El Salvador&#8217;s ongoing crackdown on violent criminals, which has seen thousands of suspected gang members locked up in a new mega-prison, could prompt those still free to flee the embattled nation, experts warned.
Late last month, officials transferred thousands of prisoners to the country&#8217;s new maximum security prison in central El Salvador, the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca. On Wednesday, another 2,000 prisoners were <a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-gang-crackdown-prison-state-of-emergency-d95e1fcd5b806c38077ffb060c8c2f48" target="_blank" rel="noopener">locked</a> in the new prison, which can hold up to 40,000 inmates.
Striking video footage showed lines of shirtless, heavily-tattooed prisoners with shaved heads running bent over and handcuffed as they were moved to the new prison facility.
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🇸🇻 | Nayib Bukele, con mano dura somete a miles de pandilleros y criminales que antes aterrorizaban a la población de El Salvador. ¿Estás de acuerdo con el trato que les da el Presidente Bukele a los delincuentes? <a href="https://t.co/iJQWWr5akt">pic.twitter.com/iJQWWr5akt</a>
&mdash; Eduardo Menoni (@eduardomenoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/eduardomenoni/status/1629813527891566594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“They are never going to return to the communities, the neighborhoods, the barrios, the cities of our beloved El Salvador,” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-gang-crackdown-prison-state-of-emergency-d95e1fcd5b806c38077ffb060c8c2f48" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> El Salvador&#8217;s justice minister Gustavo Villatoro.
While more gang members behind bars is presumably a good thing for El Salvador, the crackdown has pushed the gangs north.
Some leaders of the infamously violent MS-13 gang have already fled to Mexico.
&#8220;We know that they are in Mexico, and that from there they are giving instructions in a cowardly manner,” the El Salvador justice minister <a href="https://ticotimes.net/2022/06/22/el-salvador-continues-crackdown-on-gangs-as-leaders-flee-to-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Mexican authorities have also reported a larger presence of gang members associated with El Salvador like MS-13 and their rival, the 18th Street gang over the past year. At least three public transportation drivers in Mexico <a href="https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-el-salvador-mexico-guatemala-crime-bbebd03f8d7c28dc2d4e40faac5d1844" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were recently shot</a> to death by Salvadoran gangs, who have begun terrorizing and extorting the drivers.
“If we don’t do anything we’re going to be a little (El) Salvador,” one of the Mexican drivers <a href="https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-el-salvador-mexico-guatemala-crime-bbebd03f8d7c28dc2d4e40faac5d1844" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
El Salvador&#8217;s gang members and leaders are always trying to get into the U.S., warns Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.
&#8220;They can make more money here and enjoy themselves more here, and there are many new places for them to set up shop for the gang, and many vulnerable youth to recruit,&#8221; Vaughan told The Daily Wire.
MS-13 <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/file/958481/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had</a> more than 10,000 members in the U.S in 2017.
If El Salvador&#8217;s war on gangs does drive gangs up to the southern U.S. border, they will be met by the Biden administration&#8217;s <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/border-patrol-chief-says-dhs-doesnt-have-operational-control-us-border" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overwhelmed</a> border forces and likely have little trouble sneaking into the country.
&#8220;Right now it&#8217;s not difficult for them to get in,&#8221; Vaughan said. &#8220;There is much less threat of border and interior enforcement than in prior years, especially if they have not been in the United States before.&#8221;
If gang members have previously been deported from the U.S., they have to keep a lower profile to avoid the risk of being criminally charged and removed again.
&#8220;It would be smarter for them to go to another country, but MS-13 members are not known for being smart,&#8221; Vaughan said.
In recent years, MS-13 operatives have engaged in human smuggling and served as protection for the drug cartels. Their new presence in Mexico could exacerbate an already dangerous environment.
&#8220;That is a tricky business, because they would have to have a relationship with a cartel, with all the risk and volatility that would bring, not to mention even more involvement in violence,&#8221; Vaughan said. &#8220;Adding MS-13 to the organized crime mix in Mexico is likely to make the situation even more volatile, because they are usually aggressive and brazen in trying to carve out a niche to operate and audacious in competing with other crime organizations.&#8221;
With <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-opens-40000-person-prison-arrests-soar-gang-crackdown-2023-02-01/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly 2%</a> of the adult population incarcerated, El Salvador is one of the most crime-ridden countries in the world. The government crackdown on gangs — which Vaughan notes is a &#8220;regular cycle&#8221; in El Salvador — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/30/el-salvador-bukele-state-emergency-homicides/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">began</a> a year ago when the government declared a state of emergency as the country battled a spike in murders. 
Since then, about 65,000 people have been arrested as part of the operation as the state of emergency was repeatedly extended. Human rights advocates have expressed concerns that the government&#8217;s approach veers authoritarian — about 57,000 of those arrested are still waiting to be formally charged and face a trial. 
Meanwhile, though, citizens have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-vows-gang-crackdown-will-go-citizens-cheer-safer-streets-2023-02-15/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrated</a> El Salvador&#8217;s streets becoming safer, and murders have plummeted by about half.

El Salvador: gang members transferred to 40,000-capacity âmega-prisonâ

El Salvador’s Crime Crackdown Could Push Gangs North Toward U.S., Expert Warns

Could El Salvador's Crime Crackdown Push Gangs To The U.S. Border?

