NEBRASKA CITY - Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is urging the federal government to designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

A press release says the designation will free up resources to confront the deadly opioid crisis that is linked to over 100,000 deaths in the United States.

Hilgers said the U.S. government knows how fentanyl and other deadly drugs are entering the country and is aware of cartels assassinating rivals, ambushing Americans at the border and engaging in armed insurgency against the Mexican government.