The Democratic presidential primary debate was momentarily derailed after Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was asked to explain why she was unable to name the president of Mexico during a recent interview with Telemundo, the American Spanish-language news network. 
“I don’t think that the momentary forgetfulness actually reflects what I know about Mexico and how much I care about it,” Klobuchar told the moderators. “But when it comes to Mexico, I am the one person on this stage that came out first to say I was for the U.S.-Mexican-Canadian trade agreement. That is going to be one of the number one duties of a president – is to implement that.”
After moderator Vanessa Hauc, who works for Telemundo, pressed Klobuchar on the incident further, Klobuchar retorted: “That’s right. I said I made an error. I think that having a president that maybe is humble, and is able to admit that here and there maybe wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Hauc then asked Pete Buttigieg for his two cents, as the former mayor was actually successful in naming the Mexican president during a recent interview. “I wouldn’t liken this to trivia,” said Buttigieg, who then directed an attack back at Klobuchar. 
“But you’re staking your candidacy on your Washington experience,” said the former mayor. “You’re on the committee that oversees border security. You’re on the committee that does trade. You’re literally part of the committee that oversees those things.”
Klobuchar then issued a strong response to Buttigieg: “Are you trying to say that I’m dumb? Are you mocking me, Pete? I said I made an error.” 
The Minnesota senator then volleyed an attack about electability against Buttigieg: “I am the one, not you, that has won statewide in congressional district after congressional district. And I will say, when you tried to run in Indiana, Pete, what happened to you? You lost by over 20 points.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who was on offense the entire debate, then came to the defense of Klobuchar, calling the ability to memorize a name silly. 
“This is not right. I understand that she forgot a name. It happens. It happens to everybody on this stage,” Warren told the crowd, implying that the question was trivia-like in nature. “Let’s just be clear, missing a name all by itself does not indicate that you do not understand what’s going on. I just think this is unfair.”
During the series of tangents, former Vice President Joe Biden tried to chime in, unsuccessfully, on account that he had previously met the president of Mexico. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), not wanting to be the only one not to offer his opinion on the matter – aside from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg – responded to Biden with an enthusiastic “Si!”
Following a short break, a debate moderator jokingly asked the primary candidates if they were ready “to play some Nevada trivia.”

Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In Las Vegas Ahead Of Nevada Caucuses

Chaos Erupts After Mexico Trivia Question; Klobuchar To Buttigieg: ‘You Trying To Say That I’m Dumb?’

2020 Election

Amy Klobuchar

democratic debate

Mexico

Pete Buttigieg

Mexico is taking its own illegal immigration problem &#8212; caravans of thousands of migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and elsewhere &#8212; seriously, cracking down on border-crossers at its own southern border, and now critics are convinced that President Donald Trump, unable to get a physical border wall built, has convinced Mexico&#8217;s president to be come his de facto &#8220;border wall.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/26/mexico-immigration-amlo-enforcement-trump">The Guardian reported Sunday</a> that &#8220;Mexico has become Trump&#8217;s wall,&#8221; faulting Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador for increasing hostility among Mexican law enforcement agents toward migrant caravans.
Although Mexico was, initially, allowing these thousand-plus person caravans to cross its southern border on the promise that they would head directly to the United States&#8217; southern border to seek amnesty, the Mexican government has since taken an active role in interdiction, blocking passage through Mexico&#8217;s southern border and even firing tear gas into unruly crowds of migrants trying to push through into Mexico.
&#8220;López Obrador’s government greeted migrants in a more hostile fashion,&#8221; <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-24/in-turning-back-caravans-mexico-becomes-trumps-wall">the LA Times reported about incidents</a> that occurred last week. &#8220;Mexican National Guard troops in full riot gear blocked their way and fired tear gas canisters to disperse those seeking to breach the nation’s border with Guatemala. Hundreds of people were put on planes and buses back to Honduras, where most of the migrants in the latest caravan began their journey.&#8221;
There were no major injuries, though there were around 800 arrests, according to reports. Before things got hostile, the Mexican government says they offered migrants work visas and the chance to remain in Mexico&#8217;s southern states, but the migrants refused.
&#8220;The president, generally referred to as Amlo, once railed against the abuse visited on migrants. In opposition, he pleaded for Mexico to provide safe passage to people heading for the US border,&#8221; the Guardian reported in horror. &#8220;But 13 months into his presidency – and under the looming threat of US tariffs – Amlo has assumed a new role: immigration enforcer.&#8221;
This is a stark difference from just one year ago, when Mexican authorities were, largely, turning a blind eye to so-called migrant caravans, offering them temporary visas to travel through Mexico on their way to seek amnesty in the United States. Occasionally, the government would attempt a &#8220;crackdown,&#8221; but only when Mexicans were overly burdened by the caravans, and even then, the Mexican government typically offered migrants temporary work visas or free rides back to Central America.
Now, things have changed both at the southern border and in the board room. The Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;remain in Mexico&#8221; policy, which has those individuals seeking amnesty stay south of the border while their claims are processed rather than remain in the United States pending a hearing, has made life for Mexicans in border towns difficult (and it has cut down significantly on the number of migrants seeking amnesty). President Donald Trump also threatened Mexico, last year, with tariffs and a trade freeze if Mexico did not enforce its own immigration laws.
But it&#8217;s not all Trump&#8217;s fault, regardless of what the Guardian may believe. The LA Times notes that Obrador is copying Trump&#8217;s &#8220;America First&#8221; strategy with a &#8220;Mexico First&#8221; attitude, taking a particular interest in domestic policy and mostly ignoring Mexico&#8217;s foreign entanglements.
But the Trump administration is, at least, pleased with what&#8217;s happening.
“The efforts by the Mexican National Guard and other officials have thus far been effective at maintaining the integrity of their border, despite outbreaks of violence and lawlessness by people who are attempting to illegally enter Mexico on their way to the United States,&#8221; the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement this week.

Border Wall

Mexico ‘Acting As Trump’s Border Wall’ Critics Say As Nation Cracks Down On Migrant Caravans

Illegal Immigration

New details have emerged about the American family of nine that were murdered in Mexico back in November as a top Mexican government official was arrested late this week for his alleged involvement in the cartel attack on the family.
Former federal law enforcement official and Phoenix narcotics detective Robert Arce first reported the news on Christmas day. The story was later <a href="https://www.elheraldodechihuahua.com.mx/local/cae-director-de-policia-de-janos-por-caso-lebaron-noticias-de-chihuahua-4627236.html">confirmed</a> by The Herald of Chihuahua, which is a Mexican newspaper.
&#8220;The Police Chief from the Municipality of Janos, Chihuahua, is arrested for suspected links to the Sinaloa Cartel (Los Salazar) by members of the Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada (SEIDO),&#8221; Arce tweeted. &#8220;The Public Security Director (pictured w/rifle) identified as Chief Fidel Alejandro Villegas Villegas was arrested on December 24, by organized crime investigators (SEIDO) assigned to the federal prosecutor&#8217;s office, the chief was later transported to Mexico City where he will be held along with three suspects, Luis Manuel &amp; Héctor Mario &#8216;El Mayo&#8217; Hernández &amp; a 3rd individual identified only as Cipriano, believed involved in the Lebaron family massacre which occurred on December 4, in nearby Bavispe, Sonora. &#8216;El Mayo&#8217; is accused of being the Plaza Boss for La Línea in Janos, Chihuahua.&#8221;
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1/ The Police Chief from the Municipality of Janos, Chihuahua is arrested for suspected links to the Sinaloa Cartel (Los Salazar) by members of the Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada (SEIDO). The Public Security Director (pictured w/rifle) <a href="https://t.co/e6eVRksANw">pic.twitter.com/e6eVRksANw</a>
&mdash; Robert Arce (@robertrarce) <a href="https://twitter.com/robertrarce/status/1209957814455586817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
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3/ three suspects, Luis Manuel &amp; Héctor Mario “El Mayo” Hernández &amp; a 3rd individual identified only as Cipriano, believed involved in the Lebaron family massacre which occurred on December 4, in nearby Bavispe, Sonora. “El Mayo” is accused of being the Plaza Boss for La Línea <a href="https://t.co/U8cSGbU9CQ">pic.twitter.com/U8cSGbU9CQ</a>
&mdash; Robert Arce (@robertrarce) <a href="https://twitter.com/robertrarce/status/1209958572257234945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Janos is a small town located in the northwestern section of Chihuahua near the border with the Sonora &amp; approximately 45 miles southeast of Antelope Wells, New Mexico,&#8221; Arce continued. &#8220;The small rural communities located along the Chihuahua/Sonora border provide highly valuable cartel smuggling routes to the U.S. drug markets &amp; have a strong presence of Sinaloa cartel aligned gangs &amp; rival La Línea which is part of the Nuevo Cartel de Juárez or Juárez Cartel. Investigators are examining operational links between local cops &amp; criminal drug gangs that operate in the area. The Lebaron family massacre resulted in the death of three women and six children.&#8221;
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5/ valuable cartel smuggling routes to the U.S. drug markets &amp; have a strong presence of Sinaloa cartel aligned gangs &amp; rival La Línea which is part of the Nuevo Cartel de Juárez or Juárez Cartel. Investigators are examining operational links between local cops &amp; criminal drug
&mdash; Robert Arce (@robertrarce) <a href="https://twitter.com/robertrarce/status/1209959007756021760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The explosive revelation has been picked up by multiple American and British publications over the last day, including <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/27/mexican-security-chief-arrested-in-connection-to-mormon-family-massacre/">The New York Post</a>, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7831065/Mexican-police-director-cartel-ties-arrested-Mormon-family-massacre.html">The Daily Mail</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mormon-massacre-mexico-fidel-alejandro-villegas-police-chief-killings-a9262411.html">The Independent</a>, and <a href="https://www.abc4.com/news/national/chief-of-police-arrested-over-mexican-mormon-massacre/">ABC News</a>.
President Donald Trump responded to the news by writing on Twitter, &#8220;A wonderful family and friends from Utah got caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other, with the result being many great American people killed, including young children, and some missing. If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing &amp; able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively. The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!&#8221;
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&#8230;.monsters, the United States stands ready, willing &amp; able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively. The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1191708086140047361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Trump added, &#8220;This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!&#8221;
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This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1191708902041227264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Trump later floated the idea of designating the Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), but eventually backed off the idea, suggesting that the administration had reached a new deal with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to fight the cartels.
“All necessary work has been completed to declare Mexican Cartels terrorist organizations,” Trump tweeted. “Statutorily we are ready to do so. However, at the request of a man who I like and respect, and has worked so well with us, President Andres Manuel [López Obrador] we will temporarily hold off this designation and step up our joint efforts to deal decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations!”
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&#8230;.will temporarily hold off this designation and step up our joint efforts to deal decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1203096599435644928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Mexico Lebaron family

