FBI director says US needs ‘a whole lot more from Mexico’ to take on cartels and stop flow of precursors

FBI Director Christopher Wray says the U.S. needs “a whole lot more from Mexico” in order to shut down the cartels and stop the flow of precursors into the U.S., as a new president was just elected to serve as the country’s top leader.

Wray met Tuesday with the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies to make his case on the department’s request of $11.3 billion for FY25, or $661 million more than last year.

During the hearing, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asked Wray about President Andres Manuel Lopez Abrador’s connection to the cartels, and corruption associated with that relationship.

“If you took the major Mexican drug cartels, which also traffic people into the United States and turned them upside down and shook them, President López Obrador would fall out of their pockets. Wouldn’t he?” Kennedy asked Wray.

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador argued that Latin America must have certain needs met to curb the migrant crisis. (Isaac Guzman/AFP via Getty Images, Obrador screenshot from CBS "60 Minutes")

“I don’t know that I can comment on the specific individual’s corruption other than through cases that we bring. But I understand the point that you’re making for sure,” Wray responded.

Kennedy then asked about the cooperation the U.S. was receiving from Mexico to control the border.

“Let me put it this way: While we have had some successes here and there in terms of extraditions and so forth, and I appreciate those, and I’m grateful to our Mexican partners for those…we need a whole lot more from Mexico than we’ve gotten in terms of shutting down the cartels and stopping the flow of the precursors,” Wray said. “I mean, I could go on and on. So, I’m grateful for the successes we have had, but we need a heck of a lot more.”

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FBI Director Christopher Wray listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., in 2021. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Wray later said he welcomed “every tool in the toolbox” that can be used to try to improve relationships and cooperation with the neighbors to the south, adding he was hopeful the Mexican government will see the value of building on successes both countries have had.

The questioning came after Claudia Sheinbaum won Mexico’s presidential election to succeed López Obrador.

Sheinbaum’s Morena Party was also projected to hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.

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President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum waves to supporters at the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, after the National Electoral Institute announced she held an irreversible lead in the election on Monday.  (AP/Marco Ugarte)

Andres Martinez-Fernandez, a senior policy analyst for Latin America at The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for National Security, warned in a press call that Sheinbaum is a left-wing activist who is unlikely to drift from AMLO’s tough stance toward the U.S.

“Claudia Sheinbaum is a progressive, and really has a background as an activist/academic, [who] has come up through the ranks of the Mexican left, and comes from an established family in the Mexican left,” he said.

In particular, Mexico and the U.S. have not always seen eye to eye on the question of illegal immigration coming across the U.S. border. While the Biden administration has hailed a number of areas of cooperation with Mexico, AMLO has also attacked Republican politicians, threatening an “information campaign” against them. He has also falsely claimed that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico. 

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A group of over 100 migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally rush a border wall, March 21, 2024. (James Breeden for New York Post / Mega)

“We can expect a lot of the same as far as U.S.-Mexico relations and U.S. policies, on issues that are of top concern to the United States and have direct impact on the United States,” Martinez-Fernandez said.

He said Sheinbaum would likely “stay the course” and provide continuity for the López Obrador administration, in part due to the current president’s ongoing presence.

Biden said Monday that “I congratulate Claudia Sheinbaum on her historic election as the first woman President of Mexico” and that he looks forward “to working closely with President-elect Sheinbaum in the spirit of partnership and friendship that reflects the enduring bonds between our two countries.”

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“I also congratulate the Mexican people for conducting a nationwide successful democratic electoral process involving races for more than 20,000 positions at the local, state, and federal levels,” Biden added.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and Greg Norman contributed to this report.