On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stated that President Joe Biden “is the best thing that ever happened to the Mexican drug cartels” and cited the massive surge in cartel revenue since 2018 and argued that the solution to cartel violence isn’t to invade Mexico or go to war with it, but rather, to pressure the country to act against cartel violence.

Cruz said, “Well, listen, those who kill American citizens must be held accountable. And, at the first instance, this wouldn’t happen if we had responsible presidential leadership. Joe Biden created the chaos at the border. Joe Biden stopped building the wall. He reinstated catch and release. He pulled out of Remain in Mexico. And what Joe Biden has done is he’s turned these vicious narcoterrorists into multibillionaires. Let me give you an amazing statistic: In the year 2018 — this is according to The New York Times — the Mexican drug cartels made roughly $500 million. That’s a lot of money. Last year, they made $13 billion. … That is what Joe Biden did. Joe Biden becoming President is the best thing that ever happened to the Mexican drug cartels.”

He added, “The answer is not to invade Mexico. I don’t think the answer is to just go to war with whatever country you’re mad at. You think about, the answer is to stand up to them. When Donald Trump was President, AMLO (Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador), who’s the same anti-American leftist then that he is now, was afraid of Donald Trump. AMLO agreed to the Remain in Mexico agreement. AMLO put soldiers on Mexico’s southern border and we ended up getting the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. The reason that this is so bad is AMLO thinks that Joe Biden is a wimp. … The answer is not just go to war with Mexico. The answer is to put pressure on Mexico and have the Mexican Army show up, arrest these guys, extradite them to the United States. They need to be prosecuted and face the full force of American justice. And if we had a President with a scintilla of willingness to stand up to other nations, that’s exactly what would be happening right now.”