Luetkemeyer on Cartel Task Force

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appointed Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer to a new Republican task force focused on drug cartels at the Mexican border. Luetkemeyer says it’s an attempt to cut down on fentanyl deaths in this country.

In 2018, the CIA estimated drug cartels controlled up to 20 percent of Mexico’s territory. Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau estimated in 2021 that number is up to around 40 percent.

Luetkemeyer says this will be a fact-finding committee.

The National Institutes for Health estimated more than 70 thousand Americans died from fentanyl overdoses in 2021. The task force will be led by Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw.