Episode 365 Scott Adams: Brandon Darby Talks About Border Situation

Date: 2019-01-08 | Duration: 51:32

Topics

Border expert Brandon Darby discusses border issues Cartels are promoting illegal immigration in vast stretches Impact of walls on smuggling and illegal immigration Walls shifted smugglers to legal ports of entry Existing walls placed in urban border areas, reduced crime illegal activity shifted to isolated rural areas Marijuana legalization in US took away a huge chunk of cartel profits Cartels shifted to illegal immigration and making heroin Declaring cartels to be terror groups as an enforcement strategy US pays cartels for ratting on “watch list” Middle Easterners 70% of illegal immigrant women are raped along the journey Multiple rapes of the women are common Half-Measures are the real border security problem It’s immoral to have a partial border US State Department is biggest obstacle to border control
US State Department prioritizes diplomacy over law enforcement Half of Mexico has to be patrolled by their military, not police Cartels have military weaponry, police can’t compete

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> [!note] Rough Transcript
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## Transcript

[0:08]

you might hear my duck at seriously they they've been coming window they got in we're we're we're live right now people coming in and hello everybody good morning good morning we have a very special coffee with Scott Adams this morning I'll tell you in a moment after our simultaneous sip come on in here everybody Hey Beth hey Hugh hey Mark you're all in time and now you know what time it is it's time for coffee with Scott
Adams and I'm going to introduce our special guest for the morning Brandon Derby an expert on all things about the border with Mexico uh and we'll do the Fuller introduction in a moment but I wanted to let and join us for the simultaneous zp so please if you're prepared grab your mug your glass your cup your Stein your tankered your chalice fill it with your

[1:10]

tankered your chalice fill it with your favorite liquid I like coffee en join me for the simultaneous
up all right Brandon derby um can you can you tell us your um current job and background so people who are not how familiar with you know the context here yeah so I I run breitbart's border team um we're a team that's very separate from breit Bark's political coverage um and I also run breitbart's cartel Chronicles project so uh several regions along the border in Mexico journalists get killed for writing about cartels so what we do is we allow them to write under a pseudonym and then we publish uh their writings about cartels and corruption in English and Spanish so that's what I do so it it puts me traveling the Border about a third of every months on both sides of the border for the last probably seven

[2:12]

the border for the last probably seven or eight years so I uh did a provocative tweet this morning I want to get your fact checking on it and I said that because the cartels own so much of the territory on the Mexican side of the Border in other words they they're armed people who was essentially control that territory when we're building the border wall would it be fair to say that we're building a wall between the US and Mexico or are we building wall between the US and the drug cartels because they actually own the land that we would be dividing between them and us how how close to True is that um well it's pretty close I think um I think that there you know first off no one is really proposing a wall or or a w or a fence uh between all of Mexico and all of the United States there's roughly 2,000 miles of Border uh they're proposing about a thousand miles of of of barriers um the regions where those

[3:14]

of barriers um the regions where those are being focused upon are areas that are heavily controlled by cartels it doesn't mean the cartels control the Border but they do control portions of the Border region there right so the Border region being the US side and the the Mexican side composing the entire border region um I I think what you said is largely true it's largely true it's you know there's you know someone could say The Border's safe that's a Hal truth someone could say The Border's unsafe that's a Hal truth someone could say cartel's control the Border that's mostly true um you know there's there's nuance and a lot of a lot of uh there's a lot of room for nuances a lot of details a lot of differences between the groups what happened butly what you said is true so so let me just boil take it down to another level so if if I walked up to the border from the Mexico side and I'm not on a river so I'm not on the portion of the Border that's a river right what are the odds

[4:17]

that's a river right what are the odds that uh I'm in cartel controlled territory well okay so so the Texas border is about 1200 miles of the almost 2,000 mile border and the Texas border has the Rio Grand so it is a river some places it's it's pretty powerful some places it's it's a it's a stream that's that's maybe 10t across and four inches deep it just depends what we're talking about um most of the really bad cartels and I say that in the sense that they they they kill journalists they allow their violence to spill over into the average person uh most of those groups are south of the river so they're south of Texas if we were to go Iona California most of New Mexico those those transnational criminal groups tend to not allow their violence to spill over for instance in Tijana right now they have the highest murder rates of all of Mexico but the vast majority of the people affected are drug dealers or drug smugglers or cartel connected

