[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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