Joint Statement from Mexico and the United States on the Implementation of the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities

On April 13, U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall welcomed a delegation led by Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Rosa Icela Rodríguez to the White House to review shared security priorities under the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities and discuss new collaborative efforts to counter fentanyl trafficking and consumption and combat arms trafficking across North America.  The meeting follows through on implementing the commitment that President Biden and President López Obrador made during the North American Leaders’ Summit on January 9-10 to elevate and accelerate efforts to address the synthetic opioid epidemic. 

The Mexican delegation highlighted an April 12 presidential decree that permits the creation of a presidential commission to fight the trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, firearms, and ammunition.  This special working group will improve coordination among Mexico’s federal government entities to support the investigation and arrest of individuals involved in the production and trafficking of fentanyl.  The United States and Mexico committed to continue joint work to dismantle the fentanyl supply chain and the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel on both sides of the border.

U.S. and Mexican officials committed to increase cooperation to combat illegal firearms trafficking.  The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are deploying new authorities from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to target southbound firearms flows and working with Mexican counterparts to increase firearms tracing to identify and choke off the source of firearms flows into Mexico. 

DOJ’s Operation Southbound, led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, encompasses a whole-of-government approach to disrupt firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico.  This initiative, which includes Department of Homeland Security law enforcement, has significantly increased firearms trafficking investigations with a nexus to Mexico, as well as firearms and ammunitions seizures.  DHS is also committed to expanding weapons seizures through Operation Desert Lightning, which targets known trafficking corridors as part of an expanded effort under DHS’s Operation Without a Trace.  The U.S and Mexican delegations committed to undertake a series of public outreach events across our shared border to bring greater attention to weapons trafficking enforcement activities.

The United States and Mexico committed to developing a bilingual, binational public awareness prevention campaign in each country that educates our citizens, especially young people, on the dangers of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, that ravages our communities.  This campaign will build on President Biden’s launch of a national anti-fentanyl campaign last week and President López Obrador’s public efforts to prevent youth drug use in Mexico.  As a first step, the two countries will convene a binational panel of experts to share information and best practices on evidence-based substance use and overdose prevention campaigns among U.S. and Mexican public health experts.

The Mexican delegation included Secretary of Security Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, Secretary of National Defense General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Secretary of the Navy Admiral José Rafael Ojeda, Secretary of Public Health Dr. Jorge Alcocer Álvarez, Director General of the National Intelligence Center Audomaro Martínez Zapata, Head of the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks Dr. Alejandro Svarch Pérez, Head of National Commission Against Addictions Gady Zabicky Sirot, Chief Officer for North America at the Foreign Ministry Roberto Velasco,. and Mexican Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma Barragán.
 
The U.S. delegation included Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Attorney General Merrick Garland, White House Director of National Drug Control Policy Dr. Rahul Gupta, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security John Tien, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Todd Robinson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of INL Charisse Phillips, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Rachel  Poynter, and White House National Security Council Senior Directors Juan González and Tiffany Eppelheimer.

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