Who We Are-Dems Abandon God & the Declaration of Independence plus Cartels in every Community in America

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Who We Are – Dems Abandon God & the Declaration of Independence plus Cartels in Every Community in America"

Podcast: Verdict with Ted Cruz
Episode Date: September 5, 2025
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz & Ben Ferguson

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Overview

In this episode, Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson dive into two major topics affecting the United States:

1. The Democratic Party, as evidenced by Senator Tim Kaine, publicly rejecting the Declaration of Independence's idea that rights come from God rather than government.
2. The escalating threat of Mexican drug cartels, particularly the Sinaloa cartel, infiltrating communities across the US, including places far removed from the border such as New England.

Both topics are discussed through the lens of broader American values and current policy implications. The show is rich with direct quotes, historical context, and commentary.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Roots of American Rights: God vs. Government

Senator Tim Kaine's Comments (06:17–07:53)

• Incident Recap: Senator Kaine, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, challenged a Trump administration nominee's statement that "our rights come from God, not from government." Kaine likened this view to the theocracy of Iran, suggesting such a belief is "radical and dangerous."
  • Quote (Sen. Kaine): “The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from government, but come from the creator…that’s what the Iranian government believes…”
  • Quote (Sen. Kaine): “The statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.” (07:53)

Ted Cruz’s Response & Historical Context (08:13–12:30)

• Cruz expresses shock and asserts that the belief rights come from God is central to America's founding.
  • Quote (Cruz): “That radical and dangerous notion in his words is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created.” (08:13)
  • Cruz directly quotes the Declaration of Independence to support his stance, emphasizing, “They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
• Cruz argues that government’s purpose is safeguarding those rights, not granting or defining them.

Why This Debate Matters (12:30–16:15)

• Cruz details the philosophical difference:
  • If rights come from government, government can take them away ("alienable").
  • Quote (Cruz): “If rights don’t come from God—if they come from government—then government can take them away. The Declaration refers to these rights as unalienable. Unalienable means they can’t be taken away.”
• He connects this view to historical injustices (e.g., slavery), noting that legality does not mean morality; morality comes from these God-given rights.

Faith and the Democratic Party (16:15–17:29)

• Cruz claims that the Democratic Party is increasingly hostile to people of faith:
  • Quote (Cruz): “If you’re a Christian, the Democrats don’t want you. If you’re Jewish, the Democrats don’t want you. If you’re Catholic, the Democrats don’t want you.” (16:46)
• He reminisces on the earlier bipartisan consensus on religious liberty, notably the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

2. Religious Defense: Bishop Robert Barron's Perspective

Bishop Barron's Rebuke of Kaine (22:54–26:16)

• Bishop Robert Barron, a Catholic leader, releases a statement defending the belief that rights come from God and condemns Kaine’s view as “outrageous” and “dangerous to our democracy.”
  • Quote (Barron): “So basic to Jefferson was the fact that rights come first. They’re not invented by the government. Rather, government exists…to secure these rights, it doesn’t invent them, doesn’t ground them, it secures them.” (24:25)
  • Quote (Barron): “If the government creates our rights, it can take them away…but if rights come from God, they’re inalienable.”
• Barron warns of the perils historically associated with the denial of God-given rights, referencing 20th-century totalitarian regimes.

3. Mexican Cartels: "Public Enemy Number One" in America

Cartels in New England (28:31–32:02)

• Ben Ferguson brings attention to underreported news: 171 members of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel were arrested in New England in a single week.
  • Quote (Ferguson): “The Sinaloa Cartel is now in essence in every single major city in America…You may think that you’re far away from the border…you’d be wrong.” (27:30)
  • The DEA reports seizing significant quantities of counterfeit pills, including fentanyl-laced Adderall lookalikes.

