Trafficking 1

Our southern border is a problem.  For a long time we've known that non-citizens pour across it almost unimpeded, but now it's been exposed that the border is an enormous source of income for drug and crime cartels.  

Children cross the border alone, without families. It's hard to believe a mom or dad would send their child on that dangerous journey with no protection, but some do. And in some cases the child's been kidnapped or sold to traffickers (per Tim Ballard). 

Another criminal source of income was exposed and explained last week. Illegal immigrants may promise big sums to cartels to get them across the U.S. border, but end up in slavery for sex or labor after they get here. 

Witnessing before the Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, retired border security agent Jaeson Jones calls it "America's new slave trade." He lifts up the wrist bands that identify the "alien smuggling organization" and its victim.

Mexican fight

Back in 2006, the government of Mexico deployed the army to "crack down on drug cartels." There's been a social cost: 200,000 murders since that time. 

The record for yearly murders was set in 2017. Mexico's population then was 123 million, and they suffered about 28,700 murders. That's roughly one in 4,285.

To get an idea of the scale of this violence, compare it to the United States. There were about 17,000 murders in the U.S. population of about 326 million in the year 2017. That's roughly one in 19,000. 

Mexico's 2017 murder rate was more than four times that of the U.S.

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