New Details Emerge About American Family Murdered In Mexico With Shocking New Arrest

Cartels

Crime

Drug Cartels

Federal prosecutors revealed on Tuesday that authorities have charged Genaro Garcia Luna, the former Secretary of Public Security in Mexico from 2006 to 2012, for his involvement in an alleged drug trafficking conspiracy with Mexico&#8217;s largest and most powerful drug cartel and for making false statements.
&#8220;According to the indictment and other court filings by the government, from 2001 to 2012, while occupying high-ranking law enforcement positions in the Mexican government, Garcia Luna received millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for providing protection for its drug trafficking activities,&#8221; the Department of Justice said in a statement. &#8220;From 2001 to 2005, Garcia Luna led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency, and from 2006 to 2012, he served as Mexico’s Secretary of Public Security, controlling Mexico’s Federal Police Force.&#8221;
&#8220;In exchange for the payment of bribes, the Sinaloa Cartel obtained safe passage for its drug shipments, sensitive law enforcement information about investigations into the Cartel, and information about rival drug cartels, thereby facilitating the importation of multi‑ton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States,&#8221; the DOJ continued. &#8220;On two occasions, the Cartel personally delivered bribe payments to Garcia Luna in briefcases containing between three and five million dollars.  According to financial records obtained by the government, by the time Garcia Luna relocated to the United States in 2012, he had amassed a personal fortune of millions of dollars.&#8221;
The case, which is being prosecuted in the Eastern District of New York, also alleges that Garcia Luna also committed a crime by trying to hide his history of alleged criminal activity with the Sinaloa cartel when he submitted an application for naturalization in 2018.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the charges, saying, “Garcia Luna stands accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes from ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel while he controlled Mexico’s Federal Police Force and was responsible for ensuring public safety in Mexico. Today’s arrest demonstrates our resolve to bring to justice those who help cartels inflict devastating harm on the United States and Mexico, regardless of the positions they held while committing their crimes.”
The news comes as President Donald Trump recently announced that the United States had secured a new deal to go after the Mexican drug cartels in conjunction with the Mexican government.
“All necessary work has been completed to declare Mexican Cartels terrorist organizations,” Trump tweeted late last week. “Statutorily we are ready to do so. However, at the request of a man who I like and respect, and has worked so well with us, President Andres Manuel [López Obrador] we will temporarily hold off this designation and step up our joint efforts to deal decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations!”
The announcement from the president came after he had stated in a recent interview that he planned on designating the drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
Multiple government agencies recognized the Sinaloa cartel as the most dominant drug cartel in Mexico, which the DEA <a href="https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/DIR-032-18%202018%20NDTA%20final%20low%20resolution.pdf">noted</a> in its 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment.

Genaro Garcia Luna

Former Top Mexican Official Arrested For Drug-Trafficking Conspiracy With Top Cartel, DOJ Says

Trump Administration

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of African migrants attempting to travel into the U.S. through Mexico.
In 2007, the Mexican government started keeping records on migrants from countries in Africa. At that time, The Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/story/2019-12-08/record-number-of-african-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border">reported</a>, an annual immigration report included 460 migrants from Africa. In 2018, that number was roughly 2,700 and in 2019 it doubled to about 5,800. From the Times:
And that dramatic increase has been mostly left out of U.S. immigration conversations, activists say.
“Even within the immigration movement, you see a lack of visibility of black narratives with what is happening at the border,” said Guerline Jozef, director and co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an organization that helps black migrants from all over the world.
Jozef was initially caught off-guard by the number of black migrants south of the border.
Jozef told the outlet that in 2016 she met with a group of Haitian migrants in Tijuana, which was unusual since Florida was the typical migration route for Caribbean migrants. At the time she met with 12 Haitian migrants. After a month in the area, she counted more than 400 migrants from Haiti and Congo, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone.
“Now, almost four years later, we have thousands and thousands of black migrants,” she told the outlet.
The Times reported that the vast majority of those who travel through Mexico to the U.S. border are from Central America, and that the journey for black migrants from Africa is especially difficult. From the Times:
The journey isn’t easy, many of them are robbed and beaten while traveling north.
On top of these dangers, African migrants face additional obstacles in terms of language and cultural barriers. They also have less access to services from legal aid organizations who do not have staff who speak the same language as the migrants.
They also face racism and discrimination because of the color of their skin, Jozef added.
The migrants from Africa are now unable to even reach the U.S. border, as the Mexican government no longer provides transit visas to travel to the border. This has resulted in the migrants camping out in front of the immigration building in Tijuana “because they literally have nowhere else to go,” immigration lawyer Rebecca Alemayehu told the Times.
Even with the situation at the border and in Mexico, African migrants continue to travel to Mexico to attempt passage into the U.S.
The Congressional Black Caucus had noted the increasing numbers of black migrants and their unique plight, writing in a statement that the number appears to be increasing “as Europe closes its doors to migrants.”
Alemayehu also tole the Times that the migrants can’t simply stay in Mexico because of the dangers they face there.
“A lot of them are getting robbed, beat up and mistreated there,” she told the outlet.

African migrangs

Record Number Of African Migrants Heading To U.S. Through Mexico

Africa

Immigration

Migrants

On Friday, iconic legacy news institution Newsweek <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/rising-death-rates-among-white-americans-caused-misperceived-threat-their-dominant-social-status-1474038">unintentionally encapsulated</a> leftist myopia and willful ignorance when it comes to one of the great social maladies of our time: Soaring death rates among white Americans. &#8220;Rising death rates among white Americans caused by misperceived treat [sic] to their dominant social status, study shows,&#8221; Newsweek <a href="https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1200210310747041794">tweeted</a>.
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Rising death rates among white Americans caused by misperceived treat to their dominant social status, study shows <a href="https://t.co/3zGDznL3cG">https://t.co/3zGDznL3cG</a>
&mdash; Newsweek (@Newsweek) <a href="https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1200210310747041794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The Newsweek piece cited a new <a href="https://m.phys.org/news/2019-11-loss-social-status-linked-mortality.html">University of Toronto public health study</a> for the proposition that &#8220;rising mortality in white Americans is partly due to perceptions that they are losing social status.&#8221; Newsweek quoted Arjumand Siddiqi, lead author of the study and an associate professor of epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health: &#8220;The anxiety of whites is coming from a misperception that their dominant status in society is being threatened, which is manifesting in multiple forms of psychological and physiological stress. &#8230; Status is a major predictor of health so our team hypothesized that it was a perception among whites that Blacks are economically catching up to them, when, in fact, income inequality and other socioeconomic factors continue to affect Black Americans more unfavorably.&#8221; In other words, &#8220;white anxiety&#8221; is to blame for rising drug/alcohol-induced deaths suicides among white Americans.
Well. It couldn&#8217;t have anything to do with our unprecedented national pandemic of transnational <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/">terrorist organization</a>-linked Mexican cartels syncing up with the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50327998">Chinese</a> to commit de facto <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/trump-right-drug-traffickers-heroin-fentanyl-killing-us/">chemical warfare</a> against vulnerable Americans, could it?
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It&#39;s actually the fentanyl. <a href="https://t.co/91AXUc9c5I">https://t.co/91AXUc9c5I</a>
&mdash; Charles Fain Lehman (@CharlesFLehman) <a href="https://twitter.com/CharlesFLehman/status/1200423168416059393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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It’s totally not due to our porous border and interior enforcement policies and the way the Mexican cartels, mid-level traffickers, and illegal alien foot soldiers all coordinate a national distribution ring of lethal narcotics like fentanyl, right? <a href="https://t.co/AvrqBwged6">https://t.co/AvrqBwged6</a>
&mdash; Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1200423907083390983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The reality, as Daniel Horowitz <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/media-willfully-ignores-connection-killer-drugs-illegal-immigration/">wrote</a> back in February for Conservative Review, is that our purported mainstream media vanguards are willfully and deliberately ignorant about the lethal nexus of a weak border security policy, feckless <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-border-wall-nice-interior-enforcement-nicer-josh-hammer">interior enforcement</a>, criminal illegal alien networks operating with impunity throughout the nation&#8217;s interior, and our debilitating drug and overdose epidemics. &#8220;[C]artels not only have control of our border,&#8221; Horowitz observed, &#8220;but operate with latitude on our shores and have endless illegal alien and transnational criminal networks working for them in all our major cities and even mid-sized cities on the East Coast. This is the key to understanding how illegal immigration is driving the drug crisis.&#8221;
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics">statistics</a> lay bare the statistical reality that is our nation&#8217;s crippling narcotics crisis. According to CBP Office of Field Operations (OFO) nationwide drug seizure statistics, seizures of cocaine more than doubled over the course of fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2019: From 38,346 pounds to 89,207 pounds. Over the same time span, OFO seizures of methamphetamine increased from 25,495 pounds to 68,585 pound and OFO seizures of fentanyl increased from a negligible 70 pounds to an astounding 2,545 pounds.
There is a well-orchestrated, well-funded, systemic operation to commit chemical warfare upon this nation&#8217;s interior. Indeed, drug trafficking is likely the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-why-no-one-discussing-drug-trafficking-josh-hammer">single least discussed aspect</a> of the crisis afflicting our beleaguered southern border over the course of the past year. We have an unprecedented glut of deadly narcotics pouring into the nation. And recall that a sugar packet-sized dose of fentanyl can kill a whole room full of people.
To be sure, depressingly large swaths of this country&#8217;s citizenry also suffer from an existential crisis of meaning. Loneliness and despondency are on the rise. All varieties of the nation&#8217;s once-proud institutions seem to be <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-who-will-stand-for-the-forgotten-american">failing middle America</a>, en masse. The need for a politics centered around <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-on-chick-fil-a-political-tribalism-and-the-need-for-national-solidarity">national solidarity</a> has never been greater.
But for goodness&#8217; sake, Newsweek, have the human decency to look just  a little harder at what might be greatly exacerbating soaring rates of white depression and suicide in America. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-federal-government-has-no-more-important-josh-hammer">Securing our border</a> once and for all and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-u-s-is-morally-obligated-to-take-on-the-mexican-drug-cartels">cracking down on the cartels</a> is hardly anywhere near a panacea for all the ills afflicting our nation, but stanching the supply of lethal narcotics will surely help. A lot.