DEA’s Statement & Risks (29:19–31:43)

• DEA’s Special Agent emphasizes the infiltration’s scale and the difficulty of distinguishing lethal counterfeit pills from real ones.
  • Quote (Ferguson paraphrasing DEA): “I’m a DEA agent. I cannot tell the difference between a fake one and a real one. So we need to remind parents…have those conversations with your kids.” (30:58)
• Cartels are active on social media, targeting unsuspecting youth.
• Fentanyl poisoning, often from counterfeit pills, is now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18–45.

Cruz: Parental Concerns and the Danger of Fentanyl (32:17–36:53)

• Cruz shares personal parental fears in the era of fentanyl, describing how a single pill can kill, and relates a DEA demonstration using Sweet’N Low packets to illustrate the lethality of fentanyl granules.
  • Quote (Cruz): “With both of our teenage girls, I sat them down in the kitchen, I handed them packets of Sweet’N Low…That is enough fentanyl to kill you." (35:03-36:53)

Resource Strain on Law Enforcement (34:14–35:03)

• Ben Ferguson cites overwhelmed police forces exhausting Narcan supplies due to the epidemic of overdoses.

Federal Crackdown on Cartels (37:14–40:26)

• Cruz discusses recent federal and military actions against drug cartels, including naval operations and deployment of F-35s to the Caribbean.
• He underscores the administration’s commitment to labeling cartels as terrorist organizations and using "the full force of our government" to dismantle them.
  • Quote (Cruz): “We are moving major assets to take on the cartels and to defeat the cartels." (39:58-40:26)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tim Kaine (paraphrased): “Claiming rights come from God, not government, is ‘radical and dangerous.’” (07:50)
• Ted Cruz: “That radical and dangerous notion…is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created.” (08:13)
• Bishop Barron: “If the government creates our rights, it can take them away. If the government is responsible for our rights, well, then it can change them. You think this never happens? You don’t know much about the history of the 20th century.” (25:10)
• Ben Ferguson on Cartel Threat: “You may think you’re far away from the border…you’d be wrong. 171 Sinaloa cartel members were arrested in New England.” (27:30)
• Ted Cruz (on fentanyl risk): “It is terrifying being the parents of young kids today…One small decision that seems easy…can cost them their entire life.” (32:17–36:53)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:36–03:39: Show introduction; Democratic Party’s stance on God and American founding principles.
• 06:17–08:13: Ted Cruz sets up the Senate hearing incident with Tim Kaine.
• 08:13–12:30: Cruz’s historical response; quoting the Declaration of Independence.
• 12:30–16:15: Deeper breakdown on the philosophical divide and historical context.
• 16:15–17:29: Discussion on the Democratic Party’s hostility to faith.
• 22:54–26:16: Bishop Barron’s statement on why rights from God, not government, are foundational.
• 28:31–32:02: Cartels’ reach into New England; DEA and local news reports.
• 32:17–36:53: Fentanyl dangers, parental perspective, and the Sweet’N Low analogy.
• 37:14–40:26: Federal efforts to combat drug cartels; military and policy response.

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Final Thoughts

This episode underscores the hosts’ concerns about what they see as a drift from America’s founding values among Democrats, particularly regarding the divine origin of rights. The threat from Mexican cartels is presented as a direct consequence of current border policies, with highly personal and local implications for all Americans.

Listeners will find a blend of constitutional discussion, practical warnings about drug dangers, and calls to action to educate children and support stronger national security policies—all delivered in the impassioned, direct style typical of the show.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Ben Ferguson]

