Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced legislation on Thursday to designate drug cartels as Foreign Terror Organizations (FTO). If passed, this measure could provide the federal government with more weapons to use against these criminal organizations that have victimized migrants and American citizens.

The Daily Caller reported:

Roy’s bill is titled the “Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act” and would designate the Reynosa/Los Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas as FTOs under federal law, as there continues to be a surge in illegal immigration at the southern border.

The bill would also require the State Department to send a report to Congress on other cartels that could be considered FTOs, and would give the State Department 30 days to designate them as FTOs.

Rep. Roy told the Daily Caller:

I’ve spent my time talking to people who actually know what’s happening at the border and I’ve been meeting with former DPS agents, people engage with and rooting out cartels and the violence and all they are telling me is that cartels are becoming increasingly violent. All of the data shows it all of the actions show it. We have people in America being shuttled around by cartel-paid American citizens to put them in human trafficking, sex trafficking.

The lawmaker gave a story about a migrant woman who was victimized by members of the cartel. He said there was a “situation where there was a woman in San Antonio who was stopped, she can’t read or write, she was being terrorized, being held for ransom by the cartel and they threatened her by showing our picture of her husband, who they had murdered. This is what cartels are doing. They’re doing it in our communities. It is reaching our suburban communities. It’s time for Texas to stand up. It’s time for America to stand up.”

The congressman indicated that the cartels are “undermining our national security. They’re undermining Mexico’s national security. And they are a violent organization that is basically the equivalent of having al-Qaida and ISIS literally operating on our border and we should stop them.”

The Biden administration has repeatedly lied about the situation at the southern border, refusing to refer to it as a “crisis,” despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of migrants, including minors without parents, are trying to gain entry into the United States.

Border Patrol stated that 9,000 unaccompanied minors came to the southern border in February. March’s numbers are likely to be even higher.

The border crisis has brought about hardships for migrants traveling to the country as well as people residing in the U.S. It has created opportunities for human traffickers who regularly prey upon migrants, pushing them into forced labor and sex trafficking. (See: 4 Reasons Why Biden’s Handling of The Migrant Crisis Has Been a Total and Utter Disaster)

Meanwhile, Biden’s White House has refused to be transparent in its handling of the problem. Even the activist media has taken the president to task for ordering members of Border Patrol not to speak with reporters. Recent polls revealed that Americans disapprove of the president’s approach to immigration.

Since Biden does not seem to be up to the task, perhaps members of Congress might be able to do something to lessen the harm done by the president’s policies. Roy’s proposal, along with measures that other lawmakers have put forward, might just make a difference.