Newsweek magazine

HAMMER: Newsweek Highlights The Left’s Willful Ignorance About Our Border And Drug Crises

Drugs

Leftism

Media

Media Bias

Newsweek

Race

Southern Border

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued a new statement on Wednesday in response to President Donald Trump saying that the White House intends to designate the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Lopez Obrador said that he rejects intervention by the United States in Mexico.
Lopez Obrador, a 66-year-old far-left populist, made the remarks in response to Trump&#8217;s comments yesterday during an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-announces-new-major-action-against-mexican-drug-cartels">interview</a> with Bill O&#8217;Reilly.
&#8220;Cooperation, yes, interventionism, no,&#8221; Lopez Obrador said when asked by reporters about Trump&#8217;s remarks.
In his interview with Trump, O’Reilly said, “One of the things that you’ve said to me … is that if another country murdered 100,000 Americans with guns, we would go to war with that country. Yet, the Mexican drug cartels kill more than 100,000 Americans every year by the importation of dangerous narcotics.”
“Are you going to designate those cartels in Mexico as terror groups and start hitting them with drones and things like that?” O’Reilly asked.
“I don’t want to say what I am going to do, but they will be designated,” Trump answered. “I’ve already offered Mexico … to let us go in and clean it out and he so far has rejected the offer but at some point something has to be done. Look, we are losing 100,000 people a year to what is happening and what is coming through on Mexico.”
“So you are going to designate the Mexican cartels as terror groups?” O’Reilly continued to prod.
“Yeah, I will be,” Trump replied. “I have been working on that for the last 90 days. You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process, and we are well into that process.”
Trump&#8217;s remarks come after nine Americans were murdered in Mexico at the beginning of the month in an ambush on a highway.
&#8220;This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth,&#8221; Trump tweeted on November 5th in response to the tragedy. &#8220;We merely await a call from your great new president!&#8221;
After Trump made the announcement yesterday, Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations said in a statement: “By virtue of the good relations that exist between the two countries, the Government of Mexico will seek to have a high-level meeting as soon as possible to present Mexico’s position and know the views of the United States authorities.”
On Monday, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-mexico-does-not-expect-163951545.html" rel="noopener">said</a>, “I don’t think the United States will pursue this path because we’re working together, and I don’t think they would want to open up the possibility of Mexico invoking the same legal principles.”
Designating an entity as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), which is done by the State Department, provides the United States with additional tools to combat whatever entity that it gives the designation to, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-announces-new-major-action-against-mexican-drug-cartels">including</a>:
<ul>
<li>It is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to a designated FTO.</li>
<li>Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to, and in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.</li>
<li>The Secretary of the Treasury may require U.S. financial institutions possessing or controlling any assets of a designated FTO to block all transactions involving those assets.</li>
<li>Supports U.S. efforts to curb terrorism financing and to encourage other nations to do the same;</li>
<li>Stigmatizes and isolates designated terrorist organizations internationally;</li>
<li>Deters donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organizations;</li>
<li>Heightens public awareness and knowledge of terrorist organizations; and</li>
<li>Signals to other governments U.S. concern about named organizations.</li>
</ul>

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Issues New Statement On Trump Designating Cartels As Terrorist Organizations

Donald Trump

The Mexican government responded to President Donald Trump saying on Tuesday that he intends to designate the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations by asking to meet with the Trump administration.
Mexico&#8217;s Secretary of Foreign Relations said in a statement that Mexico&#8217;s Foreign Minister will make contact with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the matter.
&#8220;By virtue of the good relations that exist between the two countries, the Government of Mexico will seek to have a high-level meeting as soon as possible to present Mexico&#8217;s position and know the views of the United States authorities,&#8221; the statement said.
Mexico said that it wanted to address money, weapons, and organized crime that flows from the United States into Mexico.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en">
📄Posicionamiento del <a href="https://twitter.com/GobiernoMX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GobiernoMX</a> sobre declaraciones del presidente de los Estados Unidos.<a href="https://t.co/ptCQSxLclP">https://t.co/ptCQSxLclP</a>
— Relaciones Exteriores (@SRE_mx) <a href="https://twitter.com/SRE_mx/status/1199497862574460930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
Trump made the announcement during an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-announces-new-major-action-against-mexican-drug-cartels">interview</a> with Bill O&#8217;Reilly on Tuesday when O&#8217;Reilly asked him about the matter.
“One of the things that you’ve said to me … is that if another country murdered 100,000 Americans with guns we would go to war with that country,” O’Reilly said. “Yet, the Mexican drug cartels kill more than 100,000 Americans every year by the importation of dangerous narcotics.”
“Are you going to designate those cartels in Mexico as terror groups and start hitting them with drones and things like that?” O’Reilly asked.
“I don’t want to say what I am going to do, but they will be designated,” Trump replied. “I’ve already offered Mexico … to let us go in and clean it out and he so far has rejected the offer but at some point something has to be done. Look, we are losing 100,000 people a year to what is happening and what is coming through on Mexico.”
“So you are going to designate the Mexican cartels as terror groups?” O’Reilly asked.
“Yeah, I will be,” Trump answered. “I have been working on that for the last 90 days. You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process, and we are well into that process.”
On Monday, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-mexico-does-not-expect-163951545.html">said</a>, “I don’t think the United States will pursue this path because we’re working together, and I don’t think they would want to open up the possibility of Mexico invoking the same legal principles.”
Designating the Mexican cartels as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) provides that U.S. government with additional tools that it can use to go after the organizations.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) <a href="https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/DIR-032-18%202018%20NDTA%20final%20low%20resolution.pdf">reports</a> that Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), which is the technical term for the Mexican drug cartels, &#8220;remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them. The Sinaloa Cartel maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States, while Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion’s (CJNG) domestic presence has significantly expanded in the past few years. Although 2017 drug-related murders in Mexico surpassed previous levels of violence, U.S.-based Mexican TCO members generally refrain from extending inter-cartel conflicts domestically.&#8221;
This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.

Mexico Responds To Trump Decision To Designate Cartels As Terrorist Organizations

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday in an interview with Bill O&#8217;Reilly that he is going to designate the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, a move that gives the government officials more resources to combat entities that receive the designation.
&#8220;One of the things that you&#8217;ve said to me &#8230; is that if another country murdered 100,000 Americans with guns we would go to war with that country,&#8221; O&#8217;Reilly said. &#8220;Yet, the Mexican drug cartels kill more than 100,000 Americans every year by the importation of dangerous narcotics.&#8221;
&#8220;Are you going to designate those cartels in Mexico as terror groups and start hitting them with drones and things like that?&#8221; O&#8217;Reilly asked.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to say what I am going to do, but they will be designated,&#8221; Trump responded. &#8220;I&#8217;ve already offered Mexico &#8230; to let us go in and clean it out and he so far has rejected the offer but at some point something has to be done. Look, we are losing 100,000 people a year to what is happening and what is coming through on Mexico.&#8221;
&#8220;So you are going to designate the Mexican cartels as terror groups?&#8221; O&#8217;Reilly pressed.
&#8220;Yeah, I will be,&#8221; Trump responded. &#8220;I have been working on that for the last 90 days. You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process, and we are well into that process.&#8221;
O&#8217;Reilly responded, &#8220;And wait to see, they&#8217;ll attack you for doing that.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t care,&#8221; Trump responded. &#8220;I&#8217;m attacked on everything.&#8221;
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/IF10613.pdf">notes</a> that to be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), the Secretary of State must be able to prove that the entity of concern has met the three criteria to allow the Department to designate it as an FTO:
<ul>
<li>be a foreign organization,</li>
<li>engage in or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorism, and</li>
<li>threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests of the United States.</li>
</ul>
Satisfying the criteria should not be difficult for the Trump administration to do as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) <a href="https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/DIR-032-18%202018%20NDTA%20final%20low%20resolution.pdf">reports</a> that Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) — which is the technical term for the Mexican drug cartels — &#8220;remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them.&#8221;
The DEA added, &#8220;The Sinaloa Cartel maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States, while Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion’s (CJNG) domestic presence has significantly expanded in the past few years.&#8221;
The CRS notes the following consequences that result from designating an entity as an FTO:
<ul>
<li>It is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to a designated FTO.</li>
<li>Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to, and in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.</li>
<li>The Secretary of the Treasury may require U.S. financial institutions possessing or controlling any assets of a designated FTO to block all transactions involving those assets.</li>
<li>Supports U.S. efforts to curb terrorism financing and to encourage other nations to do the same;</li>
<li>Stigmatizes and isolates designated terrorist organizations internationally;</li>
<li>deters donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organizations;</li>
<li>heightens public awareness and knowledge of terrorist organizations; and</li>
<li>signals to other governments U.S. concern about named organizations.</li>
</ul>
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said yesterday that Mexico did not expect the United States to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think the United States will pursue this path because we&#8217;re working together, and I don&#8217;t think they would want to open up the possibility of Mexico invoking the same legal principles,&#8221; Ebrard <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-mexico-does-not-expect-163951545.html">said</a> without providing any examples of U.S. entities operating in Mexico that do the equivalent of the Mexican cartels do to the U.S.

President Trump

Trump Announces New Major Action Against Mexican Drug Cartels

The mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas has resulted in 10 Mexican citizens filing a lawsuit, with the help of the Mexican government, against the retail giant.
On August 3, a 21-year-old man from Allen, Texas, who has espoused anti-immigrant and white nationalist sentiments, opened fire in a Walmart in El Paso, murdering 22 people and injuring another two dozen. The horrific shooting infamously took place the same day that a man expressing <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/08/07/dayton-shooting-what-do-we-know-connor-betts-politics/1943289001/">extremist left-wing</a> ideology fatally shot 10 people and injured a total of 27 in Dayton, Ohio.
Of the two shootings, the El Paso shooting has received the most media attention, in part because of the shooter&#8217;s white nationalist and anti-immigrant views,  as well as former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O&#8217;Rourke, who is from El Paso, making the shooting a key piece of his campaign messaging.
The ethnicity of many of the victims also played a role in the shooting&#8217;s national coverage. Of the 22 people killed, eight were Mexican nationals, while another eight of the 24 injured were likewise Mexicans.
On Wednesday, the Mexican foreign ministry issued a statement Wednesday declaring its rationale for supporting the lawsuit.
&#8220;The objective of these suits, presented in El Paso county, is to hold the company responsible for not taking reasonable and necessary measures to protect its clients from the attack,&#8221; the foreign ministry said in a statement reported by <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/mexicans-sue-walmart-over-el-paso-shooting-185938190.html">AFP</a>. &#8220;The plaintiffs are seeking not only justice for themselves, but security for the general public.&#8221;
The ministry said that among the ten Mexican citizens who brought the lawsuit are survivors of the shooting and relatives of the victims.
Before going on his rampage, the El Paso shooter posted a manifesto condemning the &#8220;Hispanic invasion&#8221; of the state; after he was arrested, he told authorities that he was deliberately attempting to kill Mexicans. The case is being investigated as an act of domestic terror and potential hate crime.
AFP notes that Walmart announced in September changes to how it handles the sale of firearms and ammunitions. The retailer will no longer sell some &#8220;military-style&#8221; rifles, will no longer sell ammunition for handguns, and will bar customers from carrying weapons inside the store.
The Mexican government&#8217;s announcement of the lawsuit against Walmart came just two days after another <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/19/walmart-shooting-duncan-oklahoma-double-murder-suicide-domestic-dispute/4237436002/">shooting</a> at the retailer, this time in the parking lot of a store in Duncan, Oklahoma, where police say a man shot his wife and her boyfriend before turning the gun on himself.
Following the shooting, O&#8217;Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, made mass shootings and gun control the center of his presidential campaign, which he ended on November 1 after failing to gain traction in the polls and fundraising. At the third Democratic debate in September, O&#8217;Rourke famously declared that, &#8220;Hell yes,&#8221; he is indeed calling for the confiscation of Americans&#8217; guns to prevent future mass shootings.
“Some on this stage have suggested a voluntary buyback for guns in this country,” ABC News host David Muir <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/beto-says-hell-yes-were-going-take-americans-guns-james-barrett">said</a> in comments directed to O’Rourke. “You have gone further. You said, quote, ‘Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell them to the government, all of them.’ You know the critics call this confiscation. Are you proposing taking away their guns and how would this work?”
“I am, if it is a weapon that was designed to kill people on a battlefield,” he said, the Democratic crowd erupting in applause even before he could add the “battlefield” qualifier.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colt-suspends-production-rifles-civilians-says-its-james-barrett">Colt Suspends Production Of Rifles For Civilians, But Says It’s Not Why You Think</a>