Biden

Crime

El Salvador

gangs

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Mexico

MS-13 Gang

Video of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/el-salvador" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salvadoran</a> President Nayib Bukele addressing soldiers tasked with battling rampant gang activity went viral on social media as the small Latin American nation seeks to control violent <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crime</a>.
El Salvador saw a 56.8% decrease in the murder rate last year as the nation’s government launched an operation against gangs such as MS-13, which is especially infamous for its brutal killings of women and children. Salvadoran authorities arrested some 64,000 suspected gang members in less than one year.
Bukele previously shared a <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1629165213600849920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> on social media showing 2,000 gang members with shaved heads and no clothes except for identical white shorts being packed into buses by heavily armed prison guards and transported to a newly constructed supermax prison. Bukele, who assumed office in 2019, shared more footage from a <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1630649426908676098" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a> he delivered to units of Salvadoran soldiers dressed in battle gear and positioned in a large field. He emphasized the government’s role in protecting the innocent.
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🇸🇻 <a href="https://t.co/Th2Zz8FbpQ">pic.twitter.com/Th2Zz8FbpQ</a>
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1630649426908676098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“For eight months, we have been fighting this war against the gangs. And thank God, we are winning. This is a very surprising victory that is nearly within our grasp. Let it be clear that the glory is for God,” Bukele said. “We humans are lucky to be instruments of God, all of us, to bring peace, liberty, and happiness to the Salvadoran people.”
Bukele commended the young soldiers for embracing the virtues that have historically built prosperous nations. “Peace is built with hard work, with sweat, with effort, and with the bravery that you and your brothers in the police have,” he continued. “It is worth risking your life for that purpose that is more important than yourself alone. Values such as bravery, such as courage, such as strength, discipline, patriotism, honor, loyalty, and love for your fellow man.&#8221;
The official appeared to contrast the rise of El Salvador amid the crackdown on criminality with the decline of the United States, where major cities are increasingly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-2020-saw-largest-spike-in-homicide-rate-in-100-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">characterized</a> by violence. Video of organized smash-and-grab <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/interest-groups-make-push-to-battle-organized-retail-crime-at-the-federal-level" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robberies</a>, as well as brazen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/security-guard-murdered-while-protecting-news-team-covering-smash-and-grab-robbery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">murders</a> and attacks on unsuspecting American urbanites, frequently circulate on social media. The international attention toward El Salvador indeed comes as a <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spiked-police-solved-about-half-in-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Marshall Project showed that authorities in the United States solved less than 50% of homicides in 2020, the latest metric in a long decline since the 70% of homicides that were solved in the 1980s.
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“These are the fundamental values for human society, but these values are increasingly scarce in the world. If you watch the international news, you will see how the most important values for human beings, such as honor, loyalty, bravery, courage, and love for your fellow man, are precisely the values that we are losing with each passing day,” Bukele said. “And that is why you can see how societies that seemed to have won, now are degrading, as they are losing the values that made them great. These values were probably not strong in this land, and were strong in other lands. And that is why those lands grew and became great. But they are losing those values now.”
Though the popularity enjoyed by the Bukele administration has reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-law-is-a-teacher-michael-knowles-reacts-to-viral-video-showing-el-salvadors-crackdown-on-violent-gangs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remained</a> consistently high, critics have said that his government maintains authoritarian tendencies.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-twitter-war-has-california-democrat-sleeping-with-gun-by-her-bed">Report: Twitter War Has California Democrat Sleeping With Gun By Her Bed</a>

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WATCH: El Salvador President Addresses Soldiers Battling Gang Violence, Has An Ominous Word For America

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Addresses Soldiers Battling Gang Violence, Has An Ominous Word For America

Criminal Justice

Law Enforcement

Daily Wire host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-knowles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Knowles</a> lauded a viral video from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/el-salvador" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salvadoran</a> President Nayib Bukele showing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gangs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gang</a> members rounded up and sent to a large prison complex in humiliating fashion, contending that American officials should likewise wield authority to deter violent <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crime</a>.
El Salvador witnessed a 56.8% decrease in the murder rate last year as the Latin American nation’s government instituted a crackdown on gang-related violence. Bukele shared a <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1629165213600849920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> on social media showing thousands of gang members with shaved heads and no clothes except for identical white shorts being packed into buses by heavily armed prison guards. The offenders were then transported in buses to a newly constructed supermax prison.
El Salvador constitutes the territory of MS-13, a gang especially infamous for its brutal killings of women and children. Knowles <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpLciEz5HTU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during a recent episode of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Michael Knowles Show</a>” that the Salvadoran effort to protect its population arose as a result of a concentrated will from the electorate.
“It’s a miracle political program over the last couple of years,” Knowles remarked. “How did El Salvador do that? It wanted to do that. It wanted to fix the murder problem, it mustered the political will to do it, and then the president effecting this policy, sent in troops to go round up MS-13 like the animals that they are.”
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“It’s a miracle political program”. <a href="https://t.co/jqvzH50tqv">https://t.co/jqvzH50tqv</a>
&mdash; Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1630626743299059713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Knowles noted that Bukele intentionally “created a very slick, highly produced propaganda video humiliating them, and then he put that out there for all the world to see” and contrasted the unapologetic approach toward criminal justice with the policies advanced by American officials. “We in the United States need to follow the lead of the government of El Salvador,” he continued. “We need to be clear that if you commit crimes, you will be punished for it.”
The video from El Salvador indeed follows a <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spiked-police-solved-about-half-in-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Marshall Project indicating that authorities in the United States solved less than 50% of homicides in 2020, marking the latest concerning metric in a long decline since the 70% of homicides which were solved in the 1980s. The trend occurs as Americans exhibit their lowest approval in decades for capital punishment: only 54% of respondents to one Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/357440/death-penalty-support-holding-five-decade-low.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> were in favor of the death penalty for an individual convicted of murder.
Knowles, predicting that criminals in the United States do not believe that they will be held accountable for their actions, blasted “the libs and the squishes” who described the crackdown in El Salvador as inhumane or authoritarian. One <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/12/the-rise-of-nayib-bukele-el-salvadors-authoritarian-president" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> from The New Yorker said that Bukele instituted “a repressive crackdown on gangs to become Latin America’s most popular leader.”
“Can you be repressive against gangs?” Knowles asked. “Seems like that is actually liberative of the people. It’s not repressive upon the people when you go after these criminals.”
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Knowles also observed that Bukele has become the region’s most popular leader because he is “wielding authority to do good, to get the bad guys and to help the good guys.” He encouraged American lawmakers, judges, and executives to follow suit.
“What he is showing us is that the law is a teacher. We’ve known this all the way back to the ancient Greeks,” Knowles continued. “When the law sends an army to your door and rounds up your gang like the animals they are, you are going to get fewer gangsters, and they are going to commit fewer crimes.”

