The tragic killing of two U.S. citizens this week in the border town of Matamoros, Mexico, should, in a just world, refocus American attention on the glaring problem of transnational drug cartels’ de facto control of large swaths of our perilously porous southern border. That the two Americans killed may have been mistaken by warring cartel clans for Haitian drug smugglers, as The Dallas Morning News reported, hardly ameliorates the awful situation or lessens our imperative to recalibrate attention away from faraway proxy wars of dubious national interest, and toward the very monsters in our own backyard who run the Western hemisphere’s worst human trafficking rings and flood the U.S. interior with the most lethal drugs known to man.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the U.S.-Mexico border, at this point, is one of the most chaotic, over-trafficked and outright dangerous borders in the world. Vicious cartels, such as Sinaloa and Jalisco, engage in gang shootouts in outlaw fashion, with nary a Mexican law enforcement agent in sight — and even those in sight are more likely than not to be bribed, and in the cartels’ pockets. Human trafficking rings, often working hand in hand with the cartels and opportunistic “coyotes” who promise to smuggle vulnerable migrants into the U.S., parade hordes of Central American and Caribbean migrants through the Mexican interior and right up to the border. The humanitarian conditions on these migrant “caravans” are typically abysmal; drugs are rampant, children are exploited and far too many women are raped.
Drugs flow across the border like never before; the U.S. drug overdose crisis, which is primarily a fentanyl crisis, is nearly exclusively a phenomenon of the cartels. Drug overdose deaths in America last year reached an unconscionable 106,000-plus, or over 290 daily. That is the functional equivalent of a mid-size commercial airliner falling out of the sky each day; and here, as is the case with fentanyl, those proverbial airliners falling out of the sky would be predominantly packed with those under the age of 35. This tragedy is America’s single greatest humanitarian failing, at the present time.
It is also de facto chemical warfare waged against the United States by the criminal drug cartels that operate on our southern border. And the Mexican government, which especially in the northern part of the country nearest the border resembles a failed and deeply corrupt narco-state, is both unwilling and powerless to put a stop to it. The situation at the border, overall, is nothing less than deplorable. Ranchers in southern Arizona can hear gunshots and spot cartel thugs strategically perched in the desert hills a few hundred yards away; hospitals as far apart as Brownsville, Texas, and Yuma, Arizona, are completely overwhelmed and unable to provide medical care for the law-abiding U.S. citizens who live there. And as we were reminded this week, American citizens are being killed.
It is a disaster. And such a disaster — especially one in our own backyard — requires a clear, unambiguous response from the putative greatest nation on earth.
As this column noted last week, one straightforward and potentially highly effective policy the Biden administration should announce would be to designate the leading drug cartels as State Department-recognized Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Doing this would allow the U.S. government to use various means to financially suffocate the cartels and deprive them of their funding sources. It would also aid law enforcement. Democrats’ typical response is that such a formal designation would complicate diplomatic relations with Mexico, but that barely passes the laugh test: Mexico has just as much — if not more — of an interest in cracking down on the cartels as the U.S., but it cannot publicly say so, let alone act upon that interest, due to the cartels’ successful bribery and corruption of the all-too-venal Mexican government.
Crucially, a formal Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for the leading cartels, such as Sinaloa and Jalisco, would also permit the U.S. to go even further.
Consider the fact that, as recently as 2021, 625 U.S. citizens were abducted in Mexico. Far too many did not come home, as their families failed to pay ransom and the abductees were thus killed. If an Islamic jihadist outfit were responsible for such atrocities on this scale, on an annual basis, Congress would pass a bipartisan authorization to use military force and the U.S. would not hesitate to declare all-out war. After 9/11, the U.S. waged war upon al-Qaeda; but for some reason, with hundreds of citizen kidnappings, far too many murders and an unfathomable number of Americans now dropping dead from cartel-supplied fentanyl poison, bipartisan elites cite concerns about diplomatic niceties and say our hands are tied.
Nonsense. Our hands are not tied.
There is even some precedent. From 1910 to 1919, the Mexican Border War unfolded in a series of military engagements along the border. After Pancho Villa’s infamous attack on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916, decorated U.S. Army General John J. Pershing launched the “Punitive Expedition” (or the “Pancho Villa Expedition”) into northern Mexico. It was only partially successful, but the U.S. Army did manage to kill Villa’s two top lieutenants.
It is now time for another “Punitive Expedition” into northern Mexico. With cartel violence, drug peddling and the sheer invasion of illegal aliens at the border the worst they have ever been, the U.S. has little choice but to affirmatively act. We should first seek to obtain the Mexican government’s permission to engage in a limited operation to hunt down and kill top cartel leaders, but this is one such mission where America must go alone if need be. The direct effect on virtually all facets of American life is far too galling for this to go on much longer. It is time to rain hell on the cartels, stopping their illegal alien smuggling, fentanyl-peddling chemical warfare, thuggery, brutality and corruption once and for all.
