Chairman Jordan and Rep. Hageman Probe Cartel Activity on Tribal Lands Fueled by Biden-Harris Border Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) sent a letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel requesting data regarding how the Biden-Harris Administration's open border policies led to violent crime and the presence of transnational drug cartels in Indian Country.

The complex jurisdictional authority for tribes to prosecute certain criminal offenses on reservations and the shortage of tribal law enforcement officers make Indian reservations prime locations for dangerous cartel operations. Criminal aliens who illegally entered the country under the Biden-Harris Administration work alongside dangerous cartels to smuggle drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, and perpetuate an opioid epidemic and violent crime in Native American communities. 

In Indian Country, cartel operatives recruit and take advantage of vulnerable tribal members and offer these individuals quick cash to transport or distribute narcotics. Jurisdictional limitations—tribal law enforcement can only prosecute tribal members and state/local law enforcement often lack authority on reservation land—leave tribal communities vulnerable to rapid cartel infiltration and little proactive federal assistance. 

Read the letter to Director Patel here. 

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