At helm of DHS, Chad Wolf vows to confront the gangs behind illegal drugs, guns and migrants

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Fox News

EXCLUSIVE – Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, in an exclusive interview with Fox News while touring the border just days after taking the helm at DHS, detailed what he described as an urgent and “exciting” plan to go after the gangs fueling the flow of illegal migrants, weapons and drugs across the southern border.

"The TCOs and cartels, they control the southern side of the border — they have to be paid, they have to be compensated for any of these large flows coming across the border,” he told Fox News. “You eliminate that and you eliminate their ability to recruit in Central America and bring these folks up.”

"TCO" refers to transnational criminal organizations, a term covering both the murderous drug-running cartels that have plagued Mexico as well as other gangs responsible for smuggling operations at the border. The Trump administration has prioritized going after these organizations, last year labeling groups ranging from MS-13 to the Sinaloa Cartel as top TCO threats.

Wolf's warning hinted that the new secretary, among other tactics, intends to go after the gangs’ cash flow.

While Wolf doesn't think that the issue of TCOs had been ignored previously, he says the fight is going to need more resources from the government. He also noted that issues that his predecessor Kevin McAleenan had pushed, such as the fight against so-called child recycling at the border, were part of that battle against the gangs and cartels.

“So when we talk about TCOs, it’s not only them facilitating the flow of migrants to the border, it’s also drugs, weapons and a lot of the violence,” he said. “So targeting TCOs in a real way … is something that I will certainly push and work on from a DHS perspective, but we’ll also be working in the larger interagency to really start targeting these groups, because once you start eliminating their ability to bring migrants and the like, then I think you’ll start seeing a different dynamic.”