas, over the course of 200 years, the Governments and people of the United
States and Mexico have developed deep cultural, economic, and diplomatic
relations that have been instrumental in creating prosperity in both
countries and throughout the hemisphere;
Whereas, according to the United States Trade Representative and the Department
of Commerce, United States goods and services trade with Mexico totaled
an estimated $677,300,000,000 in 2019, and United States exports of
goods and services to Mexico supported an estimated 1,200,000 jobs in
2015;
Whereas, according to the 2022 United States Department of State's Investment
Climate Statement on Mexico, the United States is Mexico's top source of
foreign direct investment with a stock of $184,900,000,000;
Whereas, in 2021, the United States exported $25,000,000,000 in agriculture
products to Mexico and imported $38,700,000,000 in agriculture products
from Mexico;
Whereas the government of President Lopez Obrador has pursued major legal and
regulatory measures that pose significant risks and uncertainty to
cross-border trade, including denying 14 biotechnology applications
since May 2018, front-of-packing labeling requirements imposed in
November 2020, unilateral certification requirements on all United
States organic exports to Mexico imposed in December 2020, the December
31, 2020, Presidential Decree to phase out the use of glyphosate and
genetically modified corn for human consumption, the February 2021
Electricity Industry Law, and the May 2021 Hydrocarbons Law;
Whereas the government of President Lopez Obrador has suspended import permits
for more than 80 energy companies, has ended permits for energy import
facilities, which puts United States investment at risk, and is
advancing a constitutional reform bill that would dissolve the power
market in Mexico, eliminate independent regulators, and cancel contracts
and permits granted to private companies;
Whereas arbitrary and punitive actions against United States businesses
operating in Mexico by the government of President Lopez Obrador, such
as the recent shutdown of a limestone quarry owned by a United States
company that is a critical component of the construction aggregates
supply chain for the southeast United States, are damaging the economic
relationship between the United States and Mexico, disrupting North
American supply chains, and threatening to undermine the confidence of
United States businesses in Mexico as a viable and predictable
marketplace and destination for investment;
Whereas United States law enforcement encountered over 2,378,944 migrants
attempting to enter the United States illegally through the southern
border with Mexico in 2022, reaching an all-time high of 251,978
encounters in December 2022, and have encountered over 156,000 migrants
in January 2023;
Whereas United States Border Patrol has documented a rise in the number of
convicted criminals attempting to enter the United States illegally,
including over 3,000 since October 2022, 12,028 in fiscal year 2022,
10,763 in fiscal year 2021, and 2,438 in fiscal year 2020;
Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection operational statistics showed
fentanyl seizures at the United States southern border increased 66.86
percent in January 2023, compared to January 2022, with over a 907
percent increase from January 2020;
Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported an approximately 207
percent increase in the amount of illicit fentanyl seized at the
southwest border since fiscal year 2020, and the Drug Enforcement
Administration reported the seizure of 379,000,000 potentially deadly
doses of fentanyl in 2022;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a record
of 107,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2022, with more than
71,400 (66.5 percent) of those attributed to synthetic opioids, a
substantial amount of which are illicitly produced in Mexico using
precursor chemicals imported from the People's Republic of China and
mixed or reshipped by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) drug
cartels;
Whereas reports from the United States Northern Command indicate that Mexican
cartels now control 30 to 35 percent of Mexican territory, with Mexico's
midterm elections in June 2021 being the most violent on record driven
by cartel violence and attempts to thwart the democratic process;
Whereas more than 80 politicians were killed prior to the June 2021 midterm
elections in Mexico, with the Mexican cartels claiming responsibility
for the killings of at least 35 candidates, according to several
reports;
Whereas, according to the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors of the Brookings
Institution, Mexico registered almost 34,000 murders in 2022 near an
all-time high, representing 27 murders per 100,000 and primarily
attributable to ties related to transnational criminal organizations,
while the effective prosecution rate for homicides remains around 2
percent;
Whereas, according to the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, the rivalry
between the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG Cartel has violently spread to
Colombia, one of the United States closest allies in the Western
Hemisphere, with CJNG deploying drone-mounted bombs to seize territory
and Sinaloa taking over both the legal and illegal economies of the
territories in dispute;
Whereas, in 2021, the government of President Obrador disbanded a select Mexican
anti-narcotics unit that, for a quarter of a century, worked hand-in-
hand with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to
tackle organized crime;
Whereas President Obrador has spearheaded legal and regulatory measures to
reduce or eliminate the independence of Mexican autonomous institutions
and regulators, including the Federal Economic Competition Commission,
the Federal Institute for Telecommunications, the Energy Regulatory
Commission, and the National Electoral Institute;
Whereas, at a March 2022 hearing of the Committee on Armed Services of the
Senate, United States Northern Command Commander, General Glen D.
VanHerck, testified that ``the largest portion of [Russian intelligence
personnel] in the world is in Mexico right now'' and ``they keep an eye
very closely on their opportunities to have influence on U.S.
opportunities and access'';
Whereas Mexico voted in the United Nation's General Assembly to condemn the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, while abstaining from suspending Russia as
a permanent observer of the Organization of American States and from
expelling Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council;
Whereas President Obrador has increasingly turned to the People's Republic of
China to finance controversial infrastructure projects, including the
Dos Bocas Refinery and the Maya Train, while the People's Republic of
China's State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) acquired Mexican
renewables power company Zuma Energy during a time when private
corporations were fleeing the sector; and
Whereas Mexico remains one of the world's most dangerous countries for
journalists and media workers, with 2022 marking the deadliest year on
record with 19 deaths: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) reaffirms the interest of the United States in mutually
beneficial relations with Mexico based on shared interests on
security, economic prosperity, and democratic values;
(2) reaffirms support for stronger economic relations with
Mexico, including to strengthen the resiliency of critical
supply chains in North America and the Western Hemisphere in
general;
(3) expresses deep concerns about the worsening investment
climate in Mexico, and calls on the President to take
meaningful actions to defend United States economic interests
in Mexico and uphold the integrity of the United States-Mexico-
Canada Agreement (USMCA);
(4) urges the President to address the humanitarian and
security crisis at the border with Mexico by--
(A) establishing effective immigration controls in
the United States;
(B) targeting United States foreign assistance
efforts to strengthen border security and migration
management capacities in the region; and
(C) leveraging existing bilateral extradition
treaties and the Palermo Protocols to prosecute
transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal
migration to the United States;
(5) reaffirms the urgent need for the Government of Mexico
to implement a detailed and well-resourced strategy to combat
the growing sophistication of transnational criminal
organizations in its territory, and reduce the production and
trafficking of illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals being
used for the manufacture of synthetic opioids in its territory,
including by--
(A) increasing information sharing between Mexican
authorities and the DEA on seizures of fentanyl and
precursor chemicals in Mexico;
(B) partnering with the United States to jointly
dismantle and take down clandestine labs across Mexico;
and
(C) prioritizing the arrest and extradition of more
individuals with drug-related charges to the United
States; and
(6) urges the Government of Mexico to uphold its domestic
and international commitments to legal, safe, and orderly
immigration, uphold its obligations under the USMCA, respect
the independence of autonomous regulatory institutions, and
guard against the negative influence of the People's Republic
of China and the Russian Federation in North America and the
Western Hemisphere in general.
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