Florida’s crusade to crush Mexican drug cartels operating in the state secured another important victory Friday. A Latin Kings gang member was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in a sprawling drug trafficking organization.

This marked another in a string of defeats for the transnational gangs operating in the Sunshine State. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution celebrated another setback for foreign criminals. 

Moody declared, “Lethal substances are flooding into our country due to Biden’s disastrous open border and we must continue to be dogged in our efforts to interdict this poison and aggressively prosecute drug traffickers.”

She highlighted a sweeping investigation involving several federal agencies and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The probe focused on a Mexican drug cartel and the Sur-13 trafficking gang’s operations in Florida prisons.

Gang members spearheaded the trafficking of deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine across the state.

WATCH: @PolkCoSheriff Grady Judd sounds the alarm on the fentanyl crisis as the drug floods across “open border”

“The cartel is involved […] If we don’t do something about it, we’re gonna continue to see our brothers and sisters and children die by the thousands.” pic.twitter.com/nmfIyIIcY7

— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) February 24, 2024

A coalition of gang organizations carried out a startling array of activities centered in the state’s prisons. Inmates were executed on command and drugs distributed that were brought in from as far away as Mexico and California.

Florida is one of a number of states struggling with the fentanyl epidemic, and the source of the deadly drug is Mexico. Cartels smuggle the substance across the southern border and into the country, where it kills tens of thousands annually.

Moody warned that this scourge is hitting her state hard, particularly on the panhandle.

The AG blamed Mexico and China for sending the synthetic opioid into the U.S. where “it continues to claim lives in Florida — with the Pensacola Medical Examiner District being hit the hardest on a per capita basis.”

The four-county area surrounding the north Florida city has a death rate that is double the state’s average. And well over half the opioid-related fatalities involve fentanyl.

It is no wonder that law enforcement leaders want to tackle the crisis at the source. While encouraging those who have a drug problem to seek help, it is also critical to target the flood of illegal drugs pouring into the region through cartel trafficking operations.

Operations that continue to be enabled by the White House’s inexplicable open border policies.