Walmart

Walmart Sued Over El Paso Shooting Targeting Mexicans

Beto O'Rourke

El Paso Shooting

Shooting

Apprehensions and arrests of immigrants attempting to cross the United States&#8217; southern border illegally were down again in October, and arrests have plummeted a whopping 75% since the Trump Administration took action on illegal immigration back in May.
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-mexico-border-arrests-fall-in-october-11573404080">The Wall Street Journal</a> reports that only 36,000 illegal immigrants were arrested in October, a 10% drop from the number of apprehensions in September, and a 75% drop from the 132,856 illegal immigrants arrested in May.
But that doesn&#8217;t mean 2019 wasn&#8217;t a record year for illegal migration.
&#8220;Overall, more than 850,000 migrants were apprehended at the border in 2019, a 12-year high for the year ended in September, driven by a rise in families fleeing violence and poverty in Central America to seek asylum protections in the U.S.,&#8221; the WSJ says.
October, though, was the fifth straight month of decline, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/11/20959291/southern-us-mexico-border-apprehensions-cbp-arrests-migrant-immigrant-numbers-october">even the left-leaning Vox</a> was forced to admit that President Donald Trump&#8217;s anti-illegal immigration efforts appear to be &#8220;having their intended effect.&#8221; Fewer individuals are seeking asylum at the southern border, and many asylum-seekers &#8212; particularly those who snaked their way to the United States&#8217; southern border through Mexico from places like Honduras and Guatemala, are choosing to return to their home countries.
&#8220;The decline in border apprehensions, which have decreased by about 75 percent since their height of 132,856 in May, and 10 percent in the last month alone, appears to be due to more than typical seasonal fluctuations and suggests that President Donald Trump’s immigration policies are having their intended effect,&#8221; Vox wrote Tuesday.
Oddly enough, the drop may have little to do with President Trump&#8217;s signature anti-immigration measure, a border wall. Only a handful of sections have been raised since the President demanded billions for the structure in the 2018 Federal budget, and at least one of those sections &#8212; a prototype wall in California &#8212; was up only a few short hours before smugglers cut the steel slats and bent a hole, allowing for easy entry into the United States.
Instead, the drop may have to do more with Trump&#8217;s anti-immigration policies, including a pair of controversial measures &#8212; the &#8220;Remain in Mexico&#8221; policy, and a pressure campaign on Mexican and Central American governments &#8212; designed to cut down on the number of asylum seekers presenting themselves to American border officials.
Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Remain in Mexico&#8221; policy requires that asylum seekers who, under previous administrations, might have been allowed to stay in the United States pending adjudication of their asylum claims, are now being turned back into Mexico to await asylum hearings on the other side of the border. The result? Many Central American asylum seekers are either taking Mexico&#8217;s offers of temporary work visas or immigration status, or returning to their home countries.
Around 55,000 migrants have been turned away under the &#8220;Remain in Mexico&#8221; policy.
The Trump Administration has also been putting pressure on the Mexican government to step up their own border control and to ramp up efforts to capture and deport illegal immigrants in Mexico before they reach the United States. &#8221; [A]fter Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods in June, the Mexican government deployed a record 15,000 troops to detain over 31,000 migrants that month and almost 19,000 in July,&#8221; Vox reported.
The decrease is also clearly noticeable in Washington, D.C.; Democrats have stopped using immigration and, in particular, overcrowding at border patrol facilities, as a wedge issue. Instead, most 2020 Democrats have pivoted to abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and declaring a moratorium on deportations to appeal to pro-immigration activists on the far left.

United States Border Patrol is seen blocking the wall at the

Border Arrests Fall Again In October, Down Almost 75% Since May

Last week, nine American citizens — three women and six of their young children — were brutally murdered by a suspected drug cartel in Sonora, Mexico. The attack, which quickly sparked <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-women-6-children-from-u-s-mormon-family-massacred-by-mexican-drug-cartel-trump-responds">President Donald Trump</a> to declared &#8220;war&#8221; on the Mexican cartels, received international media attention.
Following the gruesome nightmare of an attack on her family, Kendra Lee Miller, the sister-in-law of victim Rohnita Maria Miller, joined Anderson Cooper on CNN and urged Americans to &#8220;fight&#8221; for their guns.
&#8220;The Mexican people here are oppressed,&#8221; Miller explained. &#8220;They are being abused by the cartels, living in fear for their life. We can&#8217;t drive public roads safely. We&#8217;re being threatened that we can&#8217;t even take some of the public roads or else we&#8217;ll have bad things happen to us.&#8221;
&#8220;So many people are not protected the way they should be,&#8221; she noted.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know where you&#8217;re standing on the whole, people-trying-to-take-the-away-guns-in-America right now, but I say, fight for those guns,&#8221; the sister-in-law told Cooper. &#8220;These things are happening here in Mexico because the people can&#8217;t protect themselves, because by law they&#8217;re not allowed to own these guns.&#8221;
&#8220;So since the government isn&#8217;t doing their job of protection in the way that they should, these cartels can just wreak havoc and the people are left defenseless. So I say, hold onto your guns, people,&#8221; Miller urged.
There has been conflicting reporting regarding the motive of the attack on the LeBarón and Langford families, but according to Miller, it was no accident. Her family was &#8220;targeted&#8221; by the cartel to spark a &#8220;war,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;Our family was picked to stir up trouble and start a war,&#8221; Miller claimed. &#8220;It was an attack on innocent civilians to basically start a war &#8230; between the Chihuahua and Sonora cartels who&#8217;ve been having turf battles.&#8221;
A suspect was arrested in connection to the crime, last week. “The suspect was holding two bound-and-gagged hostages in the hills of Agua Prieta in Sonora state, the ministerial Agency for Criminal Investigations (AMIC) said,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/06/americas/mormons-attacked-us-mexico-border-wednesday/index.html">CNN</a> reported Wednesday. “The suspect had several rifles and a large amount of ammunition, including a number of large-caliber weapons, the agency said in a statement posted to its official Facebook page.”
“We are waiting for some more intelligence in order to issue an official statement,” confirmed Chihuahua Attorney General Cesar Peniche Espejel.
&#8220;While some officials have said that the attack may have been a result of mistaken identity, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda told CNN that the LeBarón family’s history of conflict with the cartels suggests that they may have been targeted,&#8221; noted the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cartel-attack-on-u-s-family-mexico-arrests-suspect-official-says-family-may-have-been-targeted">The Daily Wire</a>.
&#8220;They had stood up to the drug cartels, and they did have certain frictions either with the cartels or with neighboring communities over water rights,&#8221; Castañeda said.
&#8220;Their long-standing tensions, and apparently the woman who was driving in the first car that was attacked was an activist,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;She was someone who was very active in her community, defending her family, her fellow members of the community against cartels, on the issue of water rights.&#8221;
To watch the interview, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2019/11/05/acfc-full-kendra-lee-miller-mexico-ambush-vpx.cnn">click here</a>.

U.S. Citizens Murdered In Mexico

Relative Of Utah Family Killed By Cartel Goes On CNN, Urges: ‘Fight For Your Guns’

Gun Control

Second Amendment

The savagery of the Mexican drug cartels revealed itself once again this week, with the vicious murder of a police officer who was involved in the botched arrest against kingpin Joaquin &#8220;El Chapo&#8221; Guzman&#8217;s son last month.
According to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexico-police-el-chapo-shot-155-times-cartel-killing">Fox News</a>, a 30-year-old officer, named only by police as Eduardo N., died on Wednesday by 150 bullets during a daylight assassination in Culiacan, Sinaloa. The killing came three weeks after the cartel successfully forced the police into releasing El Chapo&#8217;s son during a violent shootout that left eight people dead and more than 20 wounded. More from <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexico-police-el-chapo-shot-155-times-cartel-killing">Fox News</a>:
<blockquote>Mexican newspaper Excelsior shared CCTV footage from Wednesday’s attack that showed the police officer parking his white vehicle outside a shopping center. Moments later, a red vehicle pulls up alongside him and armed gunmen men leap out, firing rapidly from close range.
Within 30 seconds, the gunmen fired 155 shots at the police officer, before leaping into the vehicle and running off, the outlet reported.
Officials said the officer was a member of Sinaloa’s State Preventive Police who had been assigned to protect Undersecretary of Public Safety Carlos Alberto Hernandez Leyva.</blockquote>
The targeting of Eduardo N. undoubtedly sends a message that the cartels will target anyone even tangentially involved in the crackdown on their operation, considering that the officer was only part of an anti-drug security unit patrolling the region at the time of the arrest and was not directly involved in the operation.
As the cartel violence in Mexico boils to unprecedented levels, President Trump has called on the country&#8217;s leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-women-6-children-from-u-s-mormon-family-massacred-by-mexican-drug-cartel-trump-responds">to declare war</a> on the cartels with the full aid of the United States. His pressing call occurred shortly after three women and six children from a U.S. family were killed in the Mexican state of Sonora earlier this week.
&#8220;A wonderful family and friends from Utah got caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other, with the result being many great American people killed, including young children, and some missing,&#8221; Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
&#8220;If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing [and] able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!&#8221;
&#8220;This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth,&#8221; the president concluded. &#8220;We merely await a call from your great new president!&#8221;
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has soundly rejected Trump&#8217;s call to war.
&#8220;The bad cannot be confronted with the bad. The bad needs to be confronted doing the good,&#8221; he added. &#8220;We believe that the most important (thing) is life, protecting the lives of everyone; the lives of the military, the lives of the presumed delinquents, and the lives of civilians. If we had acted as they asked, implored us, there would have been more than 200 dead.&#8221;

