(NewsNation) — As the Trump administration continues to focus on the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities are ramping up efforts to combat gun smuggling.
The decision comes just after the State Department officially designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. That has raised fears of military action in Mexico and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has warned the U.S. not to invade.
Meanwhile, Mexican cartels continue to rely on American firearms to supply their arsenal.
These weapons are purchased and transported even through legal ports of entry before winding up in the hands of cartels.
Customs and Border Protection officers in Nogales, Arizona, recently seized 42 AK-47-style rifles in a cargo truck prior to the truck going through the port of entry and into Mexico.
The port director there said, “These powerful weapons were likely headed to cartels to protect their illicit fentanyl labs.”
Retired Homeland Security agent Victor Avila told NewsNation that cartels use straw purchasers, individuals with clean records who can legally buy firearms, to purchase the guns and then smuggle them into Mexico.
Now that cartels are officially designated as terror organizations those individuals could face harsher legal consequences.
“Now you’re providing weapons to a terrorist, just like if you were buying a gun for ISIS,” Avila said. “You’re now buying it for the Sinaloa Cartel, same exact thing. So those individuals can now be treated very differently.”
Also in Arizona, a task force of federal and local authorities arrested two weapons smugglers, seizing nine guns and more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition that were set for delivery to transnational criminal organizations in Mexico, according to Tuscon sector Border Patrol agents.
Also on the border in Sonora, Mexico, officials are now discovering a scout site use for human smuggling, seizing two rifles and more than 800 rounds of ammunition.
With Trump designating cartels as FTOs, Sheinbaum has fired back at the administration, saying U.S. authorities need to step up enforcement in curbing the flow of those firearms headed to Mexico.
She is now working on constitutional reforms in Mexico to expand and crack down on foreigners involved in gun smuggling. Sheinbaum says those reforms will call for the highest penalties to be applied to foreigners found guilty of gun smuggling.
She’s arguing that if cartels are terrorists, those supplying the weapons should be held accountable for aiding terrorism.
While the majority of guns used by cartels are coming from the U.S., Avila told NewsNation that the military-grade weapons they use are still being acquired through the Mexican military.