[5:19]

drug smugglers or cartel connected persons now if you were to go to Rosa Mexico South in the C Texas the murder rates about half of tias however most of the people murdered are innocent people tourists Business Leaders or what have you journalists um politicians or what have you so so even though the the violence is higher in Tiana it's actually much more dangerous for the average person in Rosa right so so most of the problems that we're really having um with with cartels trying to control migration that's happening uh south of Texas where there's a river okay all right um now some people say that walls and border security doesn't work because uh of tunnels and uh you're probably not seeing any tunnels wherever there's River uh are there other places with where you're likely to see tunnels and when you're likely not to well okay so

[6:20]

when you're likely not to well okay so this is interesting um there are tunnels and those tunnels do happen um but they generally happen with tunnels you're looking at Arizona and in California and the reason you're looking at that is there has been one tunnel under the river in El Paso um many years ago uh that was discovered but it was a it was a wasn't a very good tunnel the the actual tunnels that are of concern those things happen where there's where there's a wall already right so you're looking at City centers right when you have an urban area in Mexico next to an urban area in the United States where there's already a wall bill and that's when we see tunnels and they usually get discovered pretty quickly uh due to human intelligence so informant programs or what have you our technology hasn't actually discovered any tunnels to my knowledge it's it's always been human sources that have given them away but you're really only looking at you know if we were to go west of of um where the

[7:20]

if we were to go west of of um where the tunnels happen is you're really dealing with them in Douglas Arizona nogalas Arizona and then you don't deal with them again until you get to to you know Mexicali California and and U El Centro and then of course San Diego and Santa Cedro uh that's where you're dealing with the tunnels but it's not the Texas border for most of the Border doesn't have that problem how many how many tunnels would you imagine there are active at any given time does anybody know nobody knows we've discovered hundreds in the last decade but again the tunnels things a bit tricky because the the transnational criminal groups a lot of money into building the tunnel and into ventilating it and what have you uh only for it to get discovered shortly thereafter so it it uh it isn't the Mage P the major push the major push and the major the major ways that they they go around border security we've already seen this before because we've already put walls and barriers in places

[8:22]

already put walls and barriers in places like El Paso where the crime we went way down when Democrats say hey El Pasa look at the low crime rate the Border safe well that's an example of how walls work um now wait a minute wait a minute let me I have I have to challenge that because I've I have mocked the El Paso claim that the wall worked now I think it probably does work for reducing crime and immigration in El Paso but doesn't it just make people say okay we won't cross here we'll just go down the road well it it it sort of does what it what it tends to have to do is it it the regional criminal group um I'm trying to avoid speaking in Broad terms like the cartel because there's like hundreds of different criminal groups that we call the cartel or cartels um but what they do is they tend to to turn to being a little more professional they tend to they tend to start shying away from illegal immigration and migrant smuggling and they start to turn towards harder drugs but they start to turn towards doing those harder drugs at

[9:23]

towards doing those harder drugs at ports of injury so um like in El Paso what happened was instead of people coming over the Border uh barrier in committing small crimes coming over the Border barrier and committing robberies coming over the Border barrier and bringing loads of drugs on their back they turned towards public corruption and they started to Target CPP officers and they started to engage in different efforts to get um drug loads through Port legitimate ports of injury um instead of across the border it changes things which makes it a little more easy to deal with but it changes things it doesn't stop things it just changes things right so would it be safe to say that if we're only putting uh strong borders in in some places even if those are the places we think we need it most as long as long as you have lots of porous areas it really doesn't matter in terms of the overall effect because the

[10:23]

terms of the overall effect because the cartels will just and the the immigrants will just adjust another in other words do you need do you need to be pretty good all the way on the border for all the places that are easy to pass or or it doesn't make any difference right so so this is a a discussion debate I have often times with with people who are actually open borders Advocates and they do exist like people in the KO Institute or um you know there's a professor in Hawaii that we have discussions uh on social media about the issue um so so an open border doesn't really kill people per se uh a secured border doesn't kill people what kills people and makes it really really dangerous is um is a half secured border partial measures half measures we've already had this happen like uh during the bush years and some in the Obama years actually Obama built border barriers too um during those years what we we did was