MEXICO-US-RELIGION-MORMON-ATTACK

Cartels Murder Cop Who Aided In The Arrest Of El Chapo’s Son

On Wednesday, in the wake of the murder of nine Americans in Mexico on Monday, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley issued a blunt tweet challenging the Mexican government, writing, “With Mexico, enough is enough. US government should impose sanctions on Mexican officials, including freezing assets, who won’t confront cartels. Cartels are flooding MO w/ meth, trafficking children, &amp; openly slaughtering American citizens. And Mexico looks the other way.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
With Mexico, enough is enough. US government should impose sanctions on Mexican officials, including freezing assets, who won’t confront cartels. Cartels are flooding MO w/ meth, trafficking children, &amp; openly slaughtering American citizens. And Mexico looks the other way
&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1192121566638825472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
On Thursday, the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Martha Barcena Coqui,  responded with a letter apparently linking the U.S. to the increased violence of the drug cartels in Mexico, bringing up Americans’ demand for black-market drugs. Barcena wrote:
<blockquote>In the wake of the tragic loss of lives during the heinous assault that took place against the binational Mormon community of Lebaron in Mexico, my government categorically rejects your recent mischaracterization on Mexico not actively combating transnational organized crime and suggesting to impose sanctions on Mexican officials.
One of the top priorities of President Lopez Obrador is to promote security with a new approach, not seek a violent confrontation with organized crime groups, a strategy that failed in previous administrations leading to unprecedented escalation of violence.</blockquote>
After writing that Mexico “reiterates its willingness to work with the United States,” Barcena added a handwritten note at the bottom of the typed letter, stating, “I hope to be able to discuss these matters with you personally, including how to reduce drug demand in the U.S.”
Hawley noted, “In response to my call for sanctions, yesterday the Mexican Ambassador responded w/ letter taking zero responsibility, offering no change in Mexico’s failed policies, &amp; suggesting real problem is Americans’ “drug demand.” As if Americans are responsible for the cartels’ crimes.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In response to my call for sanctions, yesterday the Mexican Ambassador responded w/ letter taking zero responsibility, offering no change in Mexico’s failed policies, &amp; suggesting real problem is Americans’ “drug demand.” As if Americans are responsible for the cartels’ crimes <a href="https://t.co/zo0jl7u2kG">pic.twitter.com/zo0jl7u2kG</a>
&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1192524833340477440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As Tristan Justice reported at <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/08/mexican-ambassador-blames-drug-cartel-violence-on-addicted-americans/">The Federalist</a>, “Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah, one of six Mormons in the House of Representatives, joined Hawley in challenging Congress to consider sanctions on the Mexican government.
McAdams told the Federalist, “The unspeakable violence against U.S. women and children this week in the border region of Mexico shocks the conscience and demands action. These criminals place no value on human life and cannot be tolerated by the U.S. or Mexican governments. I call on Congress to join me in considering a range of ideas, including imposing sanctions on Mexican officials who won’t confront the cartels, and declaring Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.”
Justice also spoke to Republican Rep. Chris Stewart, (R-UT), who asserted:
<blockquote>Following these horrific attacks, I believe the U.S. must partner with the Mexican government, not sanction them. Sanctioning Mexico will cripple our neighbor and reduce the incentive for mutual cooperation in delivering justice to the cartels who carried out this heinous attack.</blockquote>
On Tuesday, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/newt-gingrich-mexican-drug-cartel-shootout-wake-up-call-mormon-family-homicide-abduction">stated</a>, &#8220;Mexico is a vital American interest. And, our desire to make sure the Mexican government defeats the cartels, should be enormous. And I hope this will be a wake-up call &#8212; that we had better find a way to have a partnership with the Mexican government and help them with whatever intelligence training equipment they need to decisively defeat the cartels who are now, frankly, a state within a state.&#8221;
According to the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/interactive/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/criminal-violence-mexico">Council of Foreign Relations</a>:
<blockquote>By 2016, drug-related homicides had<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mexico-homicides-in-2016-under-enrique-pena-nieto-2017-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> increased by 22 percent</a>, with more than twenty thousand killed, and in 2017 a mass grave containing the remains of more than 250 victims of crime-related violence was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/15/americas/mexico-mass-grave-skulls-found-veracruz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">uncovered</a> in Veracruz State. Since 2006, crime-related violence has resulted in an <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41576.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">estimated 150,000 deaths</a>. &#8230; In 2018, the <a href="http://secretariadoejecutivo.gob.mx/docs/pdfs/nueva-metodologia/CNSP-V%C3%ADctimas-2018_dic18.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">number of drug-related homicides</a> in Mexico rose to 33,341, a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/23/687579971/mexico-reports-highest-ever-homicide-rate-in-2018-tops-33-000-investigations" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">15 percent increase</a> from the previous year—and a record high.</blockquote>

Key Speakers At The Economist Mexico Summit

Mexican Ambassador To U.S. Implies Americans At Fault For Increased Cartel Violence

Josh Hawley

Violence

In the days after nine American citizens — three women and six of their children — were brutally massacred by a suspected drug cartel in the Mexican state of Sonora, the mainstream media posted widely-ridiculed pieces focusing on the victims&#8217; alleged ties to &#8220;violence&#8221; and &#8220;religious fundamentalism.&#8221;
Members of the related LeBarón and Langford families were victimized by one of the Mexican drug cartels while traveling to a wedding on Monday. The cartel repeatedly shot at their vehicles and set them on fire, killing nine — including a three-year-old — and injuring three others, including a seven-month-old baby girl.
Notably, the seven-month-old who survived, baby Faith Marie Johnson, was reportedly saved by her mother. Christina Marie Langford Johnson, 29, who was killed in the attack, reportedly sacrificed her own life to shield little Faith from bullets flying into one of the cars. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/moms-selfless-act-saves-young-childs-life-in-mexican-cartel-attack-on-u-s-family">The Daily Wire</a> reported Tuesday:
<blockquote>Kendra Lee Miller, a relative of the victims, writes in an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kendraleemiller92/posts/10162303510900316">account</a> on Facebook about the discovery of Faith hours after the attack, her mother’s quick-thinking actions apparently having saved the child’s life. Family members “found Christina’s baby Faith with the vehicle around her riddled with bullet holes,” Miller writes. “Somehow she had remained untouched, and alive. She was in her car seat, which looked to have been hurriedly placed on the floor of the vehicle by her mother for protection.”
After apparently moving Faith’s car seat to a safer position, Christina, Miller explains, “jumped out waving her arms to let the attackers know that it was women and children in the vehicles. She gave her life to try and save the rest.”</blockquote>
The victims had U.S. citizenship and belonged to a religious community in Mexico. As noted by The Daily Wire, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not recognize the religious community to which the members belonged as part of the Mormon Church.
The day following the news of the attack, the Los Angeles Times focused on the deceased&#8217;s alleged ties to violence.
&#8220;U.S. victims in Mexico massacre were tied to family with a long history of violence,&#8221; the headline said. However, the headline, according to Townhall senior writer <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1192150693676822528">Julio Rosas</a>, was later changed to read: &#8220;Massacre of U.S. citizens aims spotlight at Mormon community with deep roots in Mexico.&#8221;
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U.S. victims in Mexico massacre were tied to family with a long history of violence <a href="https://t.co/tNUdw20wKx">https://t.co/tNUdw20wKx</a>
&mdash; Los Angeles Times (@latimes) <a href="https://twitter.com/latimes/status/1192117695153618945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Some of the victims shared the last name LeBaron,&#8221; the Times story outlined, adding:
<blockquote>&#8220;The LeBarons are among &#8216;a handful of major groups of fundamentalists,&#8217; said Patrick Mason, a historian of Mormonism at Utah State University. But, he added: &#8216;The LeBaron name in recent decades has been most often linked to violence. Unfortunately, this incident only adds to that association.'&#8221;</blockquote>
&#8220;The family is perhaps best known for a series of killings perpetrated in the 1970s and 1980s, in both Mexico and the United States, by Ervil LeBaron — once called the &#8216;Mormon Manson&#8217; — and a group of his followers,&#8221; the piece continued.
Some also took issue with The New York Times for focusing on the victims&#8217; &#8220;religious fundamentalism.&#8221;
&#8220;The brutal killing of [nine] members of an American family in northern Mexico on Monday highlights the long history of religious fundamentalist settlers in the region. Our religion reporter, Elizabeth Dias, details their history back to the early 20th century,&#8221; the Times posted.
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The brutal killing of 9 members of an American family in northern Mexico on Monday highlights the long history of religious fundamentalist settlers in the region. Our religion reporter, Elizabeth Dias, details their history back to the early 20th century. <a href="https://t.co/rfvtzdTN9i">https://t.co/rfvtzdTN9i</a>
&mdash; The New York Times (@nytimes) <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1191822530727829506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The reactions to the pieces blew up online, many accusing the outlets of &#8220;victim blaming.&#8221;
&#8220;Well the NY Times and the LA Times found who is really to blame for a drug cartel brutally murdering and torching 9 people to death, including kids — the victims,&#8221; said FoxNews.com contributor Stephen Miller.
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Well the NY Times and the LA Times found who is really to blame for a drug cartel brutally murdering and torching 9 people to death, including kids &#8211; the victims. <a href="https://t.co/cvDgKKPqA7">pic.twitter.com/cvDgKKPqA7</a>
&mdash; Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1192127369353416704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Comedian and former Playboy writer Bridget Phetasy bluntly wrote, &#8220;This is disgusting victim blaming [L.A. Times] and you should be ashamed.&#8221;
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This is disgusting victim blaming <a href="https://twitter.com/latimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@latimes</a> and you should be ashamed. <a href="https://t.co/bJWQC5j0sw">https://t.co/bJWQC5j0sw</a>
&mdash; Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy/status/1192136991200006144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Nine Americans, including children, were brutally murdered, and the New York Times doesn&#8217;t call out the evil of the cartels, but labels the family &#8216;fundamentalist settlers?'&#8221; the account for PragerU questioned. &#8220;Shame on you, [New York Times].&#8221; 
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Nine Americans, including children, were brutally murdered, and the New York Times doesn&#39;t call out the evil of the cartels, but labels the family &quot;fundamentalist settlers&quot;?
Shame on you, <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nytimes</a>. <a href="https://t.co/CkFUfVhugo">https://t.co/CkFUfVhugo</a>
&mdash; PragerU (@prageru) <a href="https://twitter.com/prageru/status/1192126655478693888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Did the cartel write this?&#8221; Rosas blasted the LA Times.
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Did the cartel write this? <a href="https://t.co/72RB4jaixH">https://t.co/72RB4jaixH</a>
&mdash; Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1192125884205064194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Breitbart News&#8217; Brandon Darby similarly posted, &#8220;Serious question, [L.A. Times]. Did someone in Mexico promise you access or exclusives if you agreed to help smear these victims of cartel violence? Trying to understand why you’d do this.&#8221;
&#8220;Or is it that &#8216;the border is safe&#8217; narrative means so much to your editors politically that you just decided to piss on the bodies of the women and children killed in order to protect that narrative?&#8221; he added. 
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Or is it that “the border is safe” narrative means so much to your editors politically that you just decided to piss on the bodies of the women and children killed in order to protect that narrative? <a href="https://twitter.com/latimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@latimes</a>
&mdash; Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) <a href="https://twitter.com/brandondarby/status/1192126127797440514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Is the idea here that the victims had it coming? This is an insane piece,&#8221; Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro said.
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Is the idea here that the victims had it coming? This is an insane piece. <a href="https://t.co/8xEVTZnVez">https://t.co/8xEVTZnVez</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1192127080625885184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Steve Cortes, a CNN political commentator, posted: &#8220;What a disgraceful tweet and article from corporate media [L.A. Times]. The clear message: &#8216;[W]ell, these women and children who were gunned down by cartel monsters, they themselves had some pretty crazy relatives &#8230; or something&#8217; &#8230;&#8221;
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What a disgraceful tweet and article from corporate media <a href="https://twitter.com/latimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@latimes</a>. The clear message: “well, these women and children who were gunned down by cartel monsters, they themselves had some pretty crazy relatives&#8230;or something”&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/9H6Ddaz721">https://t.co/9H6Ddaz721</a>
&mdash; Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) <a href="https://twitter.com/CortesSteve/status/1192150296656527360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;&#8216;The [eight-]month old baby that was shot by a cartel member deserved it&#8217; &#8211; Journos,&#8221; mocked popular political Twitter account Comfortably Smug, adding: &#8220;&#8216;Actually a family getting pulled from their cars, raped, shot and set on fire is good&#8217; – L.A. Times.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;Actually a family getting pulled from their cars, raped, shot and set on fire is good&quot; &#8211; LA Times
&mdash; Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) <a href="https://twitter.com/ComfortablySmug/status/1192123371041050630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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President Donald Trump&#8217;s reaction was not the same at the media&#8217;s. Taking to his Twitter account on Tuesday morning, Trump declared &#8220;war&#8221; on drug cartels as he recalled what was known at the time of the brutal assault on the &#8220;wonderful&#8221; Utah &#8220;family and friends.&#8221;
“A wonderful family and friends from Utah got caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other, with the result being many great American people killed, including young children, and some missing,” the president posted.
“If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing [and] able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,” Trump continued. “The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!”
“This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth,” the president concluded. “We merely await a call from your great new president!”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/moms-selfless-act-saves-young-childs-life-in-mexican-cartel-attack-on-u-s-family">Mom’s Selfless Act Saves Young Child’s Life In Mexican Cartel Attack On U.S. Family</a>

