The Gringo-Mexican Standoff
March 18, 2021
“Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States” — General Porfirio Diaz, Mexico’s President for 31 years until 1911
The latest illegal migration surge at the Mexican border threatens to become President Joe Biden’s Achilles heel, as happened to both his predecessors. Unfortunately, the policy debate is a rerun of the same old blame game: Republicans believe the onslaught of migrants is Biden’s fault because he softened the rules while Democrats blame the previous administration and argue for laxer rules to open the border to the impoverished. Both completely miss the mark.
The US-Mexican border is a crime scene, not a humanitarian crisis. And until this catastrophe is recast there can be no solution. The principal perpetrators are the United States with its yawning drug habit and failed “war on drugs”, and Mexico which has, in political terms, descended rapidly into a “failed state” controlled by eight drug cartels who feed America’s addiction. Since Mexico’s “war against cartels” in 2006, some 300,000 drug-related murders have been committed and 66,000 people have gone missing. And its murderous corps of cartels have carved Mexico into eight fiefdoms and transformed themselves from street gangs into the best smugglers in the world and are handily winning their war to profit off both the United States and Mexico.
These criminal organizations are behind the migration debacle at the border. They bring the migrants to the border, sneak them across, then train them to game the admissions system. American and Mexican border officials are overwhelmed by the number — one million in 2018 and 2019 alone — and are once again becoming unable to handle the numbers.
Mexico’s gangsters control logistical networks that deliver illicit drugs, weapons, and people to America constantly. They are sophisticated and vertically integrated, and have branched into distribution channels inside the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as into manufacturing operations, notably a slew of meth and fentanyl labs along the border. Their latest sideline -- and most high-profile -- is ferrying impoverished customers to the U.S. border then helping them hoodwink the asylum system. This refugee racket, by the way, is taking place all over the world notably in Europe where they have cracked down and support millions in refugee camps. But the Mexican bootleggers are the world’s best logisticians.
Migrants are told where to sneak across the border so they can claim to be “asylum-seekers” fleeing persecution. But most are Mexicans who are simply queue-jumpers who should be rejected and sent home. Such a statement appears callous, but the fact of the matter is that it is impossible for anyone -- notably unaccompanied children -- to transit Mexico and through the U.S. border without the consent and collaboration of cartels. And business booms because the value proposition is undeniable: It costs $2,500 to get one or two family members from Central America to the border — or, alternatively, it likely free to those customers willing to work for the cartels once inside the United States. The cost to sneak Mexicans across the Rio Grande by boat is only $300 per person.
The latest cartel gimmick is to escort unaccompanied kids or families with young children to the border because the Americans are taking most of them into custody until a vetted family member or sponsor can be found. Nearly 10,000 arrived in February, a wedge play that is working beautifully, from a business viewpoint. This is in addition to the 100,000 adults or families who were apprehended. The current policy appears to be to expel adults within hours but detain most of the families with young children to be “processed” as asylum seekers.
This is mostly fake asylum-seeking which is shameful because the system was developed after the Second World War to provide legitimate refugees with an opportunity to escape persecution for race, religion, nationality, political beliefs, or membership in a social group. If they have evidence, they will be allowed in. If they don’t, they cannot be. The kids are the latest loophole being exploited: They arrive undocumented and are put in shelters in the U.S. which means, as Republican Alabama Senator Tom Cotton warned: “If you let them in, more will come”.
Even Senator Bernie Sanders agrees with Cotton’s sentiment and when asked during the election said: “If you open the borders, my God, there’s a lot of poverty in this world, and you’re going to have people from all over the world. And I don’t think that’s something we can do at this point. Can’t do it.”
Most illegals are Mexicans who should all be expelled immediately. But now thousands arrive from Central America’s Northern Triangle of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras who should have been blocked from entering Mexico’s southern border in the first place. But Mexican law enforcement is an oxymoron as illustrated by a recent scandal that’s been under-reported in the media. In mid-October in Los Angeles, American officials arrested Mexico’s former Secretary of National Defense and Mexican Army officer Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda on drug and money-laundering charges. Investigators alleged this man, who served at the highest level of the Mexican government, also worked for a cartel for years and betrayed law enforcement secrets.
The General’s arrest infuriated Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and Mexican officials threatened to rescind all joint law enforcement activities. He was released on the condition that Mexico would review the evidence and continue the case. But weeks later, Mexico declared him the victim of political persecution and retaliated by limiting the entry of U.S. drug agents, stripping their immunity, and requiring Americans to share all information with their Mexican counterparts. This abrogated the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance and, unless reversed, gives cartels more latitude to destroy what’s left of Mexico’s democracy and rule of law.
Clearly, Mexico now must be forced to stop the drug and migration mayhem or face sanctions, tariffs, or tourism restrictions. And the United States must expel all entrants to disrupt the cartels and force Mexico to deal with those who illegally enter the United States. To quote the former President, the United States must build a wall, a virtual one, against Mexico — a concept that Democrats recoil from, but had better embrace for the sake of all involved unless they can come up with a better fix. Then America must tackle its rampant drug epidemic which, Mexicans rightly blame, has turned the country turned into a conduit for contraband.
Eradicating the drug scourge is possible if America emulates what Europe, Canada, and others have done. They have legalized marijuana and other “soft” drugs. They have virtually decriminalized drug possession because they regard addiction as a medical problem, not a moral or legal one. Their health care systems provide treatment, as well as substitute drugs such as methadone, to addicts under strict supervision. This does not prevent usage but greatly mitigates it, along with its negative social impact.
But Mexico and the United States remain entangled, both as perpetrators and victims, in this real-time tragedy. What’s happening at the border is not about immigration or drugs. It’s about colossal failure on the part of two nation-states to protect their citizens from thugs. If far-reaching measures are not undertaken, their joint border will no longer be a crime scene. It will become a war zone.
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Families fleeing violence and poverty in Central America have every reason and right to claim refugee status. America's foreign policy chickens are coming home to roost.
Fascinating breakdown of an incredibly tragic situation. Thank you.