(NewsNation) — In the wake of four Americans being kidnapped after entering Mexico, Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., says Mexican cartels are a “risk to every American.”
With 550 Americans reportedly missing in Mexico, Green believes there needs to be a shift among lawmakers who view cartels as a law enforcement issue. In fact, he said, they’re a clear and present danger that might justify a military response.
That’s a concept Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador recently slammed, insisting that Mexico will not “permit any foreign government to intervene.”
“I think Americans are becoming more aware that … the cartels and the drug trafficking in the United States and the human trafficking (are) a risk to every American. As more people make that realization, the pressure grows on Biden and his administration,” Green told “On Balance” host Leland Vittert.
Green lays the blame for the border troubles on President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“We also have to realize that the current crisis is the result of Alejandro Mayorkas and the president’s decisions. I think Americans are waking up to that, too,” Green said.
Green thinks awareness will bring about change with both sides of the aisle. He anticipates the needle on border security policy to move in the next two years.
The representative is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, which is holding a field hearing on the border crisis Wednesday morning at South Texas College.
The hearing is expected to feature testimony from Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Assistant Director of Countering Transnational Organized Crime Steven Cagan, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw, Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe and National Border Patrol Council Vice President Chris Cabrera.