[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 704 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 704

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

                             July 13, 2022

Mr. Risch (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Hagerty, Mr. Cassidy, 
    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, marks 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 United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, the United 
        States is Mexico's top source of foreign direct investment in 2019 with 
        $100,900,000,000, or 39.1 percent of all inflows (stock) to Mexico, 
        according to Mexico's Secretariat of Economy;
Whereas the United States exports roughly $20,000,000,000 in agricultural 
        products to Mexico annually, nearly $6,000,000,000 of which are biotech 
        crops and derived products;
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 1,700,000 migrants 
        attempting to enter the United States illegally through the southern 
        border with Mexico in 2021, and have encountered over 1,500,000 in the 
        first months of 2022, reaching an all-time high of 239,416 encounters in 
        May 2022;
Whereas United States law enforcement is seeing increasing numbers of criminals 
        trying to enter the United States illegally, arresting nearly 6,000 in 
        the first few months of 2022, compared to 10,763 in 2021 and 2,438 in 
        2020;
Whereas, in May 2022, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas declared 
        with regards to encounters of illegal immigrants at the United States 
        southern border, ``We're seeing about a seven-day average of over 7,500 
        people, so we have not seen a significant decrease in the flows.'';
Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection operational statistics showed 
        fentanyl seizures at the United States southern border increased 56 
        percent in March 2022 compared to March 2021, with over a 300 percent 
        increase from March 2020;
Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection noted a 1,066-percent increase in 
        fentanyl seizures at 8 South Texas ports of entry during Fiscal Year 
        2021, and Texas law enforcement seized enough fentanyl to comprise over 
        36,200,000 lethal doses during the same time period;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a record 
        of 106,000 overdose deaths in the United States, with more than 70,000 
        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 Mexican 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 35,000 murders in 2021 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 Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) 
        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, including the deaths of 12 journalists to 
        date in 2021 alone: 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) is deeply concerned about the growing sophistication 
        and territorial control of transnational criminal organizations 
        in Mexico, and reaffirms the urgent need to prioritize a 
        detailed and well-resourced plan to reduce the production and 
        trafficking of illicit narcotics in Mexico, including the 
        illicit traffic of precursor chemicals imported from the 
        People's Republic of China for the manufacture of synthetic 
        opioids, such as fentanyl, and that such efforts do not result 
        in a breakdown in the rule of law or respect for 
        internationally recognized human rights in Mexico; and
            (6) urges the Government of Mexico to meaningfully reduce 
        the threat of deadly synthetic opioids, 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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