[11:26]

um during those years what we we did was we put barriers between two Urban areas like most of the cities in California and in Arizona like nogalas and uh and uh and Arizona nogalas Mexico Douglas Arizona and aqua Prieta like we we put barriers between them in certain areas and the point was to funnel the traffic into other areas uh with the belief that that would make it easier to catch them you know uh to assign resources and then with the belief that there were some areas that were just so desolate that people would not try to cross well that turned out not to be true uh the funnel thing did work um but it turns out that people are so desperate to have a better life here a lot of people that they do in fact try to come regardless of how difficult it is that's why we've seen two the two miners die I believe in in the El Paso sector in New Mexico is because people want to be here that badly all right um I know that you're

[12:28]

badly all right um I know that you're doing a good good job because I'm seeing some anxiety in the comments for people who can't tell if you're for or against the wall because uh the the world is divided into these the these artificial binaries so let me ask the question because they're asking the question uh which I probably would not have asked actually but for their benefit uh would you say you're for the wall and let's say the wall equals you know fence in some place wall in other places and let the engineers decide but are you you for it or against it um I am for Border barriers uh where they are needed and uh I think that uh you know that's not a a people want to hear are you for the wall or against it I'm for Border barriers where they are needed and I'm for Border barriers in urban areas I'm for Border barriers in the most remote areas uh but I'm also for building more roads so agents can get there more quickly making sure

[13:29]

get there more quickly making sure there's more medical care for our agents which translates into for migrants and I'm for taking a more aggressive stance against um uh transnational criminal groups in Mexico by going after um by going after their money and their money people rather than uh what we're currently doing which I think amounts to token gestures and I'm also for uh I'm for making a humanitarian argument for border security um and I recognize that even if we build the wall to the moon at the end of the day this all boils down to economic opportunities it really does if until Mexico's okay until Central America's okay we're going to keep having problems in and around our border uh these transnational criminal groups have grown past the point of Al Capone and prohibition these guys have grown to to a point where they they are so integrated into Mexican political culture and Mexican officials

[14:31]

political culture and Mexican officials uh agencies that um you know that even if we legalize drugs tomorrow it's not it's going to impact them but it's not going to stop them and what they're doing I'm for border security and and physical bearers are part of that okay so say more about the the question of legalization um I don't have an opinion on this yet I'm more along the lines of you know there there are things that you can try small and see if it works I I understand that Portugal had a good experience with drug legalization so there's there's some track record but uh why so people ask me uh wouldn't it solve pretty much all of our problems if at least the drug problems part of it if we just made them legal no I don't think so I think it would um I tend to be in uh uh I tend to lean more towards that uh towards legalization um but I I think that we need to be honest with ourselves and this is something that you know most

[15:33]

this is something that you know most people again it doesn't fit anyone's narratives perfectly let's talk about marijuana I think it's absurd that marijuana is illegal in a lot of places I think it's absurd that it's illegal federally but let's talk about what happened when when we began to decriminalize marijuana it did a lot of good I think for people in California who are dying of cancer I'm not taking away from that there's a lot of young men and young women are not getting you know horrible things on their criminal records preventing them from getting into schools or getting good jobs because of it like I I get all of that but there are also consequences that we don't discuss like whenever we began to decriminalize marijuana and marijuana could be grown in the United States and grown very professionally and we got the the kind right we got the good the hydro and the good stuff that's grown indoors what happened was we we took a large chunk of the profits that that Mexican cartels were depending upon they have vast amounts of acreage

[16:34]

upon they have vast amounts of acreage devoted and hectors devoted towards marijuana cultivation well what did they do when when their schwag Mexican schwag we could no longer compete with the the the high the kind bud in the United States did they go away no they didn't go away what they did was is they shifted to human smuggling to replace their profits and that's why we that's part of why we saw the minor crisis in 20 14 and is part of what's happening right now and why we have so many people entering our country they also began to stop cultivating marijuana on their fields and they started cultivating what poppy so then they began to saturate the United States with black tar cheap heroin that no one really wanted so then they said hey our heroin can't compete with some of the Asian heroin so what can we do to make our heroin better so they began to utilize fanil with their black so that their heroin was comparable and could compete with Asian heroin now we have a lot of overdoses of people