Collage Maker-28-Feb-2023-04.54-PM

‘The Law Is A Teacher’: Michael Knowles Reacts To Viral Video Showing El Salvador’s Crackdown On Violent Gangs

Michael Knowles Reacts To El Salvador's Crackdown On Violent Gang Members

Michael Knowles

A former Marine accused of strangling his girlfriend in 2016 was finally caught in Central America after spending six years on the run.
Raymond “RJ” McLeod, 37, had been dating Krystal Mitchell, 30, for just a few weeks when the couple from Phoenix, Arizona, took a trip to San Diego, California, to visit friends, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-marshals-capture-top-15-most-wanted-murder-suspect-raymond-rj-mcleod">reported</a>. Mitchell was found dead in an apartment not long after, with signs of a struggle. Police determined that she had been seen last with McLeod and quickly issued an arrest warrant. McLeod, an avid bodybuilder, is 5-foot-11 and weighed 245 pounds at the time of Mitchell’s murder.
McLeod disappeared, however, and by December 2016, authorities in San Diego requested the U.S. Marshals help locate the fugitive. He became the first suspect to have a $50,000 reward for his capture while debuting on the U.S. Marshals’ Top 15 Most Wanted list.
&#8220;Raymond McLeod will be the first fugitive in history on our 15 Most Wanted list with an initial reward of up to $50,000,&#8221; U.S. Marshal Service Director Donald Washington said in <a href="https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/most-wanted-news/us-marshals-offer-50000-information-former-marine-wanted-murder">a statement</a> in 2021. &#8220;We want McLeod’s new status as a 15 Most Wanted fugitive and the $50,000 reward amount to be broadcasted far and wide. McLeod poses a significant threat to the public and must be brought to justice.&#8221;
Authorities suspected McLeod fled the U.S. through Mexico to Central America following Mitchell’s murder, with reported sightings in Belize and Guatemala over the years. U.S. Marshals also warned that he may have been using the name Matt or Mateo and may have grown a beard to disguise himself.
McLeod was arrested on Monday afternoon after U.S. Marshals received a tip saying he had been teaching English at a school 40 miles west of San Salvador, El Salvador, Fox reported.
Mitchell’s mother, Josephine Wentzel, a former detective, ended her retirement to help authorities find McLeod. After his capture, she praised the U.S. Marshals Task Force Chief Frankie Sanchez and deputy marshal Francisco Barajas for their “excellent work.”
&#8220;I have had faith and trust in them, and ever since meeting Francisco Barajas, I had full confidence that this day would come, and he would be the one to catch him,&#8221; she told Fox News. &#8220;I told him, ‘You are my hero. We are bonded for life.’&#8221;
Wentzel also called McLeod “arrogant” and “ruthless,” <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/us-marshals-capture-wanted-murder-suspect-raymond-rj-mcleod/509-009b4a5c-c9d0-4193-baeb-1d15150bde64">according to CBS 8</a>. “He’s a charmer, and that’s the danger.”

Cropped Hand Of Handcuffs

Bodybuilding Ex-Marine Wanted For Murder Finally Caught After Six Years On The Run

Raymond McLeod, Wanted For Murder, Finally Caught After Six Years On The Run

Murder

San Diego

On Saturday, El Salvador&#8217;s President Nayib Bukele announced plans to build the world’s first “Bitcoin City.” The city will have residential and commercial areas, restaurants, entertainment venues, and an airport, and will be funded initially by bitcoin-backed bonds.
“Speaking at an event to mark the close of a week to promote bitcoin in El Salvador, Bukele said the city planned in the east of the country would get its energy supply from a volcano and would not levy any taxes except for value added tax (VAT),” reported <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/el-salvador-plans-first-bitcoin-city-backed-by-bitcoin-bonds">Fox Business</a>.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll start funding in 2022, the bonds will be available in 2022,&#8221; Bukele said.
&#8220;Invest here and make all the money you want,&#8221; Bukele <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/el-salvador-plans-first-bitcoin-city-backed-by-bitcoin-bonds-2021-11-21/">told</a> the crowd. &#8220;This is a fully ecological city that works and is energized by a volcano.&#8221;
Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of blockchain technology provider Blockstream, joined Bukele, and said that the country would issue a $1 billion bitcoin-backed bond which would spearhead funding for the building plans.
Back in June, El Salvador <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/el-salvador-makes-history-becomes-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender">made history</a> as the country’s legislature passed a law making Bitcoin legal tender in the Central American nation.
“The designation allows bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, to be used to pay taxes. Businesses would also be obligated to accept bitcoin for payment, though those without the ability to process those payments would be exempt, according to the bill. Converting bitcoin into other currencies will no longer be subject to capital-gains tax,” <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/el-salvador-becomes-first-country-to-approve-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-11623234476#:~:text=El%20Salvador's%20legislative%20body%20passed,be%20used%20to%20pay%20taxes.">The Wall Street Journal</a> explained at the time. “To allow the automatic convertibility of bitcoin to U.S. dollars, El Salvador’s government said it would set up a trust at the Development Bank of El Salvador. The Latin American country, one of the region’s poorest, has struggled over the years to manage its finances and has used the U.S. dollar as its official currency since 2001.”
According to El Salvador’s government, the use of the cryptocurrency could fuel “financial inclusion,” with the bill noting that “70% of its population doesn’t have access to traditional financial services.”
The Bitcoin Law was supported by a “supermajority” in El Salvador’s Congress, with the bill receiving 62 votes out of an available 84. President Nayib Bukele described the move as “History!”
“The [Bitcoin Law] has been approved by a supermajority in the Salvadoran Congress,” <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1402507224916836352">tweeted</a> Bukele. “62 out of 84 votes!”
“The purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out,” the law reads, as reported by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/09/el-salvador-proposes-law-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender.html">CNBC</a>, with the cryptocurrency’s exchange rate with the U.S. dollar — El Salvador’s official currency — being “freely established by the market.”
“Necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access bitcoin transactions” would also be provided by the government.
Despite falling from its record high of $68,990.90 in recent days, Bitcoin is still up more than 90% this year alone.

