Below Supernav ↴

Kidnapping case has “full attention of the administration”

Mexican Natioanla Guard prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens kidnapped by gunmen at Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, March 6, 2023. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the four Americans were going to buy medicine and were caught in the crossfire between two armed groups after they had entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday. (AP Photo)

 

Main Area Top ↴

Testing on staging11

(NewsNation) — U.S. lawmakers are calling for more severe action from President Joe Biden’s administration after four Americans were kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico, leaving two dead.

The Biden administration has been focused on disrupting transnational cartels since day one, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a briefing Tuesday.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, echoed Jean-Pierre’s statement, saying border security has been a top priority.

“We’ve been focused on taking big actions to fight drug traffickers and to go after the financial backing of cartels and their attempt to bring fentanyl into the country,” Kirby said, adding, the administration is “working closely with Mexico to prosecute dangerous drug traffickers and of course rallying the global community to address this crisis.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price says it is too early to tell whether this was a targeted attack, but has the “full attention of the administration.”

The four Americans kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico were found Tuesday, with two reported dead and one injured. The two surviving Americans are back on U.S. soil and have been taken to a Texas hospital for treatment.

“We are going to do what is most effective to limit their (drug cartels’) ability to traffic, crackdown on what is a threat to Mexicans and Americans alike,” said Price in a press briefing Tuesday

In Fox News interview Monday, Senator Lindsay Graham said he plans on introducing legislation that will “set the stage” for the use of military force to protect Americans “from being poisoned by things coming out of Mexico.”

U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz told NewsNation he wants Biden to come out and demand Mexico do more to stop the cartels, saying Mexico isn’t doing enough in light of the kidnappings.

“There is cooperation. We are working in a coordinated manner with respect for sovereignty,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a briefing Tuesday.

“This is our issue, and President Biden has also offered me that they will respect our sovereignty, and we are grateful for that because we will not allow intervention by any foreign country. Mexico is not a colony.”

Biden has not yet spoken directly to the status of the case or what efforts are being made to bring justice to the families of the kidnapping victims. The White House says they are in touch with the victims’ families but declined further comment for the sake of privacy.

The Americans had travelled from South Carolina, crossing the border into Mexico from Brownsville, Texas for a medical procedure, according to a relative of one of the victims.

Border Report

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. regular

 

Main Area Middle ↴

Trending on NewsNationNow.com

Main Area Bottom ↴