[17:36]

have a lot of overdoses of people because of fenel because they're taking heroin that's really not that good but it's laced with fenel so we have some consequences from there are good consequences to legalization but there are also unintended and bad consequences so by by legalizing without first going after the heart of these transnational criminal groups what we've done is we've actually heard our El we've actually created an opioid epidemic and we've created a situ a fento epidemic where people are overdosing that's interesting so uh as long as the cartels want to make money and they their uh their path of least resistance is more illegal stuff all we can do is push them from one illegal thing to another illegal thing it depends so so we're in a tricky situation in Mexico the the US state department determines how hard we go after cartels and they largely determine or influence is really a better word who we go after

[18:37]

is really a better word who we go after so what US Agencies will say is that that they are told that they need to balance their law enforcement priorities with the state Department's diplomatic concerns diplomatic concerns matter training matters I get all of that but but what we've largely become is a situation where in Mexico like there's a and we've talked about this before but I'll tell you there's an organized criminal Circle okay like this and part of that circle is El Chapo or whatever drug boss cartel boss there is right he's part of that Circle but but the other people in that Circle are politicians financiers Bankers you know um the money people the lawyers the what have you and the launderers and so what we generally do is we go after El Chapo but we leave the rest of that Circle in place and because those are the diplomats and those are the people who are politically connected we don't go after the rest of that Circle and until we go after the rest of that Circle and actually go after some big fish in

[19:39]

actually go after some big fish in Mexico um they're just going to keep replacing El Chapo indefinitely I I I I I saw a news story that we we got some kind of a convictions of a high level government official um I forget the details but I hadn't seen that recently are you do you know that sorry there's some high level there there's a bunch of them the last two governors of of Toma south of Texas are indicted one's in US custody once a Mexico custody Mexican custody fighting extradition to the US there are instances once once that political leader falls out of favor with that organized criminal Circle they're more than happy to give them to us um but it this isn't us challenging the organized criminal Circle this is us us playing ball with the or ganized criminal Circle who are also the very diplomats that we have to negotiate trade with right uh with whom we negotiate trade so that is those aren't really examples those are more token

[20:39]

really examples those are more token examples um what I was hoping more for um and what what what Steve Bannon was was promised and didn't happen and I'm it's not his choice right I get that um but what what I was hoping for was for specific factions of Mexican cartels like one faction of Los one faction of the gulf cartel to be declared as foreign Terror ORS because they are in staed foreign Terror ORS and um they've crossed those lines and I was hoping that going after them that way uh which would allow going after any Bankers who handle their money any I mean just going after them that way would then cause all of the other criminal groups in Mexico to step in line and tone it down so so there could be security so there could be more economic growth so what have you I thought that was really the best way to go about it um but that's not what's happened how how much do the cartels earn in a year collectively and could we

[21:41]

earn in a year collectively and could we pay them to do our border security in other words if we said in instead of making a billion dollars a year by sneaking people across the border we'll give you a billion dollars a year to prevent them from coming across the border uh no depends because well first off we already do pay them for border security like we have informance um our governmental agencies have informance all throughout different transnational criminal groups that we call Mexican cartel um and there's a lot of incentives if if there's someone from the Middle East for instance or who's speaking Arabic or who's what they call a special interest alien um there's a lot of incentive and financial incentive for those people to turn those special interest aliens in right and for people to tiip off us authorities so we already do utilize uh members of criminal groups for security just as we do in the US right um I I've never I've never heard that before this this is the reason I

[22:42]

that before this this is the reason I love talking to you I hear things that I've literally never heard so let me just say this again make sure I understood it that our our worry about actual terrorists let's say from the Middle East coming across the southern border is mitigated by the fact that the cartels themselves can make a profit by turning them in is that true people in those cartels yeah people in those cartels for sure make a profit by turning them in I don't think we're there you know this is a complicated deal because we've had a couple of and I say we and I'm not taking ownership of that in fact I I I I spoke out quite loudly against it and it was very unpopular uh because of who I am and I'm on the right and I made some people mad but like there was a false report about an Isis terror training camp in War there was a false report that there were 100 Isis fighters in the migrant Caravan and people ran with this and and that those kind of things just really don't help we're we're at a point right now where the the more likely scenario when