The American ruling class would currently have us believe that “democracy,” and the fate of the Western world more generally, is somehow now on the line in the hinterlands of eastern Ukraine. Suffice it to say that is not the case. But what is the case is that an increasingly failed, corrupt narco-state on our southern border refuses to do anything about some of the world’s most vicious transnational criminal rings, which also happen to control large swaths of the border. It is past time to focus in earnest on extirpating America’s massive problem south of the border.
No more fooling around its time to totally destroy their Drug Cartels and the Drug kingpins
Destroy the drug cartels? That reminds me of the fable about belling the cat. The mice, terrorized by the cat, held a meeting, and decided to tie a bell around the cat’s neck, so that the mice could hear it coming. All the mice thought this was a great idea.. Then one old8 mouse asked “Who is going to bell the cat?”
Biden will do nothing; he intentionally dissolved our border with Mexico, criminally disregarding the consequences for American citizens. He has, in this and numerous other ways egregiously violated his oath of office.to protect America’s citizenry. For these reasons he should be removed from office. Impeachment, the first step of the removal process, should have begun in early January once the Republican House majority was established. But by now it’s clear there is only a Uniparty, and no such action will be undertaken.by Kevin McCarthy and all the rest of what Robert Spencer calls the “,controlled opposition.”
Name the weapons NOT available to the cartels.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the cartels haven’t obtained US equipment from the Taliban and stolen Ukrainian-bound Stingers, Javelins and other state of the art toys.
Shipping containers full of Chinese weapons could be, (and most likely are) staged all over Mexico. Why?.. think if you were China, wouldn’t you do that too?
And remember, the enemy gets a vote. Years of evidence that cartels send young men into the US military for the sole purpose of gleaning methods and tactics to bring back to their handlers.
No “troops on the ground”… but high value targets (villas, compounds and warehouses, etc) could be targeted OTH with plausible deniability.
Remember the movie “Clear and Present Danger”?… “A drug deal that ended in a car bombing by a rival”
Interesting perspective. If doing attacks on high value targets anonymously were still feasible, I’d be with you all the way. But this is a new world, with high tech that makes it utterly impossible. Not to mention that there are already 46.6 million illegals living in the US, with millions more entering uninvited and staying for life. Their allegiance is NOT to the US. Do you actually believe that with all the Mexicans (citizens and aliens) living here, many in high govt positions, we could pull off that secret? Not an ice cube’s chance in he ll. And handful of Nixon’s men couldn’t keep Watergate a secret for less than a year!!!
And thank you for admitting the very real possibility that the cartels have high tech war equipment that can and would respond to those attacks, making our attempt at deniability a moot point. I get the frustration. I live in a border state. I oppose open borders and the lawlessness they invite. But this plan is insanity on stilts. It would lead to an outright war we are ill-prepared for, and with this woke leadership at the helm, we’d probably manage to LOSE. Do you really want to be Mexico’s 38th state?
What does OTH mean?
Over the horizon
Thanks for taking the time to answer me.
We should go after the cartels now which are wrecking havoc on on so many American lives
Article makes sense of course we should do…the problem with this and nearly every article on every subject from the economy to monetary policy, education, homelessness, war etc etc is that the powers that be don’t want to improve the situation or make things better etc they want to make things worse, come to a trigger point where the current economy / culture is declared failed and the perpetrators of the failure become the only solution to moving forward i.e. With them in control. Saying we should do xyz etc is like the sane talking with the insane or the unjustly imprisioned talking to the prison guard. To correct we must first recognize and admit who is in control and what their end is. Only then we can address the problem. If we continue as status quo the many wounds under the countless bandaids will continue to fester and will eventually poison the whole body.
Let’s not forget… it was Obama that was shipping a truckload of rifles to the cartel in Mexico…
America doesn’t want these drugs to stop… because they kill Americans…it’s the satanic islamic way!
To the American government… it wasn’t working fast enough… so they created corona virus and Vaccines…
The kinyun and his wretched sidekick AtG did not :ship A rruckload” of gus to the Mexican cartels. The kinyun and his ugly sidekick Holder shipped above three thousand weapons across into Mexico with the express intent of arming te sinaloa Cartel to ‘help them become the biggest and baddest. Operation Fast and FUrious is the name of that illegal treasonous operation. I sort of chuckled when I read about the raid on the Sinaloa Cartel’s headquarters to nab their kingpin overlord.. (el Chapo?) and once they had their mark they decided to “check out” the facility they had just raided…. and were shocked to discover a US made Barett belt-fed BMG 50 capable of full auto fire. SOme aboard the chopper as it approached the facility thought they were being fired upon. They were.. with THAT gun. Which got traced to a source on the northern side of that faint line in the sand somewhat farcically referred to as “the border”.
