U.S. Reps. August Pfluger (R-TX) and Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) are seeking insight from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Treasury Department regarding agency efforts to combat illicit cartel and terrorist financing.
Pfluger, chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, and Luetkemeyer, chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, forwarded correspondence to DHS Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the matter.
“The Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Financial Services are examining federal efforts to address the persistent and evolving threat of illicit finance by transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and terrorists,” the legislators wrote. “We write to request additional information about the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) and the Department of Treasury’s efforts to track and disrupt these criminal financing activities.”
Illicit financial activity is a major homeland security threat enabling corruption, terrorism and an ever-increasing drug trade.
“The fentanyl crisis could not continue at its current rate without the financial support of ongoing Chinese-Mexican money laundering schemes occurring within the United States,” the legislators concluded. “We request that DHS and the Treasury Department provide Committee staff a briefing to include, but not limited to, how TCOs and terrorists leverage our financial system to conduct illegal activities, no later than Aug. 14, 2023.”
According to House Rule X, the Committee on Homeland Security is the principal committee of jurisdiction for overall homeland security policy and has special oversight functions of all government activities relating to homeland security, including the interaction of all departments and agencies with the Department of Homeland Security.