[23:43]

where the the more likely scenario when it comes to terrorism is that people are are still going to fly into the us or they're going to fly into Canada and then they're going to come into the US on visas or what have you we're getting to a point with our our technology that we're able to to recognize who's connected to whom and people are going to stop coming in that way and they're going to start trying to sneak in illicitly um and that might be a problem on the southern border but for the most part from what I understand the people that we do get who are connected to a terror org or on the terror watch list are usually Somali or they're people from Kurdistan they're Kurds and if you're someone who's a curd it's almost impossible to not be connected to a terror or because every someone in your family fought in your war for independence with the pkk and because of our relationship with turkey we call the pkk a terror or however when we're over there fighting our military forces are more than happy to work with the pesh

[24:43]

more than happy to work with the pesh murga are more than happy to work with because we understand the Nuance so so it gets kind of complicated I I do think that there is a a bit of a a threat of of of of bad people entering that way but I I don't know that those bad people are are as much of a threat as what we're already dealing with with with certain transnational criminal groups um so you know that that's where it gets tricky right we can talk about it all day long but the bottom line is there are people more people are dying have died in the Border region in Mexico if we just look since 2009 if go look at the numbers of of people who have died in Afghanistan look at the numbers died in Iraq during the war and now let's talk about Mexico's drug war owners anybody's free to Google that and look at the different estimates the best estimates from probably Molly Malloy from the University of New Mexico who's not a right by any means and she I think she estimates that we're we're rocking

[25:45]

she estimates that we're we're rocking 200 250,000 people dead since 2009 in the drug war in the Cartel Wars we're looking at 50 to 60,000 people missing who are just gone nobody knows where they are and that's just what we know about so so we're looking at there are real threats along the border not only to us but also to migrants also to the people who are many of the people who are trying to come here to work there are real threats to address and I think that sometimes people on the right by focusing on the possible terrorism instances or what have you it's effective at ring people up but it's not very honest you know so if you um there's a you know is issue in the news right now where the president claimed uh or or I guess Homeland Security claimed that X thousands of people are captured every year trying to come into the country who were on the terrorist watch list and then uh when the numbers were broken out it turns out that basically it was all at the border basically

[26:46]

it was all at the border basically almost all of it was just I'm sorry almost all of it was in airports so that even if you control the Border uh it wouldn't the the implication here is that it wouldn't stop the terrorists because we're you know most of them are coming in through airports to which I say and here's my question to you how would we know how many people came across the border and didn't get caught because it seems to me that it's easy to catch people coming in through an airport because the process requires them to show their face and identification so one would expect we would catch all of the terrorists coming through airports or a lot of them whereas if they were actually coming across the border they get away with it because nobody's asking for ID they're literally undetected could we have any idea how many watch lless terrorists are crossing the southern border or is it just something they don't do so it's not a problem um I I don't think it's see this is where it gets tricky we we do have people um we do have instances

[27:49]

have people um we do have instances where you know five men from Pakistan one from Afghanistan were caught 17 miles into the US after illegally crossing the border like these kind of things happen the problem is is is and we don't know who like like who are those people connected to I have no idea what it does show is that um I'm not someone who thinks the majority of people from that region are trying to kill us I don't believe that that's just not you know my my veteran friends who fought in Wars tell me that a lot of those people fought alongside them um for their own country right like when we we're talking about the Middle East or the greater Middle East in the case of Afghanistan or Pakistan yeah so I I agree with you on but let's I just want to drill down on what can't be known that's the thing is we don't know like that's that's the that's the catch is that we have mechanisms in place to try to figure that out and try to know when people are coming but clearly some people get through and we don't know and and that's why again it it it is an important discussion to have when we

[28:50]

important discussion to have when we talk about terrorism um but it's there are so many more applicable that is one of them that should be discuss but there are so many more alal reasons like like for instance and this isn't mind bright numbers like anyone can Google sexual assaults of Central American migrants Google it and look at the Wikipedia page look at the the sourcing um so we have a situation where up to 70% of the women and girls who come from Central America to get to the US illicitly are sexually assaulted along the way that's a significant situation that that is a much applicable situation and when we talk about persuasion yes we we need security we need to make sure terrorists don't come across the border but the the people who that appeals to that argument is appealing to are already on fire about border security let's let's broaden it out with our persuasion and let's talk about let's talk about the humanitarian consequences of an unsecured border let's talk about