Nayib Bukele

El Salvador Plans First ‘Bitcoin City,’ Will Raise $1 Billion With ‘Bitcoin Bond’

Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency

Citing environmental concerns, The World Bank rejected a request from El Salvador to help implement the use of Bitcoin as legal tender.
According to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57507386">BBC</a>, the “international lender” also “cited concerns over transparency,” indicating that El Salvador may struggle to meet its deadline of accepting Bitcoin throughout the country within the next three months.
&#8220;We are committed to helping El Salvador in numerous ways including for currency transparency and regulatory processes,&#8221; a World Bank spokesperson told Reuters. &#8220;While the government did approach us for assistance on Bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings,&#8221; they added.
As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/17/world-bank-bitcoin-el-salvador/">The Washington Post</a> noted, “El Salvador’s finance minister, Alejandro Zelaya, had told reporters Wednesday that the government hoped to receive technical assistance from the World Bank, as well as advice on coming up with standards for the use of the cryptocurrency.”
“The organization distributes billions of dollars to developing nations through loans and grants each year, and its involvement in El Salvador’s bitcoin plan would have been seen as a sign that the experiment was backed by powerful players in the international development world,” The Washington Post added.
El Salvador <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/el-salvador-makes-history-becomes-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender">made history</a> last week, as the country’s legislature passed a law making Bitcoin legal tender in the Central American nation.
“The designation allows bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, to be used to pay taxes. Businesses would also be obligated to accept bitcoin for payment, though those without the ability to process those payments would be exempt, according to the bill. Converting bitcoin into other currencies will no longer be subject to capital gains tax,” explained <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/el-salvador-becomes-first-country-to-approve-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-11623234476#:~:text=El%20Salvador's%20legislative%20body%20passed,be%20used%20to%20pay%20taxes.">The Wall Street Journal</a>. “To allow the automatic convertibility of bitcoin to U.S. dollars, El Salvador’s government said it would set up a trust at the Development Bank of El Salvador. The Latin American country, one of the region’s poorest, has struggled over the years to manage its finances and has used the U.S. dollar as its official currency since 2001.”
According to El Salvador’s government, the use of cryptocurrency could fuel “financial inclusion,” with the bill noting that “70% of its population doesn’t have access to traditional financial services.”
Environmental concerns regarding cryptocurrency — specifically, the mining of cryptocurrency — is not unfounded. Researchers at Cambridge University <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/as-prices-surge-bitcoin-now-reportedly-consumes-more-electricity-than-argentina-netherlands-and-uae">found in February</a> that, in terms of annual energy consumption, Bitcoin now consumes more power than Argentina, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates, at 121.36 TWh. According to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, a <a href="https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption">tool</a> created by data scientist Alex de Vries, Bitcoin now has a “carbon footprint comparable to that of New Zealand,” producing an estimated 36.95 megatons of C02 per year.
Senator Elizabeth Warren slammed Bitcoin in this context in early June, saying “Bitcoin requires so much computing activity that it eats up more energy than entire countries.”
“One of the easiest and least disruptive things we can do to fight the [Climate Crisis] is to crack down on environmentally wasteful cryptocurrencies,” Warren added,
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Bitcoin requires so much computing activity that it eats up more energy than entire countries. One of the easiest and least disruptive things we can do to fight the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateCrisis?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateCrisis</a> is to crack down on environmentally wasteful cryptocurrencies. <a href="https://t.co/derGr1bjuq">pic.twitter.com/derGr1bjuq</a>
&mdash; Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1402725005113364486?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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World Bank Refuses To Support El Salvador Bitcoin Rollout, Citing Environmental Concerns

