Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody praised President Donald Trump on Wednesday for sending Navy warships to the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels.
“Yesterday [Tuesday], the administration announced that they will be surging military assets into international waters around Venezuela to go after the root cause of much of the narco trade and [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro, who is the head of a narco organization,” Moody said.
“That is action,” she said. “That is someone who hears the calls of Americans that say, 'pay attention to what is killing Americans, do not be distracted.’”
“And President Trump heard that,” she said. “He not only made the designation that cartels are foreign terrorist organizations he has now taken action to surge resources to protect our people and this country.”
The deployment of U.S. destroyers and personnel comes as Trump has pushed for using the U.S. military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into American communities and for perpetuating violence in some U.S. cities.
READ MORE: US destroyers head toward waters off Venezuela as Trump aims to pressure drug cartels
Moody’s remarks were made during a visit to Doral to highlight recent legislative victories and ongoing efforts nationally and statewide to combat the country’s fentanyl crisis.
The former Florida Attorney General was joined by Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Sara Carter.
Moody blamed the fentanyl crisis on former President Biden for not securing the U.S.-Mexico border, saying his administration “allowed not only drugs to come into our country...but also traffickers."
Citing the latest data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Moody said Florida’s aggressive law enforcement efforts have resulted in a nearly 20% decrease in fentanyl deaths. She said fentanyl is “the number one killer of working age Americans."
Cordero-Stutz added that last year her agency carried out 29 fentanyl-related investigations, netting the seizure of 11.8 kilograms of fentanyl and the arrest of 16 traffickers.
Moody said passage of the Halt Fentanyl Act, a bill she co-sponsored, will give federal law enforcement agents and prosecutors the tools to go after traffickers of fentanyl-related substances, even when the chemical compounds are slightly altered to get around the law.
"Families that have lost children to fentanyl-related substances have been begging for this change in the law for years,” said Moody. "And it is time that we delivered to give them justice.”
She encouraged those Floridians struggling with drug addiction to seek help, recommending they visit a Atlas, a resource for those seeking treatment or for their loved ones.
"One pill can kill," she warned. "No matter your age, no matter where you come from, no matter your job, one pill can kill."