It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you and we've got a packed show for you today. And also I want to remind you that this show we do as a podcast three days a week. So make sure that you download Vertic with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss a single episode. The Democratic Party center is really starting to show their true colors in a proud way. Their disdain for American values, American families and for God is on full display now. Now we started to witness some of this when they were going after the Jewish people with the war when Israel was attacked. But Tim Kaine testifies that the Constitutional rights come from the government. Let me say that again, come from the government, not from God. You had a very interesting interaction with him and this is something that should terrify all Americans because now this is where the Democratic Party truly is. Disdain for God and family.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, every day the Democrat Party gets more and more radical. They've now decided that God has no place in our nation and God has no place in our founding documents and that our rights are critically do not come from God. This is truly an extreme position. Tim Kaine and I went back and forth this week in the United States Senate on the foundations of our nation. We're going to get into that. We're also going to get into the threat that Joe Biden and the Democrats open borders pose to you. Even if you don't live in a border state, you may think you live far, far away from the border. Well, four years of open borders has endangered every community, every day, every family up in New England. Just this week, 171Cinelota cartel members were arrested. New England is nowhere near the southern border, and yet the Mexican drug cartels have penetrated communities all across the country. We're going to break that down as well.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, it's really, it's really important. And this is a big defining moment, I think, in this country, especially with the Democratic Party. And they're giving us amazing amount of intel about what their future plans are. Want to tell you real quick about Patriot Mobile. You've got a lot of choices when it comes to cell phone service. There's new ones that pop up all the time. But there is one company that's been doing this for more than 13 years and with more than, I mean, literally more than hundreds of thousands of customers now, they're making a difference, sitting up for the values that we believe in. Now when I say they're making a difference. When you're a member of Patriot Mobile, not only do you get amazing nationwide coverage, you get, I mean, it's phenomenal service. You get a customer based that does everything right here in the US you call the number, you're talking to somebody in, in this country and they can set you up within minutes for your new service. They keep your same phone, your same cell phone, or you can upgrade to a new one if you want to. New cell phone number if you want it, or keep your old number, it doesn't matter. They do it all over the phone. So you can call them from your home, your office. But this is where the miracle comes in. They take about 5% of your bill every month and they give it back to conservative causes that are fighting for first and our second amendment rights. They're fighting for the rights of unborn children. They also give amazing donations to our men and women in uniform, our veterans and our fallen families to help provide when they are in need. That is why I love Patriot Mobile. I made the switch and I travel all the time and I get incredible coverage. Why? Because they're on all three major US Networks. So if you've got great service right now, you're going to get the same exact coverage or even better coverage of Patriot Mobile. And switching, like I said, is hassle free. So call them and I'm going to give you a free month of service as well. Patriotmobile.com verdicts the website. All right, that's patriot mobile.com verdict. Make a difference to every call that you make, whether every text you send. You can call them as well. 972-patriot that's 972-patriot. Use a promo code. Verdict. You're going to get a free month of service switch today and make a difference for as long as you're going to have cell phone service. Plus you're going to save money. 972 Patriot or patriot mobile.com Verdict all right, so let's start with this. I, I actually am shocked by this, Senator. When I saw this come out, I'm like, did you, did Tim Kaine really say that the, that constitutional rights come from government, not God? And that is exactly what he said. It wasn't a joke on the Internet.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah. And let me set the stage. This was a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week, and it was a confirmation hearing for a number of nominees. And the way hearings work in the Senate is often you have multiple hearings simultaneously. And so that day I had a Senate Foreign Relations hearing. I had a Commerce Committee hearing that I was chairing and conducting. And then I also had a Judiciary Committee hearing. And so you have to go from hearing to hearing. So you're walking in and out of each of the hearings, trying to make it to all of them. And so I was just walking into the Foreign Relations Committee hearing and Tim Kaine happened to be questioning and speaking. And I was getting ready to speak myself. So I sat down. And one of the Trump administration nominees to the State Department had included in his testimony the observation that our rights come from God, not from government. And Tim Kaine took offense to this and he just teed off on it. And I sat there dumbfounded listening to him. And then I responded. So I'm going to play first what Tim Kaine said, and then I'm going to play my response that I said afterwards. Here, give a listen.

[Ben Ferguson]

The notion that rights don't come from.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Laws and don't come from the government, but come from the creator. That's what the Iranian government believes. It's a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia law and targets Sunnis, Baha' is Jews, Christians and other religious minorities.

[Ben Ferguson]

And they do it because they believe.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

That they understand what natural rights are from their Creator.

[Ben Ferguson]

So the statement that our rights do.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Not come from our laws or our.

