Sen. Mike Lee's wild solution to drug crisis: Turn regular citizens into pirates

In a throwback to the age of pirates, Utah Sen. Mike Lee is proposing to unleash private citizens against Mexican drug cartels — with a promise of keeping the spoils.

What Lee is suggesting is essentially state-sponsored piracy. In a series of posts to X/Twitter on Monday, he advocated reviving “Letters of Marque and Reprisal,” which are authorized under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. This practice allows the government to grant licenses to private citizens, turning what would normally be considered piracy into legitimate military action.

“Using letters of marque could be a novel, but effective response to unique threats posed by drug cartels—especially in response to threats by the cartels to target U.S. planes returning illegal immigrants to their countries of origin,” Lee wrote.

The U.S. hasn’t used the practice since 1815. The Paris Declaration of 1856 abolished it internationally, but the U.S. never formally signed the agreement.

Reviving the practice has been suggested recently. Congress considered it after the September 11, 2001, attacks and to seize Russian oligarchs’ assets in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

“Congress could issue letters of marque and reprisal authorizing private security firms or specially trained civilians to intercept cartel operations, particularly those involving drug shipments or human trafficking across borders,” Lee argued.

He suggested those operations could help in “disrupting supply lines, capturing high-value targets, or seizing assets like boats, vehicles, cash, gold, or equipment used in criminal activities.”

Lee’s plan is not without risk. Critics warn that privateers focus on the easiest targets, which could lead to attacks on Mexican citizens or privately owned businesses. The practice also risks that other countries would see it as an act of war.

This is not the first time that Lee has taken to social media to endorse using the practice against Mexican drug cartels.

• Feb. 2023 was the first time Lee asked his followers about the idea.
• Lee returned to the topic a few months later after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested treating the cartels like foreign terrorist organizations.
• Last year, Lee amplified a post that said Project 2025 will “bring back Letters of Marque and Reprisal.”