Climate Change

El Salvador made history on Wednesday, as the country’s legislature passed a law making Bitcoin legal tender in the Central American nation.
“The designation allows bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, to be used to pay taxes. Businesses would also be obligated to accept bitcoin for payment, though those without the ability to process those payments would be exempt, according to the bill. Converting bitcoin into other currencies will no longer be subject to capital-gains tax,” explained <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/el-salvador-becomes-first-country-to-approve-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-11623234476#:~:text=El%20Salvador's%20legislative%20body%20passed,be%20used%20to%20pay%20taxes.">The Wall Street Journal</a>. “To allow the automatic convertibility of bitcoin to U.S. dollars, El Salvador’s government said it would set up a trust at the Development Bank of El Salvador. The Latin American country, one of the region’s poorest, has struggled over the years to manage its finances and has used the U.S. dollar as its official currency since 2001.”
According to El Salvador’s government, the use of the cryptocurrency could fuel “financial inclusion,” with the bill noting that “70% of its population doesn’t have access to traditional financial services.”
The Bitcoin Law, which comes into effect in 90 days, was supported by a “supermajority” in El Salvador’s Congress, with the bill receiving 62 votes out of an available 84. President Nayib Bukele described the move as “History!”
“The [Bitcoin Law] has been approved by a supermajority in the Salvadoran Congress,” tweeted Bukele. “62 out of 84 votes!”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BitcoinLaw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BitcoinLaw</a> has been approved by a supermajority in the Salvadoran Congress.
62 out of 84 votes!
History! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Btc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Btc</a>🇸🇻
&mdash; Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1402507224916836352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“The purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out,” the law reads, as reported by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/09/el-salvador-proposes-law-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender.html">CNBC</a>, with the cryptocurrency’s exchange rate with the U.S. dollar — El Salvador’s official currency — being “freely established by the market.”
“Necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access bitcoin transactions” would also be provided by the government.
The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency has fluctuated in price in recent months, dropping by almost 50% since an April high of $64,829.14, according to CoinDesk.
One factor apparently driving such turbulence is China’s apparent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judgement-day-for-crypto-with-eyes-on-digital-currency-china-continues-assault-on-cryptocurrency-blocks-social-media-crypto-accounts">assault</a> on the cryptocurrency market as the communist regime looks to develop its own state-regulated “digital currency.”
In what was described by a “Judgement Day for crypto,” the Chinese government recently “blocked multiple crypto-related accounts on Weibo, the Chinese blogging platform, with more steps expected to follow, ‘including linking illegal crypto activities in China more directly with the country’s criminal law.’”
Last month, the actions of Chinese authorities were swiftly followed by a crash in the cryptocurrency market, with the market cap losing nearly $1 trillion after the government <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-ethereum-plunge-crypto-market-134615617.html">banned</a> “financial and payment institutions from providing cryptocurrency services,” while <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57169726">warning</a> “investors against speculative crypto trading.”
In addition, following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bitcoin-plunges-12-after-elon-musk-says-tesla-will-stop-accepting-the-coin-wipes-365-billion-off-cryptocurrency-market">announcement</a> in mid-May that “the electronic car company would suspend vehicle purchases with Bitcoin,” the price of Bitcoin plunged, with up to $365 billion “wiped” off the entire cryptocurrency market.

El Salvador Bitcoin

El Salvador Makes History, Becomes First Country To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender

Elon Musk

El Salvador is attempting to become the first nation to use bitcoin as legal tender.
President Nayib Bukele announced that he would submit a bill to the Salvadoran legislature — which his “Nuevas Ideas” party presently controls — to make the cryptocurrency a valid medium of exchange in the small Central American nation.
As a cryptocurrency, bitcoin is neither managed by a central government nor tethered to a commodity such as gold or silver. It is transmitted digitally and protected from counterfeiting via encryption.
“Next week, I will send to Congress a bill that will make bitcoin a legal tender in El Salvador,” said Bukele in a video debuted at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. “This will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Welcome to the future 🇸🇻 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> <a href="https://t.co/j30vcZVXvJ">pic.twitter.com/j30vcZVXvJ</a>
&mdash; Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1401327906178191366?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Bukele later announced that the nation would not charge capital gains taxes on bitcoin and offer “immediate permanent residence for crypto entrepreneurs.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
1. Great weather, world class surfing beaches, beach front properties for sale. 2. One of the few countries in the world with no property tax. 3. No capital gains tax for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a>, since it will be a legal currency. 4. Immediate permanent residence for crypto entrepreneurs. <a href="https://t.co/j3eugJQCMd">https://t.co/j3eugJQCMd</a>
&mdash; Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1401622548396314631?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
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El Salvador is one of a few countries — such as Ecuador and the Federated States of Micronesia — to use the United States dollar as their official currency. Other countries — such as Panama and Belize — peg the value of their own currencies against the dollar. Upon passage of the legislation, El Salvador would continue to use the dollar alongside bitcoin.
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jack-mallers/?sh=2d06568ed4ca">Jack Mallers</a> — CEO of bitcoin wallet company Zap — stated during the conference that his firm had been improving El Salvador’s GDP “in real time” by helping citizens join the platform.
“Over 70% of the active population in El Salvador doesn’t have a bank account,” explained Mallers. “They’re not in the financial system. They had a huge problem of financial inclusivity and providing their citizens with basic human freedom.”
More than 20% of economic activity in El Salvador is driven by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/05/el-salvador-becomes-the-first-country-to-adopt-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-.html">remittances</a> — funds sent home by migrant workers that are often subject to large international transfer fees. Mallers stated that bitcoin would help Salvadorans keep more of their wages.
In a particularly emotional portion of the speech, Mallers informed his audience that he had been helping officials in El Salvador to develop legislation “to help these people, to give them hope, to give them a quality of life and that you can live where you’re born in — you don’t have to leave, and when you send money home, they’re not going to take f*cking half of it.”
Reading aloud from a draft of the legislation, Mallers also emphasized that bitcoin is decentralized from fiat currencies — such as the dollar.
“Central banks are increasingly taking actions that may cause harm to the economic stability of El Salvador,” reads the bill. “In order to mitigate the negative impact from central banks, it becomes necessary to authorize the circulation of a digital currency with a supply that cannot be controlled by any central bank and is only altered in accord with objective and calculable criteria.”
Indeed, the inflation rate for the dollar has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-inflation-skyrockets-to-highest-levels-since-great-recession-follows-disastrous-jobs-report">surged</a> in the wake of aggressive quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve — the central bank of the United States — and massive federal spending proposals from the Biden administration.
At the time of publication, the price of bitcoin is roughly $35,000. The cryptocurrency traded for over $60,000 in April.