[Bishop Robert Barron]

Governments is extremely troubling.

[Ben Ferguson]

I think the motto over the Supreme.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Court is equal justice under law. The oath that you and I take.

[Ben Ferguson]

Pledge to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, not arbitrarily defined natural rights.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Mr. Barnes, I'd actually like to go back to the exchange you had with Senator Kaine, and I wish Senator Kaine was still here. Senator Kaine and I were elected together 13 years ago. He is a friend. I would actually encourage observers to go back and listen to what Senator Kaine said. Because I have to say, it, I think, was disturbing and showed much of where today's Democrat Party has gone wrong. So Senator Kaine said in this hearing that he found it a radical and dangerous notion that you would say our rights came from God and not from government. I just walked into the hearing as he was saying that, and I almost fell out of my chair. Because that radical and dangerous notion, in his words, is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created. And if you do not believe me and you made reference to this, Mr. Barnes, then you can believe perhaps the most prominent Virginian to ever serve, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in the Declaration of Independence, we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator, not by government, not by the Democratic National Committee, but by God with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I have to say it is stunning to me that the principle that God has given us natural rights is now deemed by Democrats some radical and dangerous notion. Mr. Jefferson was right when he wrote those words. Government exists to protect those rights. But slavery was not okay when US Law allowed it. It was wrong then, it is wrong now. It is always wrong.

[Ben Ferguson]

So let's break this down. This seems to be where the Democratic Party, not where it's going. This is where it is at its core right now.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, no, that's exactly right. Tim Kaine is not some fringe character in the Democrat Party. Tim Kaine, as you know, was Hillary Clinton's vice presidential nominee. He came very close to being vice President of the United States. Tim Kaine has been in the Senate for 13 years. He was elected to the Senate the same time I was. Tim is not a dumb man. He's very smart. He's a lawyer. He's a Serious guy. He's a careful thinker. He knows what's in the Declaration of Independence. He just doesn't agree with it. And what troubled me about this, I actually had an entirely different line of questioning that I was planning to get into at the hearing. And I just walked in and heard him saying this. And what troubled me was just how casually, how casually he said, look, the basic ideas that were the foundation of America, those ideas are radical, they're extreme. They are the ideas of Iran. That's what he argued, that if you believe our rights come from God, you are a theocratic mullah in Iran. I want to go back. I want to read the first paragraph and a half of the Declaration of Independence. You know, next summer, next July 4th will be the 250th anniversary of the United States. So it was 250 years ago next summer that the Declaration was signed on July 4, 1776. Here's how it begins in unanimous Declaration of the 13 United States of America. When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect of the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And then I want you to listen to the next sentence because it really explains why Tim Kaine is fundamentally wrong in the relationship between rights that come from God and the role of government, that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness. Now, that's the right relationship, which is that government is not the source of the rights. God is the source of the rights. It is God who has given you and me and everyone listening to this a right to life. It is God who has given us a right to liberty. It is God who has given us a right to the pursuit of happiness historically. And if you go back to some of the great English thinkers, people Like John Locke, the three standard natural rights that people were discussed having were life, liberty and property. And Jefferson did not include property in the Declaration because he did not want to get into the debate on slavery. And so in place of property, he put in pursuit of happiness. Pursuit of happiness, in many ways is just an aspect of liberty. That is part of liberty is the pursuit of happiness, but the relationship that is important. And every one of our founding fathers knew this. Thomas Jefferson knew this. George Washington knew this. James Madison knew this. Ben Franklin knew this. They understood, look, God has given us these rights. Now Tim is saying, well, no, no, it's government who gives us his rights. That's backwards. As the Declaration says that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. That means the purpose of government is to secure, to protect those rights. Do you need government to protect our rights? Absolutely. And actually the point I made in the debate with Tim Kaine, Listen, slavery was wrong. It was immoral. Even for the hundred plus years that it was legal here. The fact that our laws allowed slavery didn't make it suddenly moral and just and okay. It was a violation of human rights. It was a violation of human rights. As the Declaration promised, all men are created equal. When you had African Americans that could be held as slaves, our country was not living up to that promise. And so we fought a bloody Civil War. 600,000Americans died to end the scourge of slavery. And then we amended the Constitution to explicitly end slavery. But slavery was not magically okay before the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. And that's a point that Tim Kaine is really representing, well, today's Democrat Party, because the entire party rejects that. And I'll tell you why they reject that. Because if rights don't come from God, if they come from government, then government can take them away. The Declaration refers to these rights as unalienable. Unalienable means they can't be taken away. The Democrats believe your rights are entirely alienable. That the only God is government. And government can give, government can take away. That's the fundamental debate. And it's a debate right at the heart, I think, of where today's Democrat Party has gone off the rails.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, final question on this, because I do believe we're also witnessing a public disdain for people of faith coming from the Democratic Party. We've seen the undertones of that, but now it just seems to be at the forefront that it's almost like they mock and roll their eyes at people of faith. We've seen this, certainly with the debates and the conversations over people that are Jewish and people of faith in Israel. And now this has become mainstream. How dangerous is that?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, it is very dangerous. The Democrat Party position often seems to be people of faith need not apply. If you're a Christian, the Democrats don't want you. If you're Jewish, the Democrats don't want you. If you're Catholic, the Democrats don't want you. If you believe your faith, if you worship, if you are faithful and it matters to you that the Democrats have said that is not welcome. And, you know, it wasn't too long ago when there was a real bipartisan commitment to religious liberty. You know, you go Back to the 1990s, 1993, the religious freedom Restoration act passed Congress protecting the religious liberty of every American.

