Crenshaw, Houlahan Want to Leverage FISA in Fentanyl Crisis

Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R) and Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D) are proposing what they believe is a real solution to the fentanyl crisis. The reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) includes their Enhancing Intelligence Collection on Foreign Drug Traffickers Act of 2024. Their amendment, Reps. Crenshaw and Houlahan argue, will leverage FISA to confront the fentanyl crisis.

In an op-ed for Fox News, the members of Congress argue that effectively confronting the opioid crisis requires a bipartisan solution. This solution means targeting China for their involvement in the opioid crisis.

"The Select Committee on China's findings uncovered China's subsidization of the production of illicit fentanyl precursors for export, shedding light on the complicity - and in some cases, outright support - of foreign actors in exacerbating this epidemic," the lawmakers write.

With their bill, FISA would be amended to "finally allow America's intelligence agencies to search the database for evidence of production and distribution of illegal drugs, including fentanyl. It would also allow our intelligence community to get a FISA warrant on foreign narco-traffickers, which we are unable to do right now."

Reps. Crenshaw and Houlahan explain that the fentanyl crisis is a transnational concern, and that it can be addressed "by expanding Section 702 to include targeting international drug trafficking networks involved in fentanyl production, distribution and financing. Plus, it equips law enforcement with enhanced tools to disrupt criminal operations at their source."

Lawmakers have also directed blame at Mexico for their involvement in the fentanyl crisis, but Mexico's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, argues that it's purely a U.S. problem.

During an interview with 60 Minutes last month, Mexico's president explained "you know why we don't have the drug consumption that you have in the United States? Because we have customs, traditions, and we don't have the problem of the disintegration of the family."