Biden admin announces new sanctions of ‘key targets’ linked to Mexican cartels amid fentanyl crisis

President Joe Biden has proposed plans to crack down on the synthetic opioid supply chain that has seen fentanyl crossing the southern border at a massive rate including sanctioning "key targets" affiliated with the illicit drug's trafficking.

The Biden administration released a fact sheet on Tuesday, detailing the steps it plans to take to combat the fentanyl crisis.

The White House fact sheet reads: "Drug traffickers, who are primarily driven by profits, require significant funds to operate their illicit supply chains."

"The Biden-Harris Administration will expand its efforts to disrupt the illicit financial activities that fund these criminals by increasing accountability measures, including financial sanctions, on key targets to obstruct drug traffickers' access to the US financial system and illicit financial flows. We will also strengthen collaboration with international partners on illicit finance and anti-money laundering efforts related to drug trafficking."

Other efforts include leading "a coordinated global effort with international partners to disrupt the illicit synthetic drug trade," "strengthening coordination and information-sharing among US intelligence and domestic law enforcement agencies," and continuing "to call on Congress to close legal loopholes for illicit synthetic drugs."

The fact sheet notes that the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated nearly 100 individuals and entities in connection to the illicit drug trade.

Designations include major cartels like the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, "along with their key global enablers and facilitators," the fact sheet states.

The Daily Mail reported that around 71,000 American deaths in 2021 were in some way tied to fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, which represents a 26 percent increase from 2020. 

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has reportedly concluded that much of the fentanyl distributed by two large cartels "is being mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely from China," per the Daily Mail.