By MARK LORENZANA

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday, Sept. 21, issued an executive order designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. He likewise instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to “take immediate action” to “keep Texans safe amid the growing national fentanyl crisis.”

At the roundtable discussion and news conference, Abbott likewise sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, requesting that he classify the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) — as well as other Mexican cartels producing and distributing fentanyl — as “federal terrorist organizations.”

“Fentanyl is a clandestine killer, and Texans are falling victim to the Mexican cartels that are producing it,” Abbott said. “Cartels are terrorists, and it’s time we treated them that way. In fact, more Americans died from fentanyl poisoning in the past year than all terrorist attacks across the globe in the past 100 years. In order to save our country, particularly our next generation, we must do more to get fentanyl off our streets.”

The latest Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) report on threats to U.S. security highlighted the fact that the CJNG is the fastest-growing criminal organization in Mexico and, along with the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the two dominant groups behind drug trafficking in the United States.

The CJNG has a presence in 26 of the most important cities in the United States, including Honolulu, Hawaii, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.