[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4544 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4544
To require a report on countering the smuggling of hydrocarbon products
by transnational criminal organizations, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 14, 2026
Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Ms. Rosen) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require a report on countering the smuggling of hydrocarbon products
by transnational criminal organizations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Fueling Cartel Violence Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations,
including the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), the
Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and the Northeast Cartel, have
developed large-scale enterprises to steal, divert, and smuggle
crude oil, diesel, gasoline, and refined petroleum products
from Mexico's state-owned energy company, Petroleos Mexicanos
(Pemex).
(2) Such operations involve illegally drilling clandestine
taps into fuel pipelines, raiding refineries, hijacking
petroleum tanker trucks, bribing Pemex employees, and using
networks of front companies and shell companies to launder the
resulting illicit proceeds.
(3) The Department of the Treasury has determined that fuel
theft, including crude oil smuggling, is currently the most
significant non-drug illicit revenue source for Mexico-based
cartels and other illicit actors.
(4) Theft of hydrocarbon products by transnational criminal
organizations and foreign terrorist organizations has grown to
an extraordinary scale, as Pemex estimates that thieves stole
approximately 987,000,000 liters of fuel in calendar year 2024,
nearly three times the volume stolen in calendar year 2019.
(5) The Department of the Treasury has reported that the
Mexican Government has sustained billions of dollars in lost
revenue in recent years attributable to these operations, and
independent industry analyses estimate that fuel smuggling and
associated tax evasion deprive Mexico of approximately
$24,000,000 in potential tax revenue per day.
(6) According to data cited in Department of the Treasury
enforcement actions, between 16 and 27 percent of total annual
fuel consumption in Mexico originates from illegal sources.
(7) In connection with sanctions actions taken against
CJNG-linked fuel theft networks in September 2024 and May 2025,
the Secretary of the Treasury stated, ``Fuel theft and crude
oil smuggling are cash cows for CJNG's narco-terrorist
enterprise, providing a lucrative revenue stream for the group
and enabling it to wreak havoc in Mexico and the United
States.''.
(8) On September 10, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets
Control, acting in coordination with the Drug Enforcement
Administration and Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit,
sanctioned nine Mexican nationals and 26 Mexico-based entities
linked to a CJNG fuel theft network that generates tens of
millions of dollars in illicit revenue for CJNG, an
organization simultaneously responsible for a significant
proportion of fentanyl and other controlled substances
trafficked into the United States.
(9) On May 1, 2025, the Office of Foreign Assets Control
sanctioned an additional three Mexican nationals and two
Mexico-based entities involved in a fentanyl trafficking and
fuel theft network that generates hundreds of millions of
dollars annually for CJNG.
(10) The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, in an alert
issued on May 1, 2025, in coordination with the Office of
Foreign Assets Control, the Drug Enforcement Administration,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security
Investigations, described in detail how cartels employ
complicit Mexican brokers to smuggle stolen crude oil across
the southwest border of the United States, by mislabeling
shipments as ``waste oil'' or hazardous materials, for delivery
to complicit United States-based importers operating primarily
in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the Eagle Ford Shale, and the
Permian Basin regions of Texas.
(11) On February 20, 2025, the Secretary of State, acting
pursuant to Executive Order 14157, designated CJNG, the Sinaloa
Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Northeast Cartel, Tren de Aragua,
and Mara Salvatrucha as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and
Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
(12) Section 124 of title 10, United States Code,
designates the Department of Defense as the single lead agency
of the Federal Government for the detection and monitoring of
aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs into the United
States, to be carried out in support of the counterdrug
activities of Federal, State, local, and foreign law
enforcement agencies. The Department employs aerial, maritime,
and ground surveillance assets and interagency information-
sharing networks whose capabilities are directly applicable to
the detection and monitoring of the illicit movement of stolen
hydrocarbon products across or near the boundaries of the
United States.
(13) The physical and logistical characteristics of
hydrocarbon smuggling operations are substantially similar to
those of narcotics smuggling, and the surveillance, signals,
and communication architectures currently deployed by the
Department of Defense for counterdrug purposes are directly
applicable to the hydrocarbon threat.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the theft and illicit transborder trafficking of crude
oil, diesel, gasoline, and refined petroleum products by
Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations constitutes a
significant threat to the national security and public safety
of the United States; and
(2) the United States Government should treat the
trafficking of stolen hydrocarbon products as a priority
component of its counterdrug and counter-transnational
organized crime strategy.
SEC. 4. REPORT ON COUNTERING CARTEL HYDROCARBON SMUGGLING.
(a) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the
congressional defense committees a report that--
(1) details activities taking place pursuant to section 284
of title 10, United States Code, or other authorities of the
Department of Defense, to deny, disrupt, or degrade
transnational criminal organizations directly or indirectly
engaged in the theft, diversion, or illicit movement of stolen
hydrocarbon products; and
(2) includes--
(A) recommendations for future additional
activities to counter the activities of transnational
criminal organizations described in paragraph (1),
including--
(i) capacity building with national
security forces of partner nations pursuant to
section 333 of title 10, United States Code;
(ii) information sharing with civilian
United States Government agencies specializing
in countering transnational criminal
organizations;
(iii) assessments of key nodes of activity
of transnational organized crime networks
engaged in the smuggling of hydrocarbon
products; and
(iv) any other non-kinetic activity the
Secretary determines appropriate to deny,
disrupt, or degrade the smuggling of
hydrocarbon products; and
(B) an assessment of resources used to conduct the
activities described in paragraph (1).
(b) Hydrocarbon Products Defined.--In this section, the term
``hydrocarbon products'' means crude oil classified under heading
2709.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(``Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude''),
including unprocessed crude petroleum oils (whether testing under or
over 25 API gravity), crude oils obtained from bituminous minerals,
condensates derived wholly from natural gas, and reconstituted crude
petroleum.
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