The author of this article presupposes that the USA is cohesive enough to withstand the internal and external combustible reactions to an un-invited American intervention into Mexico. When US forces start killing Mexican nationals on Mexican territory, Mexico will be inflamed with nationalism, which will spill over into the USA via the 50 million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who reside here. They will be joined by millions on the American left and it will be the USA and not Mexico that will be left severely unstable and fragmented.
The author presupposes this is 1916. He doesn’t seem to understand that America has changed dramatically since then….(Christ! America has changed dramatically just in the last 20 years!). If our intervention in Vietnam once divided us and radicalized our society, getting bogged down in Mexico will certainly be worse.
I hope cooler heads prevail. Build a wall….help the Mexican gov’t fight the cartels.,…..but for God’s sake, let’s avoid an actual war on our southern border!
Outstanding response to this nonsense. We would ALL love to invade Mexico and stomp out the drug cartels. Point stipulated. But back here in the real world, normal patriots understand that is not going to happen. They realize that it would be 1) the end of the Republican Party, 2) there would be riots in the streets, 3) we would be labelled racists until the end of time (although Mexico is not a race), and 4) all that would make the problem with drugs entering our country TEN-FOLD worse.
It is time for patriots to do what our government refuses to do and that is STOP THE CARTELS IN THEIR TRACKS.
If you like war then join patriots who are forming militias to go into northern Mexico and take out the gangs with a brutality that will astound the sick old president of Mexico who has been bought off and threatened into subservience of the cartels.
The only thing the gangs fear, is the same type of brutality they dish out, so the patriots need to scare the hell out them by brutally assassinating as many as they can find. Eventually the rest will get the picture or die. IT IS THAT SIMPLE ! MEXICO HAS ALLOWED ITS PEOPLE TO DECLARE WAR UPON AMERICA.
Does Biden truly expect Americans to stand by while he destroys America with the deep state’s policies. Congress must act NOW to impeach Biden with Section 4 of the 25th Amendment of the Constitution. HE IS NO LONGER FIT TO EXECUTE THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY.
THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST IMP;ORTANT CHOICE OF OUR CONGRESS SINCE DECLARING WAR ON THE SOUTH IN APRIL 1861.
Time to wipe these P.O.S. from the Earth !!!
This is a sound idea, and it is like music to the ears of Americans
frustrated to the point of exasperation by the lawlessness at our
“border”..
But it will NEVER happen, and everyone who entertains this idea
is deluded. Again, the US will never again enter Mexico militarily.
The Dems would chose opposing this plan as their hill to die on.
And with only a handful of exceptions, the GOP would also laugh
it to scorn. Neither party has any interest in securing our borders
and executing our immigration laws. Both sides are complicit in
this treason. Neither side will even give this idea a serious hearing.
I appreciate this article more than words can express. We can dream,
can’t we? But sooner or later, we need to return to the ugly reality
of a country ruled by a uniparty that would smother this plan in its
cradle.
…if we could only get past the pesky little voting issue, maybe things will change.
The Dems already solved that pesky problem. They found they couldn’t win on the issues. They couldn’t change the votes, so they just changed the voters. Sick, evil, and extremely effective
Understand the truth, the Mexican Drug Cartels are in cahoots with the US politicians. They actually are responsible for the Democrats taking the Arizona election, and why only timid government is running Texas, Abbott is a weak man without any guts. The Mexican Drug Cartels are behind the importation of fentenal into the US with the assistance of the Federal government. Stop pretending our politicians care one iota for any American citizen.
Biden would never launch an action against his cartel buddies. That wouldn’t be very neighborly now would it? How about he just offer all of their criminals free everything forever? Now that’ll work!
Complete the damn wall along the border and don’t allow anyone across. Inspect all trucks coming across into the US. We have enough people here now.
Joe should be indicted and tried for neglecting his duty as president. But of course he is above the law and will come out richer and more arrogant than before. Possibly he will even be reelected from his basement.
Biden is a POS, but yes, he looks to be above the law. He should have been thrown out of office months ago.
A tall thick firm long American troop patrolled US /Mexican border wall won’t destroy those dangerous vicious Mexican drug cartels but it would be a factor in discouraging those heinous criminals from entering America and harming the American people.
As Ronald Reagan had so rightly and wisely declared in a speech “A nation without borders is not a nation.”
One way to eliminate those horrible criminal gangsters of those drug cartels who have invaded the United States is by the use of a very strong unrestricted powers of US police and National Guard might.
As the wisdom of the words of Thomas Jefferson are right on the mark , in that his idea for those drug trafficking hooligans which is that Mr. Jefferson written “With every barbarous people…force is law.”
Our military could handle this quite competently – if only our leaders had the will.
Also, there are no unintended consequences regarding the response here at home, or in Mexico. It is called war-gaming out the possibilities. Many reactions to military action “could” happen. That is why there is no will.
Politicians care about re-election and power more than they do their country – and 100k dead americans a year.
It is sad really.