Lawmakers Ask GAO to Review Illegal Weapons Exports to Carribean
The Government Accountability Office should review illegal U.S. firearms exports to the Caribbean, three lawmakers said last week. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., along with Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said they are particularly concerned about illegal trafficking of U.S. weapons to Haiti, adding that America is the “principal source of weapons being used by criminal gangs” on the island.
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The lawmakers want to “obtain more in-depth information on the extent of the illicit American arms trafficking in the Caribbean and related effects” and “what more could be done to curtail the flow of these weapons,” they said in an April 3 letter to the GAO. They asked the GAO to compile country-by-country information on the number and types of U.S. arms being trafficked to Caribbean countries, “where and how illicit weapons are being obtained” in the U.S., whether the weapons are being diverted to “illicit actors from legally exported purchases by private or government entities in the region,” what legislation may help U.S. authorities stop the weapons trafficking and more.