一位高级移民和海关执法局官员周四告诉ABC新闻，只需对立法进行小小的修改，就可以允许更多的国土安全调查机构调查毒品犯罪，而无需事先获得司法部的授权。
问题的核心是执法机构的第21条授权-允许联邦政府调查毒品犯罪。目前的情况是，国土安全调查局在调查毒品犯罪之前必须先征求司法部的意见。
国土安全调查局是国土安全部的执法部门。
国土安全调查局的母公司移民与海关执法局的副局长兼高级官员帕特里克·莱赫莱特纳表示，这座雕像创作于20世纪70年代，不允许执法部门处理21世纪的问题。
他在接受采访时表示:“我只是认为，拥有快速转向和旋转的权力会让美国人民受益，因为我们目前被束缚住了，因为你知道，我们被授予了权力。”“因此，通过立法将权力完全授予我们，实际上我们说的是改变了几个词，对吗?这将反映2024年的当前环境。”
美国移民和海关执法局代理副局长帕特里克·莱赫莱特纳...
何塞·路易斯·马加纳/美联社
他说，由于授权和法律的撰写方式，该机构现在只有选定的代理人负责毒品案件，而不能将权力授予他们的特别行动组官员。
“我们的范围仅限于谁能做到这一点，”他解释说。“你会立即增加成千上万的特工和官员来打击合成阿片类药物和芬太尼，并真正增加战斗的影响力。这只是常识。”
莱赫莱特纳说，国土安全部部长应该有能力将权力下放给HSI，而不会遇到繁文缛节。
他说:“我们正试图用陈旧的规则和法规与非常灵活、敏捷的对手作战，但收效甚微。”
众议院和参议院都提出了授予HSI权力的立法，但自9月份提出以来还没有任何进展。
路易斯安那州共和党众议员克莱·希金斯的办公室在一份新闻稿中表示，“由于依赖缉毒局(DEA)调查第21条犯罪，HSI特工受到限制。”
该法案的发起人之一希金斯在2023年9月表示:“由于官僚主义的限制，HSI缺乏独立的法定权力来执行毒品犯罪并针对这些跨国犯罪组织。”这项常识性的法案增加了数千名技术高超的联邦执法人员，以领导打击贩毒的斗争，而无需美国纳税人付出任何代价。我们必须努力让致命毒品远离我们的社区，并确保美国边境的安全。”
美国药品管理局尚未回应美国广播公司的置评请求。
去年，超过112，000人死于芬太尼过量。莱赫莱特纳表示，授权HSI调查毒品犯罪可能会挽救生命。
“我们不打算从任何人那里拿走任何东西，只是将我们的资源加入这场战斗。让我们卸下束缚我们手臂的绳索，让我们有足够的灵活性，与我们所有的伙伴以有意义的方式处理这些组织的问题，在整个联邦范围内紧密合作。“我们进行联合调查，并消除所有冲突。我们与每个人合作。我们只是希望努力做得更多，这样我们就不会再有11.2万人死亡。”
DHS looking for increased authority to investigate drug crimes
It would only take a small change in legislation to allow more Homeland Security Investigations agents to investigate drug crimes without first getting the authority to do so from the Justice Department, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told ABC News Thursday.
At the heart of the issue is law enforcement agencies' Title 21 authority -- which allows the federal government to investigate drug crimes. As it currently stands, Homeland Security Investigations has to ask the Justice Department first before investigating drug crimes.
Homeland Security Investigations is the Department of Homeland Security's law enforcement arm.
Patrick J. Lechleitner, deputy director and senior official performing the duties of the director of ICE, which is Homeland Security Investigations' parent agency, said the statue was written in the 1970s and doesn't allow for law enforcement to tackle a 21st century problem.
"I just think it would benefit the American people just having the authority just to pivot and spin quickly because we are currently hamstrung because, you know, we're delegated the authority," he said in an interview. "So, by having the authority delegated to us fully delegated to us via legislation, literally we're talking like a few words changed, right? That would reflect the current environment in 2024."
He said that because of the delegated authority and the way the law is written, the agency now has only select agents work drug cases, and it can't give the authority to their task force officers.
"We are limited in scope to who can do that," he explained. "You would instantly add thousands and thousands of agents and officers to combat synthetic opioids and fentanyl and come and really add a lot more bearing to the fight. It's just common sense."
Lechleitner said the Homeland Security secretary should have the ability to delegate the authority to HSI without running into red tape.
"We're trying to fight very nimble, agile adversaries with antiquated rules and regulations and it's just not productive," he said.
There is legislation proposed in both the House and Senate to give the authority to HSI, but it hasn't gone anywhere since being introduced in September.
Louisiana GOP Rep. Clay Higgins' office said in a press release that " HSI agents are limited by a reliance on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to investigate Title 21 crimes."
“Due to bureaucratic constraints, HSI lacks the independent statutory authority to enforce drug crimes and target these transnational criminal organizations," Higgins, one of the sponsors of the bill, said in September 2023 "It’s absurd. This common-sense bill adds thousands of highly skilled federal law enforcement officers to lead the fight against drug trafficking at no cost to the American taxpayers. We must work to keep deadly drugs out of our communities and keep America’s borders safe.”
The DEA has not responded to an ABC News request for comment.
Last year, more than 112,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses, and Lechleitner said by giving the authority to HSI to investigate drug crimes, it could potentially save lives.
"We're not looking to take anything away from anybody else, just add our resources to the fight. Allow us to take off the strap that puts our arm behind our back, allow us to be flexible enough to deal with these organizations in meaningful way with all of our partners, very closely aligned across the federal spectrum," he said. "We have joint investigations and we deconflict all of it. We collaborate with everyone. And we're just looking to try and do more so that we won't have another 112,000 deaths."
