WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Human Events published an op-ed by Congressman Dan Crenshaw (TX-2), calling for the United States to confront Mexican drug cartels as what they truly are: terrorist insurgents destabilizing North America. Crenshaw outlined a bold new strategy—the North American Security Initiative—that would finally treat the crisis with the seriousness it demands.
“We are no longer in a war on drugs. We are in a war against transnational insurgents,” Crenshaw writes. “The Mexican cartels have conquered territory, corrupted institutions, and operate with paramilitary force. That’s terrorism, plain and simple.”
In the piece, Crenshaw draws on his firsthand experience living in Colombia during its own narco-insurgency and makes the case for a comprehensive counter-insurgency approach that integrates military, intelligence, law enforcement, judicial reform, and international diplomacy.
Crenshaw emphasizes that Mexico’s new government, under President Sheinbaum and Security Secretary Omar Harfuch, has shown a willingness to fight back. This shift presents a historic opportunity for U.S.-Mexico cooperation.
As Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee’s Cartel Task Force and a former Navy SEAL, Crenshaw has long pushed Congress to stop treating the cartel threat as a law enforcement nuisance and start developing a unified national strategy.
Read the full op-ed: Human Events: “Mexico’s Cartels Are Terrorist Insurgents—We Need a Strategy to Deal With Them”