El Salvador Seeks To Adopt Bitcoin As Legal Tender

A California congresswoman says she started sleeping with a 9-millimeter pistol by her bed after getting into a Twitter beef with a Central American leader.
U.S. Rep. Norma Torres, a Democrat from Pomona, California, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-05-27/norma-torres">told</a> the Los Angeles Times that the social media feud with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele started after she spoke out about the migrant crisis. She said tensions have escalated to the point where she is concerned for her safety.
“I need to do everything I can do to protect myself in my home,” Torres said.
An immigrant from Guatemala, Torres, 56, is the only member of Congress born in Central America. She said she became a target for harassment for <a href="https://twitter.com/NormaJTorres/status/1374505391673856010">calling out</a> “dictators” from the Northern Triangle of countries in that region, which include Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The Times reported that Torres “has worked to put restrictions on military aid” to those nations and has urged President Joe Biden not to send funding to the central governments she deems corrupt.
“These three countries have set an example for all of Latin America that it is OK for presidents, for congresses, to sit on their hands and watch their children die en route to our southern border,” Torres told The Times.
According to The Times, Bukele, 39, became “furious” after he and Torres exchanged “an angry torrent of tweets” and “urged Salvadorans in Southern California, an enormous community, to work to oust Torres from office.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Pres.<a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nayibbukele</a>—I&#39;ll make it clearer. This is a result of narcissistic dictators like you interested in being “cool” while people flee by the 1000s &amp; die by the 100s.
Send me a pair of glasses so I may see the suffering of your people through your eyes.<a href="https://t.co/eBCahxNzmM">https://t.co/eBCahxNzmM</a> <a href="https://t.co/F4O173fYcZ">pic.twitter.com/F4O173fYcZ</a>
&mdash; Rep. Norma Torres (@NormaJTorres) <a href="https://twitter.com/NormaJTorres/status/1377819131798462464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
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FOX 11 News <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/california-congresswoman-reveals-she-sleeps-with-gun-by-her-bed-after-death-threats">reported</a> that Torres says she has been the recipient of threats directed by Bukele, and strangers have been staking out her house.
“The response has been one of a very violent, insecure, narcissistic leader in that Northern Triangle who has utilized his army of trolls against me,” said Torres.
The L.A. Times reported:
<blockquote>Torres says Bukele also mounted a campaign to flood her district office with phone calls to make it difficult for constituents to reach harassed staffers. The Salvadoran Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
The congresswoman believes there is cause for concern that some Bukele supporters might turn violent; her social media accounts are inundated with hateful messages and images. And so she sleeps with her gun nearby.</blockquote>
Twitter users defending Bukele have flooded Torres’ Twitter mentions, threatened her life, and mocked her Indigenous features, FOX 11 reported.
“This is exactly what is happening to women in these regions that are being controlled by these dictators,” Torres said in a virtual interview broadcast on the outlet.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Espero que todos mis hermanos salvadoreños, mexicanos, hondureños, guatemaltecos, dominicanos, venezolanos y todos los latinoamericanos del Distrito 35 de California NO VOTEN por <a href="https://twitter.com/NormaJTorres?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NormaJTorres</a>.
No trabaja para ustedes, sino para mantener a nuestros países en el subdesarrollo.
&mdash; Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1377840717884706819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Ricardo Zuniga, Biden’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-05-27/norma-torres">described</a> Bukele’s tactics as election interference.
Congresswoman Torres told FOX 11 that Bukele stopped tweeting at her after the U.S. Agency for International Development announced that it would redirect aid from El Salvador’s national police and public information institute to civil society groups.
According to The Times, “Bukele is wildly popular in El Salvador, but State Department and other U.S. officials said he has shown increasingly authoritarian tendencies in repressing free speech and media and in consolidating power to silence critics.”