[29:51]

of an unsecured border let's talk about the 70% of Migrant women who are sexually assaulted the expectation of multiple rapes along the Journey from Central America through cartel territory to our border that those are these are significant arguments that just are not made enough so people can something that's out there and narrow it into something that's more appliable so let let me see if I can frame this using what you said earlier um would it be true that the two safest situations just in terms of crime would be complete border security or a completely open border those two situations would have the least amount of crime least involved with border related crime is that true correct then the argument is that we're in the worst situation and the decision we should make is open borders versus full control correct interesting I've never heard anybody say that it's it's a half

[30:51]

heard anybody say that it's it's a half measures that that um and that's why I get very offended when I get offended at Republicans and Democrats honestly because I I do focus on this issue I do have you know just in a few days I'm going into Mexico and I'm going to meet with families who whose daughter's innocent you know and and so I I you know and they have no hope of Justice none whatsoever aside from the US targeting the bad guys who did it to their children right there no hope of Justice the police the police work in those regions work for the cartels so so you know for me um I just listen to you know maybe it's our media system and the way it's set up like this is great because we can have a discussion but most of the people talking about this issue are giving 30 second sound bites on television and they have no idea what the hell they're talking about um so let me ask frustrating very frustrating couple more quick questions um do we have any kind

[31:52]

quick questions um do we have any kind of a special forces who are operating either legally or illegally in Mexico show who are directly targeting the cartels no no we don't why not just political um the the way it works out in Mexico is everything's done through consulates everything's done through our through the state department uh we have contractors uh who work there uh gathering information most of them are there for a year assignment or longer some of them don't even speak Spanish uh most of them are retired law enforcement from uh law enforcement agencies in the US who then go work there on a on a on a a contract basis um our US Marshals do go out with Mexican authorities often times but they're they're in a support role they're not able to engage well but let me ask you this don't can't we tell with our various Intel things and drones Etc don't we kind of know where the

[32:52]

Etc don't we kind of know where the cartel headquarters are it's not that it's not that simple we we do know I think where where most of the bad guys are
are but you have to manipulate our government in order to get anything done with that so obviously in my situation I mean let's just look at it like Breitbart is largely seen as a voice for for Board of Patrol agents to tell their stories uh on the US side and we're largely seen as a voice for journalists and law enfor good good law enforcement officials on the Mexican side we come across so much information half of that information I share with the public half of that information I call various law enforcement agencies with the amount of frustration in Mexican officials who contact me and who I deal with regularly who say hey we found this guy and we want to arrest him but if we arrest him this guy is going to get out immediately unless the US extradites him and wants him and then the US people in the US say

[33:52]

him and then the US people in the US say to me hey we don't have the paperwork ready for that guy sorry uh not interested that's not a priority but what's what what what's what's stopping us from uh just taking him out just just killing them uh well okay on on their side of the Border what what is stopping us from doing that well what stops us from being more aggressive in general is our state department our state department uh has a a lot of sway in how that again like I'm going to tell you Scott I'm very aggressive toward cartels I'm very aggressive especially towards those and cartel I routinely identify I use all kinds of creepy mechanisms to find their cartel bosses uh human sources U uh technology we write about it quite a bit and a lot of it I share I make public where they are I write about where they are publicly I write about the corruption my team does um and still unless we create a public outcry the US government does not prioritize those

[34:53]

government does not prioritize those individuals it's a it's a real problem but it all it really goes back to our state department the biggest obstacle to border security isn't Mexico the biggest obstacle to border security is is the US state department um they have nothing to do with whether or not uh we're building a wall or a barrier they have nothing to do with whether or not we hire more border patrol agents but they have everything to do with how our intelligence and law enforcement agencies operate and interact inside of Mexico and and again that's where the real border security is the real serious stuff in the real security and the real change if we talk about holistic border security right recognizing the Border region is two parts recognizing that that most of that border security is actually having to do with how we deal with cartels so that we can create more economic opportunities there get get the security situation under control well hold on well hold on there there's no hope of Us increasing the