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[Ben Ferguson]

Senator, I want to ask you one other question about this bigger issue with Tim Kaine. There have been some religious leaders, thank goodness, that have actually stood up to him. Some of the headlines. The Federals had one that said, tim Kaine thinks you're a terrorist if you believe rights come from God. The Christian Post said, ted Cruz torches Tim Kaine for describing God given rights as very, very troubling. And there's some religious leaders that have also gotten in to talk about this as well. That's a good sign.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah. One of the most thoughtful responses to what Tim Kaine said came from Bishop Robert Barron, who was the Bishop of the Diocese of Winona Rochester in Minnesota. And I want you to listen to what the Bishop had to say because I think this is very thoughtful and accurate.

[Bishop Robert Barron]

Hey, everybody, it's Bishop Barron. I just feel obligated to speak out against something that I came across today, and I just found it so outrageous and really so dangerous to our democracy. It was Senator Tim Kaine at a. I think it was a Senate confirmation hearing. And he was actively contesting the view that our rights come from God and not from the government. And he said, it's very dangerous if you claim that our rights don't come from laws and from government. Well, what struck me was he's a senator from Virginia. Virginia was a state of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, both of whom took it as fundamental to our democracy that our rights don't come from the government, they come from God. So we know the familiar words of Jefferson right, that we are created equal, created by God. We're endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You see, so basic to Jefferson was the fact that rights come first. They're not invented by the government. Rather, government exists. And remember this language from the prologue of the Declaration to secure these rights, it doesn't invent them, doesn't ground them, it secures them. It recognizes them as objectively. Coming from God, and then its whole purpose is to secure them, to serve them. Think too of that familiar word from Jefferson. Inalienable. These rights are inalienable now. Why? Because they come not from the government, but from God. If the government creates our rights, it can take them away. If the government is responsible for our rights, well, then it can change them. You think this never happens? You don't know much about the history of the 20th century. Look at the great totalitarian systems of the 20th century that followed from the denial of God and denial of rights coming from God. And so those rights became eminently alienable whenever it served the purposes of the government. It just strikes me as extraordinary that a major American politician wouldn't understand this really elemental part of our system. God help us. I mean that literally. God help us. If we say our rights are coming to us from the government that gives the government indeed godlike power. We are. And this is not pious boilerplate. It's basic democracy. We are a nation under God. Lincoln says the Gettysburg Address that this nation under. Under God shall have a new birth of freedom. Again, that's not just pious decoration. That's a very important political statement. We are a government that recognizes the objective rights that come from outside of government. Government exists to serve them and to secure them. Well, the fact that this rhetoric, and it's popped up elsewhere too, in recent years, I spoke out against it a little while ago, is troubling because it's a fruit, I would say, of the increasing marginalization and privatization of religion, if not outright hostility to it. But see, everybody, religion is elemental. It's basic to our democracy. So I'm speaking out against this statement, I think is really dangerous, both as a Catholic bishop and as a proud American who's very happy to follow Thomas Jefferson.