Members of the Lebaron family look at the burned car where part of the nine murdered members of the family were killed and burned during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico

‘Victim Blaming’: L.A. Times Ridicules Family Murdered By Mexican Cartel, Gets Ripped Online

Los Angeles Times

New York Times

Religion

Mexican officials say they have made an arrest in response to the horrific massacre of nine American citizens — three women and six of their young children — in the Mexican state of Sonora.
&#8220;The suspect was holding two bound-and-gagged hostages in the hills of Agua Prieta in Sonora state, the ministerial Agency for Criminal Investigations (AMIC) said,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/06/americas/mormons-attacked-us-mexico-border-wednesday/index.html">CNN</a> reports. &#8220;The suspect had several rifles and a large amount of ammunition, including a number of large-caliber weapons, the agency said in a statement posted to its official Facebook page.&#8221;
Chihuahua Attorney General Cesar Peniche Espejel confirmed the arrest in a radio interview on Tuesday. &#8220;We are waiting for some more intelligence in order to issue an official statement,&#8221; he said, declining to confirm more details about the suspect&#8217;s potential role in the ambush of the family.
While Peniche Espejel pointed to the Los Jaguares cartel, which CNN describes as a newly formed offshoot of the Sinaloa cartel, as potentially being behind the attack, U.S. officials have indicated that rival cartel La Línea is under scrutiny.
While some officials have said that the attack may have been a result of mistaken identity, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda told CNN that the LeBarón family&#8217;s history of conflict with the cartels suggests that they may have been targeted.
&#8220;They had stood up to the drug cartels, and they did have certain frictions either with the cartels or with neighboring communities over water rights,&#8221; said Castañeda.
&#8220;Their long-standing tensions, and apparently the woman who was driving in the first car that was attacked was an activist,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;She was someone who was very active in her community, defending her family, her fellow members of the community against cartels, on the issue of water rights.&#8221;
After having received protection from federal police since 2011, said Castañeda, the protection was reduced earlier this year.
As reported by <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/11/05/least-women-children/">The Salt Lake Tribune</a> Monday, a total of nine members of the LeBarón and Langford families — U.S. citizens who are a part of the Sonora-based La Mora community — were killed in the cartel ambush. Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying several family members and subsequently lit the vehicles on fire, with some of the victims still inside.
&#8220;Maria Rhonita Miller and four of her children died on a road in northern Mexico, according to [Lafe Langford Jr.] and social media posts,&#8221; the Tribune reported. &#8220;The bodies of Dawna Ray Langford, 43, and Christina Marie Langford, 31, were found later Monday, Lafe Langford Jr. said. The bodies of two of Dawna Ray Langford’s children, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 3, also were recovered Monday.&#8221; Among the children murdered were Rhonita Miller’s twin 6-month-old babies and two children aged 10 and 12.
&#8220;On the morning of November 4th, 2019, three mothers in three vehicles, with fourteen children between them, set out from LaMora, a small family community in the mountains of northeastern Sonora,&#8221; Kendra Lee Miller, a relative of the victims, wrote in an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kendraleemiller92/posts/10162303510900316">account</a> of the attack posted on Facebook Tuesday. &#8220;Two of them to see family in Chihuahua, and one of them to pick up her husband from the airport in Phoenix, AZ. They never made it. They were ambushed by the Mexican cartels; shot, burned, and murdered in cold blood. These were innocent civilians, American citizens simply trying to live peaceful lives.&#8221;
&#8220;For 11 hours, their families all over Sonora, Chihuahua, and the Midwestern US waited in fear and horror for any news of possible survivors,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;The first vehicle was found full of bullet holes and completely ablaze. Nita and the four of her seven children she had taken on the trip were burned to mostly ashes and only a few charred bones left to identify that all five had been inside. It appeared that one tried to escape as the front passenger door was open and the remains were partially in and out of the vehicle.&#8221;
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<div class="zn-body__paragraph">Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-women-6-children-from-u-s-mormon-family-massacred-by-mexican-drug-cartel-trump-responds">Trump Declares ‘WAR’ On Mexican Drug Cartels After 3 Women, 6 Children From U.S. Family Massacred</a></div>
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Cartel Attack

Cartel Attack On U.S. Family: Suspect Arrested; Official Says Family May Have Been Targeted

What is national security if not the obligation of a sovereign nation to secure its citizenry against the threats posed along the border by a lawless neighboring state overrun by murderous transnational criminal organizations?
Following the horrific <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-women-6-children-from-u-s-mormon-family-massacred-by-mexican-drug-cartel-trump-responds">overnight news</a> of nine Americans — three women and six children — killed across the Mexican border when they found themselves caught in the midst of a cartel turf war shootout, this is the question that ought to be on the mind of every American policymaker. The bipartisan foreign policy clerisy may seem <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-why-do-political-elites-care-more-about-turkeys-border-than-they-do-about-our-own-border">disproportionately focused</a> right now on a centuries-old Islamic sectarian war raging along the Turkish-Syrian border, but it is long past time for our leading foreign policy and national security hands to turn their attention to a much nearer and more immediately harrowing threat: Mexico.
The unfortunate but sober reality right now is that Mexico is best described as a failed state. One longstanding defining characteristic of a modern nation-state, after all, is a monopoly on the use of force; truly sovereign states are not overrun with drug-peddling marauders, terrorist militias, or other roving bands of vigilantes with the collective willpower and requisite military-style hardware to take &#8220;enforcement&#8221; matters into their own hands. There is a reason that the Old West was called &#8220;<a href="https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-old-west">wild</a>.&#8221;
Under this rudimentary criterion of what is necessary for national sovereignty, modern Mexico fails the test. The Mexican government does not have anywhere remotely resembling a monopoly on the use of force within its own territory. On the contrary, transnational criminal organizations flourish throughout the country, physically hold territory like mini-ISIS &#8220;caliphates,&#8221; literally <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/gun-battle-involving-el-chapos-son-highlights-growing-challenges-to-mexican-government-control/2019/10/19/e39d57be-f1b3-11e9-bb7e-d2026ee0c199_story.html">out-gun the Mexican government</a> in live shootouts, control vast swaths of the the illegal alien human trafficking corridors currently <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/happens-illegal-aliens-mexican-cartels-shut-government/">wreaking so much havoc</a> on America&#8217;s territorial integrity, and collectively have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conservative-favorite-rep-chip-roys-maiden-floor-josh-hammer">&#8220;operational control&#8221;</a> of large chunks of the U.S.-Mexico border.
And now, American citizens — women and children, that is — are paying the ultimate price due to Mexico&#8217;s inability to control its own emerging anarchy. American citizens are paying the ultimate price due to Mexico being an inveterate narco-state full of kleptocratic politicians who are invariably either too venal or too reckless to actually take the fight to the cartels.
To be sure, President Trump ought to double down in his efforts to build a physical border wall separating our nation from the failed state to our south. But Trump should go further. It is far past time for the U.S. State Department to formally designate the leading Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. As Daniel Horowitz has persuasively <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/time-designate-mexican-cartels-terrorist-organizations/">argued</a>, these cartels are no longer run-of-the-mill drug mules — they are full-on paramilitary terrorist organizations and some even have close organizational ties to international jihadist outfits like <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/">Hezbollah</a>. Such a State Department formal designation would, as a threshold matter, more easily permit the various levers of the federal government apparatus to crack down on the cartels’ financing sources.
But Trump should go even further still. He should rally congressional Republicans to pass a formal authorization for the use of military force, similar to the post-9/11 AUMF of 2001, that effectively declares war on the leading Mexican cartels. In what world does it make sense to intervene in and referee Islamic civil wars overseas whilst allowing a failed state on our very border to allow murderous criminal rings to run amok and kill vulnerable U.S. citizens? In what world does it make sense to waste precious blood and treasure on trying to make a Madisonian democracy out of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-never-forget-911-we-need-rethink-how-we-josh-hammer">Kabul</a> while there is a corrupt and violent wasteland claiming American lives right in our own backyard?
Ranchers across our beleaguered border have long suffered from the effects of cartel violence; now, they are joined by the members of an innocent Utah family that tragically found itself stuck in the middle of a cartel turf war shootout. The situation in Mexico is rapidly escalating into a national emergency, and the Mexican government itself has repeatedly shown itself over the decades to be incapable of rooting out its own domestic rot. The time has come for the U.S. government to step in and defend its own sovereignty and security alike. Indeed, the U.S. government is actually morally obligated to do so.

