Stop the Cartels Act

Key Points

• The bill requires the government to focus more intelligence resources on drug cartels in Mexico and Central and South America. It officially labels nine specific groups, like the Sinaloa Cartel, as criminal organizations, which allows the U.S. to freeze their money and block their financial transactions.
• It stops certain types of financial aid to the Mexican government unless they agree to share more information with U.S. law enforcement. The goal is to force better cooperation between the two countries to stop drugs and human smuggling before they reach the border.
• Any state or local government that refuses to follow federal immigration laws or help with deportations would lose all federal financial assistance. This targets so-called sanctuary areas by cutting off their access to various government grants.
• The policy makes it much harder to get asylum by raising the standards for proving a fear of persecution and banning people with felony records or past deportations from applying. It also allows the government to keep families together in detention centers for as long as their legal cases take, removing current time limits.
• To speed up the legal process, the bill calls for hiring at least 500 new immigration judges and opening refugee centers in Mexico and Central America. This would allow people to apply for protection in their home regions instead of traveling to the U.S. border.
• It doubles the money for state grants that treat substance abuse to nearly $4 billion per year. However, it pays for this by shutting down several other federal mental health and drug prevention programs, including those that help schools and community clinics.