[Ben Ferguson]

I love what he said there. He says, as a American as well, like, you need to understand this is how our country was founded. Let's not rewrite history and act like this isn't what we are.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

I think that's exactly right. And this is something that everyone ought to come together and say, look, these are the basic principles America was founded upon. And particularly as we move into next year celebrating our nation's 250th anniversary, it's important that people understand them. And I wish that the Democrat Party would get back to them, because the idea, you know, you look at the hat worn by Trump supporters. Make America great again. I gotta say, it infuriates so many Democrats, the idea that America was ever great. I mean, they're offended by that. And this is why America was great, because we were founded on principles that are true. That our rights are derived from our creator, that our government exists to protect those fundamental rights. That is the genius idea right at the beginning of the American experiment that put us on this journey to be the shining city on a hill that we are.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, great point. I want to also move on to the other story that is one that is not getting a lot of coverage. And it's really important. It's why I love doing this show with you. The Sinaloa Cartel is now in essence an every single major city in America. They have set up a massive network. They are making billions and billions of dollars, poisoning and killing Americans. Human trafficking, sex trafficking, child trafficking, the list goes on and on. Anything that's illegal, they've got their, their tentacles in it. And you may think that you're far away from the border. So this isn't actually in your city or your big city or your area of the country. Great example of that is New England. If you're in New England listening to us right now, you're probably thinking that's not near as bad as like where we are in Houston at the moment. Well, guess what? You'd be wrong. 171 Sinaloa cartel members were arrested in New England. The DEA has now announced.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

That was in a single week. In a single week, 171Sinaloa Cartel members arrested in Boston. The arrest also led to the seizure of more than 22,000 counterfeit pills, fentanyl powder and packaging branded with the Sinaloa cartel logo. And the DEA agent in charge for the New England field division said the Sinaloa cartel is quote, public enemy number one in New England. That's what the Democrats open border policies have done. And listen to a local news story covering this arrest of 171 Sinaloa Cartel members in Boston. Give a listen.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. And by the way, ask yourself this question, America. Why did you not hear about this on the national news? This is Boston 25 News covering it there.

[Brian Christopher]

The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration says a week long cartel crackdown led to nearly 200 arrests just in New England. The DEA says they were all members of the Sinaloa Cartel, the largest drug cartel in the world. 25 Investigates went one on one with the DEA special agent in charge about their recent operation. He says the vast Sinaloa network has deep roots in New England.

[Ben Ferguson]

There are public enemy number one.

[Brian Christopher]

Jarred. Forget the special agent in charge of DEA's New England Field Division says last week the DEA set out to arrest as many members of the Mexico based Sinaloa Cartel as possible. New England saw the highest number of regional arrests at 171 with 49 in Massachusetts, 33 in New Hampshire. Connecticut saw the most at 64. Do you think people would be surprised to learn how many members of that cartel are operating probably in plain sight in their communities?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Sure.

[Ben Ferguson]

So Sinaloa Cartel in every single state across America, more than 40 countries around the world, and obviously they're in every state throughout New England.

[Brian Christopher]

What's their number one product they push?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Is it the pills?

[Ben Ferguson]

So we see fentanyl powder and we see counterfeit pills. Pills that are made to look like legitimate pills.

