Examining the Trump Administration’s Work Combatting Transnational Cartels in Indian Country
Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans
2025-07-22
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Source: Congress.gov
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M
Mr. Anthony Hillaire
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will now come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the Subcommittee at any time. The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on examining the Trump administration's work combating transnational cartels in Indian Country. Under Committee Rule 4F, any oral opening statements at the hearings are limited to the chairman and the ranking members. I therefore ask unanimous consent that all other members' statements be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted to the accordance with Committee Rule 3-0. Without objection, so ordered. Good afternoon, everybody. I want to thank the witnesses on both our panels, especially those who have traveled here to be far away for testimony before this committee today. Last Congress, this subcommittee held two hearings to shine light on the devastating consequences of the Biden's border crisis has had on tribal communities. Because of the Biden-Harris administration's leftist open border policies, international crime cartels infiltrated Indian country. This led to the mass trafficking of not just drugs, but people, including indigenous people, and untold violence. Since March of 2024, transnational criminal organizations, including citizens of Sonola, Mexico, have burglarized trains throughout my home state of Arizona. On March 27th, 2025, a vehicle suspected of a train robbery was pulled over by the Hualapai Nation Police. But the illegal alien driver attempted to drive off and actually struck the tribal officer with the vehicle. Fortunately, the officer sustained only minor injuries. But who's next? I introduced HR 4092, the Protect Rail Act, to make these aliens admissible and deportable for certain crimes related to the theft of goods being transported as interstate commerce.
Criminal illegal aliens have no place on tribal lands. During our previous hearing, we heard firsthand testimony from tribal leaders and law enforcement officers about terror these cartels inflict upon their communities. Tribal community leaders spoke at length about the establishment of fentanyl trafficking hubs and the presence of cartel thugs on tribal reservations. Worse yet, tribal community leaders shared their heartbreaking fears of cartel agents retaliating directly against them, their families and their friends, with violence and even murder for just as much as speaking against the cartels operating in Indian country. The mere presence of tribal witnesses at our previous hearings and here today is an act of bravery and defiance against criminal cartels allowed to wreak havoc by the Biden administration's failed border policies. Fortunately, from the very first day of his second term, President Trump has stood up and taken concrete steps to end the Biden border madness and eradicate cartels from the tribal communities in the United States. For example, on January 20th, President Trump took an executive action to declare a national emergency at the southern border to stop the bleeding caused by the Biden administration's guarantee the state's protection against the criminal migrant invasion and to secure our southern border. Moreover, President Trump finally designated cartels and other criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists, showing that unlike President Biden, who opened up our borders and allowing the criminals to fall into our country, unchecked, President Trump recognized the existential harm that these transnational cartels impose on our tribal communities. By officially designating these cartels as what they truly are, foreign terrorist organizations that attack our citizens, introduce addictive and deadly drugs like fentanyl into our communities, and terrorize Indian country from the southern border as far north as the Dakotas and Montana, all for greed and profit.
These cartels bring members of our tribal communities under their harmful influence by introducing highly addictive drugs to them for free, sometimes even drugging unknowing victims. Once these victims are hooked, cartels will be forced to serve as foot soldiers, peddling drugs to others to pay for their building drug debts and continuing that ugly cycle. Fortunately, under President Trump, the massive flow of drugs from our southern border has slowed. Southwest border encounters are at an all-time low. Drug seizure statistics have improved, and overdose deaths, particularly in Indian country, have decreased. Gang members from the cartels and the gangs like Trinidad and La Lago and MS-13 have been charged, indicted, convicted, and sentenced. Other gang members have flooded the United States with their tails between their legs. In just seven months, President Trump has finally secured our southern border. And with the passing of one big beautiful bill act, Congress has secured $165 billion in funding to ensure that our southern border is once again a border. law enforcement is properly equipped to prevent human and drug trafficking, and our tribal communities are protected from terrorist cartels. To be clear, the war against terrorism cartels and the criminal organizations in Indian Country and on federal lands is not over. Rather, it is just beginning. Now that the Biden border crisis is behind us, we can work towards eradicating the cartels, allowing tribal communities to thrive. My Republican colleagues and I look forward to hearing more from our witnesses about the impact of President Trump's actions in tribal communities and to learn more about concrete next steps we can take to further protect Indian Country. Thank you, and once again, I appreciate everybody showing up, and now I recognize Ranking Member Dexter for her opening statements.
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