House Rules Committee Debates Resolution On Impeachment Inquiry

Report: Twitter War Has California Democrat Sleeping With Gun By Her Bed

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday night that high levels of immigration to the United States are not a good thing for the U.S. and was even worse for nations in Latin America, which he said are being gutted of the very people that are needed to build strong economies in those countries.
Bukele said that the surge north has been caused by three factors, including a lack of economic opportunities, a lack of security, and incentives provided in the United States. Bukele also suggested that the policies on the border and enforcement of immigration matters by U.S. authorities, or lack thereof, was a factor in what is happening.
Bukele said that he has seen improvement in his country as they have started to get a handle on the rampant violent crime afflicting his nation, which is a hotbed of MS-13 gang activity.
&#8220;If you don&#8217;t provide for your people, economic opportunities, if your economy is doing bad, if your security is doing bad, people are going leave, and you&#8217;re going to go and try to find a rich country, right? They&#8217;re not going to leave for Guatemala. They want to go to the United States,&#8221; Bukele said. &#8220;So, that makes this country dependent on immigration because you become a net exporter of people. You&#8217;re not exporting products or services, you&#8217;re exporting people.&#8221;
&#8220;So, that makes your economy dependent on that because those people send money back to their home countries which is not a good economic formula,&#8221; Bukele continued. &#8220;That makes the economies dependent of that. So, when you keep this country dependent on that, the economy is like a vicious cycle, so it&#8217;s bad for the United States because immigration will go up and it&#8217;s bad for our country because people leaving the country will go as well so it&#8217;s bad for both of us.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="President of El Salvador talks immigration crisis with Tucker Carlson" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_pAzth4f-vs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Mr. President, thanks for joining us.
NAYIB BUKELE, PRESIDENT OF EL SALVADOR: Thank you for inviting me. 
CARLSON: So there are an estimated 2 million Salvadorans living United States.
BUKELE: Maybe a little more.
CARLSON. Maybe more and more coming now. Why do you think so many people have moved from this country to the U.S.? 
BUKELE: Well, it&#8217;s obvious. I mean, our country has failed to provide two basic things, which are the two main drivers of immigration, which is the lack of economic opportunity and the lack of security. If, I mean, most people won&#8217;t like, doesn&#8217;t want to leave their country.
CARLSON: Right. 
BUKELE: They, they like their culture, they like their food. They like their weather. I mean, it&#8217;s it&#8217;s their country, they have their family members here, their friends, they leave, most people leave their country because of two main reasons. And those are the two main reasons. And if you add up the civil war we had in the 80s, well, that was the main driver at the beginning. And then you have people, you know, that have cousins over there. And then the cousins says, oh, come here, you will have a job here.  
CARLSON: Right.
BUKELE: And there&#8217;s relative security, based on what you have over there and what you have here. And so those are the main drivers of immigration that our country has failed to provide security and economic opportunity. So people leave, so people leave. 
CARLSON: So, but if the richest country in the world says if you cross over the border, we will give you free health care, free education, all these benefits, I mean that&#8217;s a draw, isn&#8217;t it?
BUKELE: Of course, it&#8217;s an incentive. I mean, everything is everything life is pros and cons, right? 
CARLSON: Yes. 
BUKELE: So you have for immigration, you have a con, that probably you don&#8217;t know the language or you have to, the journey is a difficult one, you may die in the journey. But if in the end, they will receive a lot of things, of course, it&#8217;s a, the the pros go up and the cons go down. So it depends. It&#8217;s an incentive game here. And if, for example, if here in El Salvador we have better jobs and better security, it&#8217;s less, it&#8217;s less of an incentive, and you can see it in the numbers. We haven&#8217;t changed the country 180 degrees in two years, in 1 year and 9 months, we have been in government, of course. But if you see the numbers two years ago, you see the numbers now, immigration from El Salvador has gone down. And it&#8217;s a couple of reasons, but one of the reasons is that, we have improved security by 75%, I mean the homicide rate has down by 75% and the violent crimes have gone down by 75%. And economic opportunities are a little better than what they were two years ago. And there&#8217;s more, there&#8217;s a little more hope here that the future is going to be better. So that lowers the numbers that way. That&#8217;s why you have caravans of 10,000 people going out of Honduras, and you don&#8217;t have any caravans going out from El Salvador. But two years ago, El Salvador was bigger than Honduras in immigration. So you have incentives and drivers here, like I told you before,  economic opportunities and security, and you have incentives over there. What you will find at the border and what you will find inside and with and with law enforcement over there.
CARLSON: Losing energetic risk taking people is obviously bad for your country, you want to keep people like that here. Do you resent the fact that the United States has offered all these incentives for people to leave your country and go there? 
BUKELE: No, I&#8217;ll never resent that. But I just think that for a country, it&#8217;s not profitable to get the people out. First, it&#8217;s immoral. I mean, you need to provide for your people, right? 
CARLSON: Yeah.
BUKELE: That&#8217;s a moral issue. But you also have an economic issue. If you send your hard working people, and you&#8217;re talented people and people that want to work and want to risk it just to go and work, You want to keep them here, because those will be the drivers of your economy. You don&#8217;t want them there. So they could take remittance, which will be a small portion of what they will earn and will they produce. You want them to produce here, but you&#8217;re talking about problems that have been there, and not only El Salvador but in a lot of countries in Latin America for the last four decades. And this immigration thing it has is just feeding on dependency on immigration of the countries that drive it. So it&#8217;s not good for for the United States and it&#8217;s not good for El Salvador. The best thing for both of us is to keep our people here and to provide for our people right here and to provide for our people right here in our country and that&#8217;s what people here want. 
CARLSON: Yes. 
BUKELE: So at the end it&#8217;s not, I won&#8217;t resent it of course, but I think that it&#8217;s better if we can keep our people, that&#8217;s our job and morally that&#8217;s the thing we have to do. 
CARLSON: Explain quickly if you would, what you said is not good for the United States to become dependent on immigration. What do you mean by that?
BUKELE: No, no. Latin American countries. If you don&#8217;t provide for your people, economic opportunities, if your economy is doing bad, if your security is doing bad, people are going leave, and you&#8217;re going to go and try to find a rich country, right? They&#8217;re not going to leave for Guatemala. &#8230; They want to go to the United States. So, that makes this country dependent on immigration because you become a net exporter of people. You&#8217;re not exporting products or services, you&#8217;re exporting people. So, that makes your economy dependent on that because those people send money back to their home countries which is not a good economic formula. That makes the economies dependent of that. So, when you keep this country dependent on that, the economy is like a vicious cycle, so it&#8217;s bad for the United States because immigration will go up and it&#8217;s bad for our country because people leaving the country will go as well so it&#8217;s bad for both of us.</blockquote>

President Of El Salvador Nayib Bukele Visits “The Story With Martha MacCallum”

President Of El Salvador: High Immigration To U.S. Is Bad For U.S. And Latin American Nations