[Brian Christopher]

Notably M30s M30 pills are counterfeit oxycodone. But Forget says they're also increasingly seeing counterfeit stimulant pills made to look like Adderall. Forget showed us some of the more than 22,000 pills and other drugs seized during the operation, like signature purple fentanyl. And some drug packaging even displaying the Sinaloa Cartel stamp.

[Ben Ferguson]

I'm a DEA agent. I cannot tell the difference between a fake one and a real one. So we need to remind parents, schools, caregivers, everybody in the community, have those conversations with each other. Have them with your kids.

[Brian Christopher]

Forget says the cartel targets unsuspecting young people online through common social media apps. Many have no idea they're buying potentially deadly counterfeit pills. 171 arrests throughout New England. Does that make a dent?

[Ben Ferguson]

We're the dea. We're not going after low level retail drug traffickers. We are going after drug trafficking organizations, the networks.

[Brian Christopher]

How do you disrupt that something that is so large, so vast and seemingly so powerful?

[Ben Ferguson]

Right. It's an ongoing battle, one that we cannot, we can't afford to give up.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Right. It's.

[Ben Ferguson]

The Sinaloa cartel is a threat to public safety, our public health and our national security as a country.

[Brian Christopher]

This year, the Centers for Disease Control reported, while drug overdose deaths are declining, overdose is the leading cause of death for young people ages 18 to 45.

[Ben Ferguson]

