FBI director: ‘We need much more from Mexico’ on fentanyl trafficking

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday said the Mexican government has been “uneven” in its assistance to U.S. law enforcement against fentanyl trafficking, agreeing with GOP critics of the Biden administration.

“We need much more from Mexico,” Wray said in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Thursday.

He added that the Mexican response to fentanyl trafficking has been a “mixed bag,” describing a differing experience between Mexican law enforcement agencies and against different cartels in the country.

“There are individual instances that are bright spots. But this is such a big problem,” he said. “We need consistent, sustained, scalable assistance from them.”

“I’m pleased with what we have gotten, but we need a lot more,” he added.

President Biden has pressured the Mexican government and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for months over the country’s role in fentanyl trafficking and border security. The pair met last November, where they pledged to work side by side to fight cartels.

“Nothing is beyond our reach in my view if Mexico and the United States stand together and work together,” Biden said at the time.

Biden and López Obrador have shared a strained relationship, put under pressure again this year as Congress urges Biden to take executive action on border security.

As the administration contemplates whether to use executive action, or whether Biden has authority to do so, the president has asked the Mexican government for better assistance against both fentanyl trafficking and border crossings.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also traveled to Mexico in December to announce U.S. sanctions on Mexican and Chinese firms responsible for fentanyl precursors, as well as new partnerships with the Mexican government against trafficking.