On Thursday, President Donald Trump held a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio. The president’s rally comes on the heels of the most recent Democratic presidential debates that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
During his speech, the president criticized the way in which Democratic politicians have allegedly governed the &#8220;inner cities.” He once again condemned the mismanagement of Baltimore, stating that the homicide rate in the city is higher than that of several Central American nations:
<blockquote>While Republicans are working every day to build up our country, the rage-filled Democrat Party is trying to tear America apart. The Democrat Party is now being led by four Left-wing extremists who reject everything that we hold dear. No one has paid a higher price for the far-Left’s destructive agenda than Americans living in our nation&#8217;s inner cities. They have paid a dear price. You see what&#8217;s happening; you see our inner cities. We spend billions and billions and billions for years and years and years, and it&#8217;s stolen money, and it&#8217;s wasted money, and it&#8217;s a shame. For decades, these communities have been run exclusively by Democrat politicians, and it&#8217;s been total one-party control of the inner cities – for a hundred years it&#8217;s been one-party control, and look at them. We can name one after another, but I won&#8217;t do that because I don&#8217;t want to be controversial &#8230;
The homicide rate in Baltimore is significantly higher than El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, I believe it&#8217;s higher than – [asks audience] give me a place that you think is pretty bad. Give me a place – the guy says Afghanistan. I believe it&#8217;s higher than Afghanistan in our country. Think of that. I believe we&#8217;ll check the numbers, and if we&#8217;re wrong, they will tell us tomorrow. It’ll be headlines: &#8220;Trump exaggerated.&#8221; I do believe the rate is higher than Afghanistan, yet Democrats, and they&#8217;ve run it for many years, want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on illegal migrants instead of supporting their own struggling communities.</blockquote>
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In 2018, Baltimore’s homicide rate was 51.3 per 100,000 residents, according to a city <a href="https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019/08/01/fact-check-baltimore-murder-rate-higher-than-el-salvador-guatemala-honduras/​">CBS affiliate</a>.
In 2017, the homicide rate stood at 55.8 per 100,000 residents, reports <a href="http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Baltimore-Maryland.html">City Data</a>. In 2015 and 2016, it was 55.4 and 51.4, respectively. Between 2008 and 2014, the city’s homicide rate was significantly lower, averaging 35.2 per 100,000.
According to the <a href="https://www.osac.gov/Content/Report/d1222be6-4e5d-461f-912c-15f4aec90b02">Overseas Security Advisory Council</a> (OSAC), El Salvador’s 2018 homicide rate stood at 50 per 100,000 residents. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, the nation’s homicide rates were 103, 81, and 60, respectively.
From January through November of 2018, Honduras’ homicide rate was approximately 40 per 100,000 residents, according to <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/insight-crime-2018-homicide-roundup/">InSight Crime</a>. It was 42.8 per 100,000 in 2017.
In Guatemala, the homicide rate was 22.4 per 100,000 residents in 2018, according to <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/insight-crime-2018-homicide-roundup/">InSight Crime</a>. It was 26.1 per 100,000 in 2017.
President Trump is correct when he suggests that the homicide rate in Baltimore is higher than in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. As for Afghanistan, the president is also correct. According to <a href="http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.VIOLENCEHOMICIDEv">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) data, as recently as 2016, the homicide rate in Afghanistan was 7.4 per 100,000 residents.

WATCH: Trump Claims Baltimore Homicide Rate Higher Than Central American Countries And Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Donald Trump

Guatemala

Homicide

The heartbreaking photograph of a Salvadoran man and his 23-month-old daughter lying dead on the bank of the Rio Grande after having drowned attempting to cross illegally into Texas gained national attention last week and sparked dueling accusations: “Open borders” advocates claim the incident is the Trump administration’s fault, while those in favor of border security argue the tragedy is a result of lax immigration policy inspiring migrants to cross in record numbers, confident they can reside illegally in the country with little risk of deportation. But the president of El Salvador says the real blame falls on his own country.
“People don’t flee their homes because they want to,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said in a news conference in San Salvador this weekend. “They flee their homes because they feel they have to.”
“We can send all the blame to any government we like,” he said, speaking in English in what <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/01/world/americas/nayib-bukele-migrant-deaths.html">The New York Times</a> suggests may have been intended as a direct message to Trump. “We can say President Trump’s policies are wrong. We can say Mexico’s policies are wrong. But what about our blame?”
“What country did they flee? Did they flee the United States?” Bukele asked. “They fled El Salvador, they fled our country. It is our fault.”
The Times notes that Bukele, 37, who won election in February, campaigned in part on “curb[ing] the outflow of Salvadorans, who have contributed in recent months to the surging numbers of migrants trying to enter the United States.”
Bukele’s comments about El Salvador’s role in illegal immigration to the U.S. aligns with comments made repeatedly by President Trump, who has threatened to cut aid money to the “Northern Triangle” Central American countries &#8212; El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, from which an increasing percentage of migrants have emigrated to the U.S. &#8212; unless they take action to address the crisis.
The left&#8217;s argument that the tragic deaths of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his little daughter Valeria is Trump’s fault is summarized by <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/el-salvador-president-migrant-drowning_n_5d1ad001e4b07f6ca58275b0">HuffPost</a>:
<blockquote>The photo has quickly been cast as an emblematic image of President Donald Trump&#8217;s hard-line immigration policies to rein in migration across the southern border with Mexico. The White House has forced many asylum seekers to wait in Mexico as part of a new policy to discourage people from seeking refuge in the U.S., but critics say it’s ‘not safe’ for those who are already vulnerable. The Mexican government said earlier this month more than 15,000 people have been sent back to the country as part of Trump’s &#8220;remain in Mexico&#8221; policy.</blockquote>
Border security advocates, however, point to the details of the tragedy as more evidence that the real problem is lax immigration policies and enforcement and the lack of a security fence on most of the border. Ramirez had applied for asylum, but as family members acknowledged to reporters, his family was not actually fleeing persecution; rather, they wanted a chance to make a better living in the U.S. for a few years before returning to their country.
&#8220;They left El Salvador on April 3 and spent two months in a migrant camp in southern Mexico, awaiting news of their asylum request to the US, before they decided to take a bus to the border on Sunday to try to speed up their case,&#8221; <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7183475/Tragic-story-El-Salvador-father-daughter-drowned-crossing-Rio-Grande.html">The Daily Mail</a> reported. &#8220;When they arrived, the consulate was closed but they also learned they were far down a list of hundreds of migrants in line for interviews. They decided to make the crossing illegally rather than wait &#8212; a decision that led to their deaths.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48893/walsh-border-matt-walsh">WALSH: Viral Photo Shows A Father And Daughter Who Drowned Crossing The Border. The Story Behind The Image Proves Why We Need A Wall.</a>

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