Sen. JD Vance endorses the U.S. military’s going after drug cartels in Mexico

American presidents should have the power to deploy the U.S. military to pursue drug cartels in Latin America, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said on NBC News' "Meet the Press" in an interview that aired Sunday.

“I want to empower the president of the United States, whether that’s a Democrat or Republican, to use the power of the U.S. military to go after these drug cartels,” Vance told host Chuck Todd. 

He said fentanyl's increasing popularity and the Mexican government's apparent inability to quash the illicit narcotics trade necessitate his proposal.

"We have to recognize the Mexican government is being, in a lot of ways, destabilized by the constant flow of fentanyl," Vance said. He said he has talked to Drug Enforcement Administration agents who think that with the amount drug cartels are bringing in, their revenue per year has gone up 14 times just in the last couple of years.

"That shows you what, I think, bad border policies can do," he added.

Fentanyl — particularly when it is illicitly manufactured — is responsible for most drug overdose deaths, killing about 150 people a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioids are responsible for roughly 74% of all overdose deaths, and the number of overdoses increased by 31% in 2019 and 2020, the agency reported.

Calls to task the U.S. military with pursuing drug cartels in Latin America, particularly those in Mexico, gained steam after four Americans were kidnapped in northeastern Mexico this year, and other Republicans have since proposed a similar response to the drug crisis.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is running for president, said Monday that he supported using “deadly force” against migrants suspected of smuggling drugs into the U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, also a Republican, has also said he would dispatch U.S. special forces against the cartels.

In March, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Fox News that it was time to “put Mexico on notice” and classify some Mexican drug cartels as “foreign terrorist groups.”

Democrats remain largely opposed to the proposal. In April, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas told Axios he opposes military strikes in Mexico, calling the idea "unrealistic."

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obradorrebuked calls from some U.S. lawmakers advocating military action in Mexico this year, describing the proposals at the time as an assault on his nation's sovereignty.

“We are not going to permit any foreign government to intervene in our territory, much less that a government’s armed forces intervene,” he said at a news conference in March.

Todd also asked Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in an interview whether a secure border with Mexico would be enough to keep out drugs. Brown said more was needed. 

"We need a secure border," Brown said. "And we need Congress to actually work together on that, not just demagogue issue after issue. But even a secure border doesn’t keep this stuff out, nor will our sanctions mean none is produced. Again, it’s all the above. It’s treatment. It’s police work. It’s sanctions. It’s border protection. It’s all that."