[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 8, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S716-S717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  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:

[[Page S717]]

  


                               S. Res. 97

       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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