Border Patrol truck

HAMMER: The U.S. Is Morally Obligated To Take On The Mexican Drug Cartels

Foreign Policy

In a harrowing and tragic account posted on Facebook Tuesday morning, a relative of an American family massacred by a Mexican drug cartel in Sonora, Mexico on Monday provided more details about the cartel&#8217;s senseless acts of violence and the families&#8217; selfless acts of heroism in the ambush.
The attack, which may have resulted from the cartel members mistaking the family&#8217;s vehicles for others, left nine people dead — three women and six of their children — but due to the actions of family members, several people caught up in the attack survived, including Faith Marie Johnson, the 7-month-old child of victim Christina Marie Langford Johnson, 29.
As reported by <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/11/05/least-women-children/">The Salt Lake Tribune</a> Monday, a total of nine members of the LeBarón and Langford families — U.S. citizens who are a part of the decades-old La Mora community based in Sonora, Mexico — were killed when a cartel ambushed their three-car caravan. &#8220;Maria Rhonita Miller and four of her children died on a road in northern Mexico, according to [Lafe Langford Jr.] and social media posts,” the outlet reported. “The bodies of Dawna Ray Langford, 43, and Christina Marie Langford, 31, were found later Monday, Lafe Langford Jr. said. The bodies of two of Dawna Ray Langford’s children, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 3, also were recovered Monday.&#8221; Rhonita’s twin 6-month-old babies and two children aged 10 and 12 were killed in the attack. Lafe Langford Jr., who spoke with the media about the attack, says three other children suffered bullet wounds.
The Tribune noted in its report Sunday that earlier reports that baby Faith had died &#8220;turned out to be incorrect.&#8221; As highlighted by <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/05/7-month-old-baby-miraculously-survives-mexico-cartel-massacre/">The New York Post</a> Tuesday, a family member&#8217;s detailed account of the attack reveals how the infant survived.
&#8220;A 7-month-old baby survived a volley of gunfire unleashed by drug cartels in Mexico — thanks to one final, selfless act from her mother before the woman was killed,&#8221; the outlet reports. &#8220;Hours after Christina Marie Langford Johnson, 29, was gunned down, relatives discovered her infant daughter Faith — unscathed and still strapped to her car seat inside the bullet-filled car.&#8221;
Kendra Lee Miller, a relative of the victims, writes in an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kendraleemiller92/posts/10162303510900316">account</a> on Facebook about the discovery of Faith hours after the attack, her mother&#8217;s quick-thinking actions apparently having saved the child&#8217;s life. Family members &#8220;found Christina&#8217;s baby Faith with the vehicle around her riddled with bullet holes,&#8221; Miller writes. &#8220;Somehow she had remained untouched, and alive. She was in her car seat, which looked to have been hurriedly placed on the floor of the vehicle by her mother for protection.&#8221;
After apparently moving Faith&#8217;s car seat to a safer position, Christina, Miller explains, &#8220;jumped out waving her arms to let the attackers know that it was women and children in the vehicles. She gave her life to try and save the rest.&#8221;
&#8220;On the morning of November 4th, 2019, three mothers in three vehicles, with fourteen children between them, set out from LaMora, a small family community in the mountains of northeastern Sonora,&#8221; Miller&#8217;s account begins. &#8220;Two of them to see family in Chihuahua, and one of them to pick up her husband from the airport in Phoenix, AZ. They never made it. They were ambushed by the Mexican cartels; shot, burned, and murdered in cold blood. These were innocent civilians, American citizens simply trying to live peaceful lives.&#8221;
&#8220;For 11 hours, their families all over Sonora, Chihuahua, and the Midwestern US waited in fear and horror for any news of possible survivors,&#8221; the account continues. &#8220;The first vehicle was found full of bullet holes and completely ablaze. Nita and the four of her seven children she had taken on the trip were burned to mostly ashes and only a few charred bones left to identify that all five had been inside. It appeared that one tried to escape as the front passenger door was open and the remains were partially in and out of the vehicle.&#8221;
Along with Christina&#8217;s quick-thinking and selfless acts, Devin, the son of another one of the women murdered in the ambush by the cartel, &#8220;hid his 6 other siblings in the bushes and covered them with branches to keep them safe while he went for help.&#8221; Devin managed to escape and gave &#8220;the first news anyone had heard of his and Christina&#8217;s families.&#8221;
&#8220;Devin&#8217;s uncles armed themselves with guns and returned to try and find the hidden children, knowing many of them were injured,&#8221; Miller explains. &#8220;They didn&#8217;t get far before realizing they would be risking death, since there had been continual shooting for hours, all over the mountains near LaMora. The group of men waited a while for reinforcements, and around 7:30, found the hidden children. They found Christina&#8217;s baby Faith with the vehicle around her riddled with bullet holes. Somehow she had remained untouched, and alive. She was in her car seat, which looked to have been hurriedly placed on the floor of the vehicle by her mother for protection.&#8221;
&#8220;The search didn&#8217;t end there. Mckenzie, the 9 year old who&#8217;d gone for help, was missing,&#8221; Miller continues. &#8220;Soldiers who&#8217;d by then arrived, and the men of LaMora and nearby towns searched for two hours in the dark until they found her around 9:30. The five of Dawna&#8217;s children who were injured were picked up by a waiting ambulance and treated at the local hospital until a helicopter sent by Mexican military came to pick them up. Their father David who had by then arrived from Tucson, Arizona, accompanied them to be life flighted to another helicopter waiting at the US border, from there to be transported to Phoenix. Devin, his brother Jake, and Christina&#8217;s baby Faith, all uninjured, are now in the care of their aunts and grandmas in LaMora.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-women-6-children-from-u-s-mormon-family-massacred-by-mexican-drug-cartel-trump-responds">Trump Declares ‘WAR’ On Mexican Drug Cartels After 3 Women, 6 Children From U.S. Family Massacred</a>
Below is the full text of Kendra Lee Miller&#8217;s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kendraleemiller92/posts/10162303510900316">Facebook post</a>:
<blockquote>On the morning of November 4th, 2019, three mothers in three vehicles, with fourteen children between them, set out from LaMora, a small family community in the mountains of northeastern Sonora. Two of them to see family in Chihuahua, and one of them to pick up her husband from the airport in Phoenix, AZ. They never made it. They were ambushed by the Mexican cartels; shot, burned, and murdered in cold blood. These were innocent civilians, American citizens simply trying to live peaceful lives.
For 11 hours, their families all over Sonora, Chihuahua, and the Midwestern US waited in fear and horror for any news of possible survivors. The first vehicle was found full of bullet holes and completely ablaze. Nita and the four of her seven children she had taken on the trip were burned to mostly ashes and only a few charred bones left to identify that all five had been inside. It appeared that one tried to escape as the front passenger door was open and the remains were partially in and out of the vehicle.
On another part of the road, about 10 miles ahead, were Christina, with her baby Faith in her vehicle, and Dawna with nine children in hers. They both were fired upon from ahead and Christina jumped out waving her arms to let the attackers know that it was women and children in the vehicles. She gave her life to try and save the rest. Dawna and two of her boys were also killed in the gunfire.
After witnessing his mother and brothers being shot dead, Dawna&#8217;s son Devin hid his 6 other siblings in the bushes and covered them with branches to keep them safe while he went for help. When he took too long to return, his 9 year old sister left the remaining five to try again. Devin arrived in LaMora at 5:30 pm, 6 hours after the ambush, giving the first news anyone had heard of his and Christina&#8217;s families.
Devin&#8217;s uncles armed themselves with guns and returned to try and find the hidden children, knowing many of them were injured. They didn&#8217;t get far before realizing they would be risking death, since there had been continual shooting for hours, all over the mountains near LaMora. The group of men waited a while for reinforcements, and around 7:30, found the hidden children. They found Christina&#8217;s baby Faith with the vehicle around her riddled with bullet holes. Somehow she had remained untouched, and alive. She was in her car seat, which looked to have been hurriedly placed on the floor of the vehicle by her mother for protection.
The search didn&#8217;t end there. Mckenzie, the 9 year old who&#8217;d gone for help, was missing. Soldiers who&#8217;d by then arrived, and the men of LaMora and nearby towns searched for two hours in the dark until they found her around 9:30.
The five of Dawna&#8217;s children who were injured were picked up by a waiting ambulance and treated at the local hospital until a helicopter sent by Mexican military came to pick them up. Their father David who had by then arrived from Tucson, Arizona, accompanied them to be life flighted to another helicopter waiting at the US border, from there to be transported to Phoenix.
Devin, his brother Jake, and Christina&#8217;s baby Faith, all uninjured, are now in the care of their aunts and grandmas in LaMora.
We lost 9 today. Right now we are waiting, for the morning, for answers, for justice.
Dead:
Rhonita Maria Miller September 15, 1989, 30 yrs 
Howard Jacob Miller, Jr. July 12, 2007, 12 yrs 
Krystal Bellaine Miller, September 25, 2009 10 yrs 
Titus Alvin Miller, March 13, 2019 &#8211; 8 months 
Tiana Gricel Miller, March 13, 2019 &#8211; 8 months 
(twins) 
All shot and burned in their vehicle. Only ashes and a few bones remain.
Father/husband is Howard Sr, who was in North Dakota at the time of attack. The three siblings left behind in LaMora being babysat at the Miller grandparents: Tristan, Amaryllis, and Zack.
Dead:
Christina Marie Langford Johnson &#8211; November 23, 1987, shot dead, 19 days away from 32 years
Survived:
Faith Marie Johnson April 9, 2019, 7 months old &#8211; was found in her car seat that seemed to be put on the floor, by her mother to try and protect her, uninjured,
Dead:
Dawna Ray Langford, June 19, 1976, 43 years 
Trevor Harvey Langford April 4, 2008 11 years old, 
Rogan Jay Langford, February 17, 2017 2.5 years old 
All shot to death
Survived 
Kylie Evelyn Langford, March 8 2005, 14 years &#8211; shot in the foot
Devin Blake Langford, July 6 2006, 13 years &#8211; uninjured, walked approximately 14 miles to LaMora to get help, after hiding his bleeding but living siblings in the bushes, and covering them with branches
Mckenzie Rayne Langford, January 12 2010, &#8211; 9 years &#8211; grazed on her arm- sent by her sister Kylie for help when Devin didn&#8217;t return soon enough, got lost, and walked approximately 10 miles, for about 4 hours in the dark before she was found by the search parties
Cody Greyson Langford, October 1 2011, 8 years- shot in the jaw, and the leg, his condition was worrying, but at last word, not critical
Jake Ryder Langford, May 22 2013, 6 &#8211; uninjured
Xander Boe Langford, June 4 2015, 4 &#8211; shot in the back
Brixon Oliver Langford, February 15th 2019, almost 9 months &#8211; shot in the chest, open flesh wound, bullet graze on wrist</blockquote>

