6. Department of State · Minor
Work with hemisphere partners to halt the fentanyl trade
Printed page 183 6. Department of State
“The next Administration must leverage its new insistence on a sovereign Mexico and work with other Western Hemisphere partners to halt the fentanyl crisis and put a decisive end to this unprecedented public health threat.”
What has happened
- Partially done
The working-with-partners half of the ask is delivered. The United States and Mexico committed jointly to “halt the trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs” and stood up a standing Security Implementation Group, whose first meeting on 2025-09-26 launched Mission Firewall against southbound arms trafficking; the group met again in December 2025 and on 2026-01-23, and the two governments agreed in January 2026 to a Security Ministerial marking a year of the new arrangement. The crisis is not over — the January 2026 statement records that “despite progress, significant challenges remain” — so this is `partial`, not `done`.
- Joint Statement on Security Cooperation between the United States and Mexico — cooperation “based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”, establishing a high-level implementation group
- State Department: First Meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Security Implementation Group Launches Mission Firewall
- Joint Statement on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation — Security Implementation Group to keep meeting; Security Ministerial convened for February 2026
- Attempted
The Secretary announced a visa restriction policy under INA 212(a)(3)(C) reaching the family members and close personal and business associates of persons sanctioned under Executive Order 14059 for illicit drug trafficking, framed explicitly around the fentanyl crisis and 220 overdose deaths a day.
- Attempted
Executive Order 14157 declared a national emergency over the cartels and directed the Secretary of State to recommend terrorist designations within fourteen days; the designations of Cartel de Sinaloa, CJNG, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, Carteles Unidos, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Tren de Aragua and MS-13 followed on 2025-02-20. A designation is a tool, not a halt.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Other in-window fentanyl instruments read but not attached, to keep the Evidence to the hemisphere-partnership point the Quote makes: the Executive Order 14195 series of duties on the PRC synthetic-opioid supply chain; State’s quarterly reports assessing PRC cooperation in countering fentanyl; the May 2026 visa restrictions on associates of illicit fentanyl traffickers.
- Related: #486 (same joint statement and implementation group, different Quote).
- Action
- other
- Object
- Fentanyl trafficking from Mexico
- ID
- 487