Center, you hear that report? It should be national news. It's not. Thank goodness. We're doing the show to make it national. But this is concerning because it's not just in New England. This is in every major city in America. They've set up shop.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, CNN won't cover it, MSNBC won't but cover it. I'm glad the local news covered it. And it is critically important. The cartel's public enemy number One in New England, brought to you by the Democrats is the Sinaloa cartel. And you know, it was striking what they were arrested with. They were arrested with, among other things, counterfeit pills. Pills like Adderall. And those are designed to be sold to your kids. Ben, you and I are both parents. I will tell you, it is terrifying being the parents of young kids today. Your kids are younger than mine, Ben. My girls are teenagers. And you know, I think back when you and I were teenagers, you'd go out to party. There may be some kids in high school, they might be drinking, maybe someone would smoke some marijuana. But the odds were that you were not going to die going to a party when you and I were kids. What is terrifying now is that kids go to a party and someone says, here, hey, try a pill. It's an Adderall, it's a Ritalin. It's something they think is fairly innocuous. And the kid takes one pill and it is a counterfeit pill that has fentanyl. And the child drops dead. And that is happening at a scale that is truly terrifying. In 2023, more than 100,000 thousand Americans died of overdoses. 70% of those were fentanyl. And overdose is the wrong word for those. Those are poisonings. Because, you know, you think of an overdose, if you have a junkie on the street who's shooting up heroin, he shoots up a little bit too much heroin. That's a tragedy. But there are a series of decisions that put the person in that situation. This circumstance is much more frightening because it can be one tiny mistaken decision made by a 14 year old that ends that child's life. And that is the result. Open borders are endangering our families in a very fundamental way.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's an epidemic. And what's interesting is when you do research on this Senator, one of the things that's the most shocking about it is a lot of police forces are actually running out of their Narcan, which is what you can give to try to save someone's life. When they overdose their yearly supply, they're eating through it in two to three months into the year, and they're having to go to their city council and their board of aldermen, the county commissioners, depending on where they're, what type of government they have, and they're having to beg them for more money because they're running through the budget for what they need to save people's lives. That's how big of an epidemic this has become. And again, it's the number one Killer of young people in this country. That is something that needs to be said over and over again, and it's something that we must stop.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, and police officers and first responders, they often wear gloves. They're very frightened because if they inadvertently touch fentanyl, a tiny amount can kill them. The level that this is deadly is truly unprecedented. And, you know, I'll say. I want to share an illustration that a DEA agent told me a number of years ago, which we were sitting and doing a roundtable with a DEA agent and with a mom who had lost her child to fentanyl poisoning. And here's what the DEA agent did is he handed out everyone Sweet and Low packets of the sweetener you put in your tea or coffee. And he said, okay, tear open the Sweet and Low packet. And he said, empty all the Sweet and Low onto the table. So we all did that. He then said, stick your pinky, your little finger into the empty packet. So we did that. And they said, pull it out. And you pull it out, you have a handful of tiny little grains of Sweet and Low that are on your finger. And he said, that is enough fentanyl to kill you. And it's a very effective illustration, I'll tell you, with both of our teenage girls. I sat them down in the kitchen, I handed them packets of sweet' n Low, and I had them do exactly that illustration. And if you are a parent, if you are a grandparent, have this conversation with your kids or your grandkids. Because, look, hopefully your kids will not make catastrophically wrong decisions. But in this circumstance, one small decision that seems easy. Hey, it's a friend of theirs that has, you know, hey, hey, try this pill. We're all at a party, and they don't think they are risking their lives. I don't know a parent who is not terrified about the risk that their kids will make one wrong choice and it will cost them their entire life.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, it is. It really is scary. There's no doubt about it. And this is part of the reason why I think the President is also, as you wrap up this last week, going after these drug cartels and saying, we're gonna use the full force of our government to go after them since we've declared them terrorist organizations because they're killing Americans.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, obviously, the US Military took out a Trendaragua narco terrorist boat off the shores of Venezuela just this past week. As you know, last week I was in Mexico meeting with senior government officials in Mexico and making clear to them, the United States is going after These cartels. And we're going to do so either with or without you. Yet, you know, listening to the story of the 171Sinaloa Cartel members arrested New England reminded me of the MS.13 cartel member that I spoke with down in El Salvador. I went to the Secot, the maximum security terrorist prison. And if you didn't listen to our podcast last week, let me encourage every one of you, go back and listen to last week's podcast where I take you inside this prison, this maximum security prison built for 40,000 gang members, mass murderers and terrorists. And I met with one Ms. 13 gang member who'd lived in Texas many years. He spoke perfectly fluent English. He became an Ms. 13 member when he was 13 years old living in Falls Church, Virginia. That's the level at which these gangs have penetrated our society. And by the way, the only way you become a member of Ms. 13 is you have to murder someone. So at age 13, he murdered someone to become a member of this gang. When I asked him why he did it, he said all of his friends were doing the same thing, that he was hanging out with other 13 year olds who were joining the same gang. And this is, this, this is now a 42 year old man who's spending the rest of his life in a maximum security prison because of the multiple murders he committed. That is not in Columbia, that's, that's not deep in Mexico City. That was Falls Church, Virginia. And later he moved to Dallas, Texas, we've heard New England. This is public enemy number one. You and I and our families, we want the border secured. And I'm grateful that we have a president and commander in chief who says we are gonna stop the human trafficking, we're gonna stop the drug trafficking, we are securing the border. That's an incredible success and it's incredibly important.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, you're absolutely right about that. And also Reuters is now reporting and this is just showing, I think, the President's commitment to fighting these narco terrorists. Reuters is now saying the US is deploying stealth fighter jets to the Caribbean for drug fight as the tensions with Venezuela continue to rise. They're saying Axios is saying that 10 F35 jets are being dispatched also to Puerto Rico to support the drug war there. And this is on top of Ben.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Ben. When I was down at the Panama Canal, I actually saw the USS Lake Erie that was transiting from the Pacific to the Caribbean specifically to participate in the war on drugs. This is a missile ship with enormous capacity. I don't know if this was the particular ship that took out the trend Uragua. But I went and toured the ship, met many of the sailors on board. We are moving major assets to take on the cartels and to defeat the cartels.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, exactly. We're going to keep covering this. So download Verdict with Ted Cruz Wherever you get your podcasts, don't miss a single episode and the center and I will see you back here on this radio station next week.

[Brian Christopher]

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[Ben Ferguson]

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Ben Ferguson]

This is an iHeart podcast.