Mexican Federal Police, Sonora

Mom’s Selfless Act Saves Young Child’s Life In Mexican Cartel Attack On U.S. Family

Chaos and violence have broken out in Mexico, even more than usual. The <a href="https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1185013332769759232">footage</a> looks like something out of a war zone. This latest bit of anarchy began when Mexican law enforcement officers managed to arrest Ovidio Guzmán, one of the top drug lords in the country and son of the notorious kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Unfortunately, Guzmán’s cartel was not willing to let the son end up in a U.S. maximum security prison like the father. Dozens of gunmen, armed with everything from machine guns to grenade launchers to sniper rifles, invaded the city where Guzmán was captured and started murdering police officers. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-el-chapos-son-arrested-in-mexico-cartel-violence-erupts">reports</a> that the cartel militants also went searching for the family members of Mexican military personnel.
Finally, the Mexican government capitulated, raised the metaphorical white flag, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/17/el-chapo-violence-breaks-out-in-mexican-city-amid-rumours-of-sons-arrest">released the younger Guzmán</a>. The president of Mexico assured the public that his administration is &#8220;doing really well&#8221; in its crime fighting strategy, explaining that they &#8220;don&#8217;t want war.&#8221; But war is exactly what he has on his hands, whether he wants it or not, and releasing a notorious drug lord back into the clutches of his cartel is, one might argue, the exact opposite of doing really well. It is, in fact, a disgrace, a travesty, an embarrassment, and a signal that Mexico is a failed state. The drug cartels run the show, and after having so much success with the &#8220;take over the city and start shooting people&#8221; strategy, they will surely resort to it again.
I don&#8217;t know what Mexico&#8217;s next step should be (though refraining from releasing any more drug lords might be a good start), but I do know what the United States’ next step should be: build the wall, finally. Really build it. Most of the wall building that has happened so far under Trump&#8217;s watch &#8212; despite how Trump himself sometimes presents it — has consisted of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-border-wall-three-new-contracts-rio-grande-valley-sector-1462252">replacing</a> existing fences with slightly better fences. There has not been much in the way of actually new wall — or fence, or barrier, or whatever we&#8217;re calling it now &#8212; and certainly we haven&#8217;t seen the grand, 2,000 mile-long wall across the entire southern border like we were promised.
Of course, every thinking person always knew that the Great Wall of America wasn’t going to happen, but there are still plenty of places along the border where a wall can be, should be, and so far hasn&#8217;t been built. It would seem that now, with the Mexican government all but officially surrendering to the cartels, is as good a time as any to get started.
There has never been any rational objection to building the wall. There are some practical reasons why a wall across all 2,000 miles probably isn&#8217;t feasible (or necessary, given the natural barriers that exist along some portions of the border), but there is no valid argument in principle against erecting physical barriers wherever they are possible and needed. Those arguments always come down to vague emotional appeals and clichéd sloganeering about &#8220;building bridges, not walls.&#8221; But this is not the time for clichés. Mexico is collapsing, and we have to shield ourselves from the debris.

Border wall prototypes.

WALSH: Mexico Is A Failed State Run By Drug Cartels. It’s Time To Finally Build The Wall.

Serious gun fire erupted on the streets of Culiacan, Sinaloa, after Mexican law enforcement officials reportedly captured Ovidio Guzman, the son of convicted Sinaloa cartel drug lord Joaquín &#8220;El Chapo&#8221; Guzmán.
Journalist Robert Arce was the first to report the unredacted mugshot of Ovidio Guzman who &#8220;sought to take control of the Sinaloa cartel along with his older brother, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, after their father was captured and extradited to the United States in 2017,&#8221; according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-10-17/chaos-in-mexico-as-el-chapos-son-a-leader-of-the-sinaloa-cartel-is-reportedly-captured">Los Angeles Times</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SCOOP: Here is the unredacted mugshot of Ovidio Guzman, the son of convicted Sinaloa Cartel drug lord El Chapo, who was just arrested in Culiacán, Sinaloa <a href="https://t.co/ILD5XICR48">pic.twitter.com/ILD5XICR48</a>
— Robert Arce (@robertrarce) <a href="https://twitter.com/robertrarce/status/1184987109947363328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
In his report at Breitbart, Arce <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/10/17/el-chapos-son-captured-sinaloa-cartel-assaults-police-hq-for-rescue-attempt/">wrote</a> that sources confirmed that the arrest is what &#8220;sparked an intense deployment of Sinaloa Cartel gunmen to the scene of the incident and later the offices of the Federal Prosecutor’s office in [an] attempted rescue effort.&#8221;
A source told The Daily Wire that family members of military personnel were being warned that truckloads of cartel gunmen were searching for the relatives of Mexican army personnel in retaliation for the capture of El Chapo&#8217;s son.
On social media, numerous posts showed intense gun fire erupting around the city as innocent bystanders rushed to find cover.
Cartels appear to have set fire to numerous vehicles in a road block that they set up in an effort to prevent backup from Mexican authorities from arriving on scene.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Continúan las agresiones en <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a>. <a href="https://t.co/3sHdy8d750">pic.twitter.com/3sHdy8d750</a>
— Juan Pablo Pérez Díaz (@PerezDiazMX) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerezDiazMX/status/1185005020355293184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nuevo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Nuevo</a>: Fuentes de la SEIDO señalan que el detenido es Ovidio Guzmán López.
Se espera su arribo a la Ciudad de México.
En un intento por detener su traslado, quemaron autos para usarlos como barricadas. <a href="https://t.co/zonxKKU3ZH">pic.twitter.com/zonxKKU3ZH</a>
— Carlos Zúñiga Pérez (@Carloszup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carloszup/status/1184975977975300099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
Other footage showed what appeared to be automatic fire:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Así las cosas al norte de <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a>. Momentos exactos de la balacera captados por el compañero reportero Policiaco, Ernesto Martínez. <a href="https://t.co/o53uBLqCWr">pic.twitter.com/o53uBLqCWr</a>
— Juan Pablo Pérez Díaz (@PerezDiazMX) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerezDiazMX/status/1184946085468332032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
Other photos showed vehicles that were apparently destroyed by the cartels:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a> zona de guerra. Enrique Cabrera y Enrique Félix Castro. <a href="https://t.co/OUzFLtk08X">pic.twitter.com/OUzFLtk08X</a>
— Juan Pablo Pérez Díaz (@PerezDiazMX) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerezDiazMX/status/1184967639640076288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
Bystanders trying to flee the area after intense gun fire breaks out:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
Reportan enfrentamientos entre militares y hombres armados en <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a>.
No se sabe el origen del enfrentamiento. <a href="https://t.co/s4iFLTl4Nm">pic.twitter.com/s4iFLTl4Nm</a>
— Carlos Zúñiga Pérez (@Carloszup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carloszup/status/1184954604657827841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
A man opens fire using what appears to be a .50 caliber sniper rifle:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/M%C3%A1s?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Más</a>: El enfrentamiento inició en el Sector Tres Ríos, pero se ha extendido a otros puntos de <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a>.
Vean el tipo de armas que se están usando. <a href="https://t.co/sLXtMeUTHk">pic.twitter.com/sLXtMeUTHk</a>
— Carlos Zúñiga Pérez (@Carloszup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carloszup/status/1184955221161730054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
Other video showed cartel gunmen armed with .50 caliber machine guns mounted on top of trucks driving around the area:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/M%C3%A1s?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Más</a>: Otro video de los hombres armados que participan en las balaceras en <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a>. <a href="https://t.co/UNDnnYR0yX">pic.twitter.com/UNDnnYR0yX</a>
— Carlos Zúñiga Pérez (@Carloszup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carloszup/status/1184958364993933313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
More intense gun fire:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nuevo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Nuevo</a>: Versiones a través de whatsapp y radio, señalan que autoridades federales detuvieron a Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, hijo de “Él Chapo” Guzmán.
Los enfrentamientos siguen. <a href="https://t.co/vsEiNhFFz5">pic.twitter.com/vsEiNhFFz5</a>
— Carlos Zúñiga Pérez (@Carloszup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carloszup/status/1184960633202192387?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
The Mexican military arrives on scene:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/M%C3%A1s?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Más</a>: Sigue el despliegue de militares por <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a>. <a href="https://t.co/Eoyna6wZXZ">pic.twitter.com/Eoyna6wZXZ</a>
— Carlos Zúñiga Pérez (@Carloszup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carloszup/status/1184963628564434945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
Innocent bystanders hide in a supermarket as gunfire erupts:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/M%C3%A1s?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Más</a>: En medio del miedo y el caos, habitantes de <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a> intentan resgardarse de las balaceras en un centro comercial. <a href="https://t.co/l6rrNgf9nU">pic.twitter.com/l6rrNgf9nU</a>
— Carlos Zúñiga Pérez (@Carloszup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carloszup/status/1184967879478972416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
The fighting continued into the night:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Al norte de <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Culiac%C3%A1n?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Culiacán</a> sector Humaya siguen las balaceras. <a href="https://t.co/zJw1K8CJFo">pic.twitter.com/zJw1K8CJFo</a>
— Juan Pablo Pérez Díaz (@PerezDiazMX) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerezDiazMX/status/1185006815651565568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
The Los Angeles Times added that the Sinaloa Cartel – which has long been the most prolific drug trafficking organization in the world – has faced increasing challenges to its dominance from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The CJNG is suspected to be behind a massacre on Monday in the western Mexican state of Michoacan.
&#8220;The federal public security ministry said 14 police were killed, though its Michoacan state counterpart reported that 13 officers were confirmed dead and three injured,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-violence/more-than-a-dozen-police-killed-in-ambush-in-violent-mexican-state-idUSKBN1WT23A">Reuters</a> reported.
Reuters added that photographs of the crime scene &#8220;showed large placards signed by &#8216;CJNG&#8217; left on police vehicles.&#8221;
CJNG reportedly warned law enforcement in the area to not support rival criminal organizations.

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