Attorney General Pam Bondi fired back at Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island on Wednesday for saying she is not taking action to prevent Mexican gangs from acquiring American weaponry.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has stopped almost 9,700 firearms from potentially heading to “dangerous” individuals in Mexico since President Donald Trump took office again on Jan. 20, according to a May 2 press release. Bondi, during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, defended the Trump administration’s efforts and criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration for its border policy.
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“What are we doing to stop American weapons going to Mexico to arm their gangs?” Reed asked.
“We are arresting people who have illegal firearms in our country,” Bondi said. “We’re not sending people back to Mexico with guns. We’re throwing them in our jails and prosecuting them.”
Reed disagreed.
“No, you’re allowing them to be purchased in the United States and driven across the border,” the senator said. “Most of these gangs have completely turned themselves into military organizations because they’re using American weapons, American technology, and your argument is that, well, we’re not doing anything about them.”
Bondi shot back that Reed’s claim was inaccurate and pivoted to attack the Biden administration.
“No, not my argument. That was the policy of the last four years of the Biden administration with open borders. You could come back and forth across our borders. You could buy guns. You could take guns off the street,” she said. “You could shoot people in our country. You could bring fentanyl into our country. You could bring methamphetamine into our country. You could bring cocaine into our country. That was the previous administration, not this one.”
Reed disagreed again and repeated his initial question.
“Our borders are closed. We are arresting illegal cartels. Sinaloa from Mexico, MS-13 from El Salvador, TdA [Tren de Aragua]. We are arresting from Venezuela,” Bondi responded. “ATF has seized over 14,600 guns since Donald Trump has been president. That’s a 33% increase from the last administration. And think about that. That’s when our border is secure. They weren’t doing anything.”
The senator again claimed Bondi has not been working on solving this issue.
“I don’t think you’ve done anything to severely interrupt the arming of Mexican gangs because that’s really not what your focus — and I think your focus should be on that,” he said.
The U.S. Border Patrol released a total of zero illegal migrants into the nation during the month of May, showing the quick decline in illegal migration during Trump’s second term. The figure marks a stark contrast from the 62,000 illegal migrants released into the country in May 2024 under Biden’s unprecedented border crisis.
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