Senators blast Mexico’s ‘seizure’ of Alabama-based port facility

Alabama Republican Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville on Sunday blasted Mexico’s reported “seizure” of an Alabama-headquartered port facility on the Mexican coast.

Vulcan Materials, a U.S. construction firm based in Birmingham, alleges that armed Mexican forces have taken over the dock, Bloomberg reported. Britt’s office said the facility was still “under military occupation” as of late Sunday.

“This forcible seizure of private property is unlawful and unacceptable. It is shameful that this Mexican presidential administration would rather confiscate American assets than the fentanyl killing hundreds of Americans per day,” Britt said in a statement.

The Alabama senator called upon President Biden to take action as “the ramifications of this illicit seizure extend into the United States.”

“President Biden must raise this directly with President [Andrés Manuel] López Obrador and assure the American people that this will not be tolerated,” Britt said.

The White House told Bloomberg it’s aware of the reports.

Britt and Tuberville both shared security footage from Fox News that purportedly shows the Mexican forces taking over the Vulcan facility. Vulcan says the facility has been occupied by police and soliders since Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

“For more than 30 years, Vulcan Materials Company has operated a limestone quarry in Mexico that has created good jobs both in Mexico and in Alabama. Yet time and again, President López Obrador and the Mexican government have undermined Vulcan’s ability to operate in Mexico,” Tuberville said on Twitter.

He echoed Britt’s call for Biden to take action, calling the “seizure” the “latest example of the Mexican government exploiting President Biden’s weakness.”

Vulcan has long squabbled with López Obrador over its operations in the country, and the Mexican government shut down mining at the facility last May, according to Reuters.

“It should be clear that the rule of law is no longer assured for foreign companies in Mexico,” Vulcan said in a statement to The Associated Press. “This invasion, unsupported by legal warrants, violates Vulcan’s commercial and property rights.”

Britt on Sunday said the incident is “significantly hamstringing important American infrastructure, energy, and other construction projects that currently rely on Vulcan’s operations in Mexico for materials.”