The Southern border has turned into a crisis under the Biden administration. Drug cartels, smugglers, and traffickers currently rule the border, putting children and the vulnerable at risk of human trafficking, and even death. Lara Logan, an investigative reporter at Fox Nation, specializes on the border and immigration. Logan reports: “Cartels continue to battle each other for control of the borderlands on the Mexican side, and that they are creating their own telecommunication system that rivals the US and Mexican authorities.” In addition to this, the Mexican government is essentially run by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), not the president. The Mexican government doesn’t even have control over their side of the border since it is controlled by the drug cartels. Mark Morgan, a visiting fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation and the former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner under the Trump administration, details the border crisis: “Since the Biden administration took the reins, Customs and Border Protection has arrested more than 32,000 criminal aliens. Border Patrol alone has apprehended 113 convicted murders and more than 770 illegal aliens convicted of sexual related offenses, including sex with a minor child. Those numbers represent a 2,000% increase in murderers and a 260% increase in sexual predators, as compared to the Trump administration.” Border patrol agents are occupied caring for the illegal aliens that have crossed illegally, which takes the agents off of the front lines and allows the traffickers and smugglers an easier opportunity to enter the US. Thomas West, a professor of politics at Hillsdale College, outlines the action Biden has taken on the border: “Trump tried to stop illegal immigration by building a fence, rapid deportation to Mexico for border crossers claiming asylum, and mike deals with countries to our south to incentivize the end of illegal immigration. Biden is reversing these policies. The consequence is a big increase in border crossings, many of them children not accompanied by parents.” Biden is reversing all of Trump’s border policies. Stephen Miller, America First Legal founder and former top Trump advisor, also notes the illegal aliens that have not been apprehended by border patrol and have entered the US: “There’s another population of unknown got-aways for whom we have no information. And that number could be unimaginably large.” Overall, Biden’s reversal of Trump’s border policies is causing chaos on the border and allowing criminals to hemorrhage into the United States. Children and other vulnerable people are at risk of being trafficked, and so are American citizens. Gangs and drug cartels show no mercy when it comes to putting another’s life at risk. With a weak border, anybody can enter from any part of the world, which puts the United States and its citizens at risk. 

Human and drug traffickers operate on the U.S. border. Most illegal aliens are able to enter the country via trafficking. Michael Gramley, a border patrol agent in Yuma, Arizona from 1994 to 2019, explained how trafficking on the border works. First, traffickers give random children to unrelated adults to increase the likelihood of gaining entry into the US, then “when adults reach their destination in the US, they return the child to traffickers, who send the child ‘back to Guatemala and repeat the cycle,’” according to Gramley. As a result, many children end up in the sex industry, this includes prostitution and child pornography. Tom Homan, the former acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, explains the logistics of how the traffickers operate on the border and gain entry into the US: “They’ll push hundreds of family groups in one area, tie all the Border Patrol agents up so they move their fentanyl and all the gang members into unprotected areas, which creates a national security crisis.” They cause a distraction to get the drugs into the US. Lara Logan adds that children are “trained to say ‘I’m coming to go to school or for a better life…’” All the children repeat the same exact lines. Logan notes that the Biden administration uses taxpayer money to “transport these kids all over the country and send them into different markets, different areas first to live in for the cartels, different markets for sex trafficking and other cartel activity.” Children are used at the expense of the cartels and traffickers, and the cartels and traffickers are the ones who are making all of the money. Poor border policy only benefits the drug cartels and human traffickers. Children are put in harm’s way. 

As a result of Biden’s poor border policy, drugs have been flowing into the US. Fentanyl is the major drug that is killing thousands of people, and it is coming from across the border. Andrew Olivastro, the Vice President of Outreach at The Heritage Foundation, notes that “fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.” Greg Abbott also notes that “DPS’ Houston crime lab has tested almost 13,700 lbs. of counterfeit drugs in the past 12 months and inventoried more than 85,000 seized drugs, including more than 9,700 deadly opioids like fentanyl. In Texas, almost 1,700 fentanyl-related deaths were reported in 2021 alone.” Anne Milgram, a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) administrator, briefly explains the process of fentanyl and other drugs making its way across the border: “This crisis is driven by fentanyl and methamphetamine. Today, drug cartels in Mexico are mass producing fentanyl and methamphetamine largely sourced from chemicals in China. And they’re distributing these substances throughout the United States.” The rise is drugs coming across the border has been deadly for thousands of Americans and has destroyed families. Other drugs even have a higher likelihood of being laced with the deadly fentanyl. Opioids are so addictive, that more people will become drug addicts as more drugs come across the border. People’s lives will be destroyed, and so will families. 

The border crisis could be easily solved with good policy. Greg Abbott has led the charge in working to protect the border. Some of the actions that he has taken includes: “deploying thousands of National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers,… signing a law to make it easier to prosecute smugglers bringing people into Texas, signing 15 laws cracking down on human trafficking in Texas, signing a law enhancing penalties for the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl, etc…” These are just some of the actions that Abbott has taken to crack down on border security. The Heritage Foundation has also outlined some actions that could be taken to prevent illegal immigration: “require e-verify, target business licenses of employers hiring illegal aliens, pass vehicle laws preventing day labor,… empower state residents to sue officials who obstruct federal law enforcement, etc…” There are many actions that can be taken to prevent illegal immigration and secure the border. Another good policy would be for illegal immigrants to be sent back across the border immediately instead of border patrol agents having to take them to facilities to wait there just to be picked up by NGOs and other organizations to be brought further into the US. There should also be a complete immigration moratorium to help solve the border crisis, at least until the crisis is solved. Too many American lives are at stake to brush the border crisis off. Lives and families are being destroyed by what’s happening at the border. 

If a Republican president were to win in 2024, the border crisis must be at the top of his or her agenda. Crime is an issue that everyone all over the country prioritizes because it affects everyone. The possible future Republican president should include what Greg Abbott has done and what the Heritage Foundation has outlined in the previous paragraph. In addition to all of these policies, a complete immigration moratorium should be instated, and a border wall should be built. Immigration changes the culture and demographics of countries, so it is no minor issue.

Sources

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/lara-logan-cartels-emboldened-open-borders

 https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/the-got-away-crisis-our-southern-border

 https://hillsdalecollegian.com/2021/04/professor-perspective-the-border-crisis/

 https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/sunday-morning-futures-border-crisis-inflation-russia

 https://nypost.com/2021/04/17/how-bidens-border-policy-will-increase-child-sex-trafficking-to-us/

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/tom-homan-biden-border-inhumane-national-security-crisis

 https://dailycaller.com/2021/04/17/lara-logan-joe-biden-taxpayer-dollars-subsidizing-human-trafficking-border-crisis/

 https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/fentanyls-wake

 https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-highlights-texas-efforts-to-stop-growing-fentanyl-crisis

 https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/582608-how-fentanyl-became-an-american-crisis/

 https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-highlights-texas-efforts-to-stop-growing-fentanyl-crisis

 http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/States_Immigration_Reform_Booklet.pdf