S. 4544

119 S4544 IS: Stop Fueling Cartel Violence Act
 U.S. Senate
 2026-05-14
 text/xml
 EN
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 II  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  S. 4544  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   May 14, 2026   Mr. Cornyn  (for himself and  Ms. Rosen ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on Armed Services    A BILL
To require a report on countering the smuggling of hydrocarbon products by transnational criminal organizations, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Stop Fueling Cartel Violence Act  .
2.
Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations, including the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and the Northeast Cartel, have developed large-scale enterprises to steal, divert, and smuggle crude oil, diesel, gasoline, and refined petroleum products from Mexico’s state-owned energy company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex).
(2)
Such operations involve illegally drilling clandestine taps into fuel pipelines, raiding refineries, hijacking petroleum tanker trucks, bribing Pemex employees, and using networks of front companies and shell companies to launder the resulting illicit proceeds.
(3)
The Department of the Treasury has determined that fuel theft, including crude oil smuggling, is currently the most significant non-drug illicit revenue source for Mexico-based cartels and other illicit actors.
(4)
Theft of hydrocarbon products by transnational criminal organizations and foreign terrorist organizations has grown to an extraordinary scale, as Pemex estimates that thieves stole approximately 987,000,000 liters of fuel in calendar year 2024, nearly three times the volume stolen in calendar year 2019.
(5)
The Department of the Treasury has reported that the Mexican Government has sustained billions of dollars in lost revenue in recent years attributable to these operations, and independent industry analyses estimate that fuel smuggling and associated tax evasion deprive Mexico of approximately $24,000,000 in potential tax revenue per day.
(6)
According to data cited in Department of the Treasury enforcement actions, between 16 and 27 percent of total annual fuel consumption in Mexico originates from illegal sources.
(7)
In connection with sanctions actions taken against CJNG-linked fuel theft networks in September 2024 and May 2025, the Secretary of the Treasury stated,  Fuel theft and crude oil smuggling are cash cows for CJNG’s narco-terrorist enterprise, providing a lucrative revenue stream for the group and enabling it to wreak havoc in Mexico and the United States. .
(8)
On September 10, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, acting in coordination with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit, sanctioned nine Mexican nationals and 26 Mexico-based entities linked to a CJNG fuel theft network that generates tens of millions of dollars in illicit revenue for CJNG, an organization simultaneously responsible for a significant proportion of fentanyl and other controlled substances trafficked into the United States.
(9)
On May 1, 2025, the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned an additional three Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities involved in a fentanyl trafficking and fuel theft network that generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually for CJNG.
(10)
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, in an alert issued on May 1, 2025, in coordination with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations, described in detail how cartels employ complicit Mexican brokers to smuggle stolen crude oil across the southwest border of the United States, by mislabeling shipments as  waste oil  or hazardous materials, for delivery to complicit United States-based importers operating primarily in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the Eagle Ford Shale, and the Permian Basin regions of Texas.
(11)
On February 20, 2025, the Secretary of State, acting pursuant to Executive Order 14157, designated CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Northeast Cartel, Tren de Aragua, and Mara Salvatrucha as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
(12)
Section 124 of title 10, United States Code, designates the Department of Defense as the single lead agency of the Federal Government for the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs into the United States, to be carried out in support of the counterdrug activities of Federal, State, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies. The Department employs aerial, maritime, and ground surveillance assets and interagency information-sharing networks whose capabilities are directly applicable to the detection and monitoring of the illicit movement of stolen hydrocarbon products across or near the boundaries of the United States.
(13)
The physical and logistical characteristics of hydrocarbon smuggling operations are substantially similar to those of narcotics smuggling, and the surveillance, signals, and communication architectures currently deployed by the Department of Defense for counterdrug purposes are directly applicable to the hydrocarbon threat.
3.
Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1)
the theft and illicit transborder trafficking of crude oil, diesel, gasoline, and refined petroleum products by Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations constitutes a significant threat to the national security and public safety of the United States; and
(2)
the United States Government should treat the trafficking of stolen hydrocarbon products as a priority component of its counterdrug and counter-transnational organized crime strategy.
4.
Report on countering cartel hydrocarbon smuggling
(a)
Report required
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report that—
(1)
details activities taking place pursuant to section 284 of title 10, United States Code, or other authorities of the Department of Defense, to deny, disrupt, or degrade transnational criminal organizations directly or indirectly engaged in the theft, diversion, or illicit movement of stolen hydrocarbon products; and
(2)
includes—
(A)
recommendations for future additional activities to counter the activities of transnational criminal organizations described in paragraph (1), including—
(i)
capacity building with national security forces of partner nations pursuant to section 333 of title 10, United States Code;
(ii)
information sharing with civilian United States Government agencies specializing in countering transnational criminal organizations;
(iii)
assessments of key nodes of activity of transnational organized crime networks engaged in the smuggling of hydrocarbon products; and
(iv)
any other non-kinetic activity the Secretary determines appropriate to deny, disrupt, or degrade the smuggling of hydrocarbon products; and
(B)
an assessment of resources used to conduct the activities described in paragraph (1).
(b)
Hydrocarbon products defined
In this section, the term  hydrocarbon products  means crude oil classified under heading 2709.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ( Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude ), including unprocessed crude petroleum oils (whether testing under or over 25 API gravity), crude oils obtained from bituminous minerals, condensates derived wholly from natural gas, and reconstituted crude petroleum.