During my time in the Trump administration, I saw firsthand the devastating consequences of porous borders and unchecked international cartels. The criminals who exploit our vulnerabilities have no right to walk across borders and bring preventable violence into our communities.
I stood alongside President Trump because he is a leader willing to look the American people in the eye and promise to fight the lawlessness that threatens our communities. As an advisor who worked on immigration reform and international security, I know he understands that border security is a matter of life and death for families across the nation. He has mourned with grieving parents; he has prayed with them, and he promised action.
However, the danger we face is not solely from the southern border, contrary to what most Americans believe.
Mothers across America are burying their teenage sons and daughters because of a poisoning epidemic fueled by open borders in the north. The Canadian border has become a massive thoroughfare for fentanyl, human smuggling, and illicit tobacco trade. Criminal cartels and drug runners are smart. They look for the path of least resistance, and right now, the vast and frozen northern border provides exactly that.
The cartels are exploiting thousands of miles of unguarded territory. They specifically abuse “tribal non-enforcement zones” that straddle the international line. Recent federal drug and gun trafficking cases show exactly how criminals use these unmonitored access points to flood American streets with poison and weapons. Canadian authorities have ignored these smuggling corridors for far too long, prioritizing political correctness over the lives of innocent people.
Politicians in Canada sit in secure offices and worry about profit margins and international trade standing. They are not thinking of the people — countless American families — who are forced to live with the consequences of their inaction. They do not see the families in New Hampshire and across the country who are forced to empty their bank accounts for funerals because a lethal dose of fentanyl slipped right through an unpatrolled stretch of woods.
Right now, President Trump is locked in a fierce trade dispute with Ottawa. Politicians in Washington and media pundits are wringing their hands, wondering how this standoff will end. There is no easy economic exit to a trade war of this magnitude. But a victory awaits that transcends tariffs and trade deficits.
President Trump should demand a total Canadian crackdown on border smuggling as the nonnegotiable price of a trade agreement.
This is the perfect opportunity for the president to do what he does best and force Canada to step up. Canada must deploy its law enforcement to lock down the northern border. They must end the free pass given to tribal smuggling corridors. They must crack down on the illicit fentanyl trade operating on their soil before it reaches our communities.
If Canada commits to real, verifiable enforcement, President Trump can declare another massive victory for the safety of the American people. He can ease the economic pressure while bringing home a historic win for national security. This deal benefits both nations. Canada gets a way out of a trade war they cannot win, and the United States gets a secured northern frontier.
As a former diplomat who has engaged world leaders on behalf of the United States, I know that leveraging international agreements for national security is exactly how we protect our citizens. No more children should be stolen from their families by criminals who cross our borders. No more mothers should have to stand at a podium, tears in their eyes, and plead for the government to protect its citizens.
President Trump has the leverage to force Canada to take this crisis seriously. Let the trade war end with a sealed border. Let it end with a crippling blow to the smugglers and the cartels poisoning our youth.
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Matt Mowers is former senior White House Advisor at the U.S. Department of State.
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