[35:54]

there's no hope of Us increasing the economic situation in Mexico as long as as long that's not true not true no hold on let me let me finish it because the cartels will will essentially own those businesses one no not necessarily so so the issue really becomes one of it okay here here's the the the reality of Mexico is this they're very resource Rich there's plenty of resources in Mexico um the problem is is that many of the regions along the border those resources be exploited because of the security situation and because of the corruption situation which is largely due to the security situation so though I don't suggest that we engage in direct economic development in Mexico when we needed in our own country so badly in so many areas like inner cities and rural area we could go down the line that's a whole another talk but what we can do is we can address those security situations we can more aggressively go after the rest of

[36:54]

more aggressively go after the rest of those people in that organized criminal Circle so they fall in line in other places so that businesses are more able to uh invest in Mexico and invest in resource exploitation and what have you it's all about the security situation um the security take K COA is along the US Mexico border along the Texas border tons of oil but we can't exploit the oil because in order to exploit the oil the cartels are going to steal the gas the yeah wait so so the pinch Point here is the state department and and why and are you saying that the state department is prioritizing trade over everything else is that the problem uh they prioritize diplomacy at all like diplomacy ahead of law enforcement and intelligence priorities yes H yeah yeah one one of our one of our writers one of our team members is the former uh projects coordinator for the for the uh for the inl for for the state department

[37:54]

for the inl for for the state department in Northeast Mexico which composes most of of these most of losetas in the Gulf cartel territory fell under his purview and uh now that he's no longer doing that he he got very frustrated with that and you know so we we give $2.5 billion dollar to the Marita initiative which is to deal with the cartels how the state department deals with the cartels in Mexico in the drug war um and so he was he was a a senior person in that effort and he writes with us and he he's written quite extensively about issues with State Department in Mexico U I deal with it myself like I said it's it's um I understand diplomatic concerns are important but but maybe the balance of you know diplomacy Over Law Enforcement priorities maybe we need to we need to shift out a bit yeah that that's why I was wondering if we hypothetically and I'm not suggesting this is a good idea I'm just thinking it through if if we were to locate a cartel headquarters and we dropped a drone on it Mexico would

[38:57]

we dropped a drone on it Mexico would compl laain like crazy to our state department and then what would they stop trading with us I mean I can't I can't see the consequence well well the consequence would be like a lot of our economy is based upon trade with Mexico a lot of a lot of Trump's numbers for instance with the economy are based upon Texas all hold hold on hold on let me let me make sure I'm make saying the question right what would Mexico shoot themselves in the foot to punish us for solving their biggest problem no they would probably begin to to get closely aligned with Russia or China and then we'd have a whole another problem I think that it's unnecessary that what so here's I'm I'm not I'm not buying that I'm not buying that because Mex Mexico's you know they're they're just too entwined with the United States right so so it well well first off it's really unnecessary because there here's the deal there are good men and women in Mexico trying to do something about

[39:57]

Mexico trying to do something about about the corruption okay um what we could do what would be the smartest thing to do is if we were to take like one Mexican border state that's divided into six regions in their in their state okay each state has a regional swap Commander State Police Commander who's going after cartels their salaries are about $1,500 a month at most if we were to take a situation where our intelligence agencies were to give resources to to those individuals and uh and actually go after cartel bosses if if protected cartel bosses were um if if people in Mexico dumped those people like across the border who were wanted in the United States right but the US wasn't going after um and Mexico wasn't going after those kind of things would be very effective and those are things that we could accomplish for uh you know you could you could have that relationship with every Regional commander in Mexico

[40:58]

with every Regional commander in Mexico for 3.6 $3.4 million a year I that's nothing nothing in the drops of of of uh governmental resources right um so so there are other ways to go about doing this and going after cartel bosses but the most effective thing we could do is just to declare two factions of the two most violent cartels the two dominant factions um just to declare them as foreign Terror ORS and that would that would in itself accomplish this goal without without um wait so what what does that bias what what do that bias if we just simply change their designation how does that change the activity what do what do we do differently because of that well what it does differently is it causes everyone involved with them in any manner to also be subject to having their resources uh seized and and to be gone after by the United States it re prioritizes there it takes the state department uh out of having the the the driver seat on how they're dealt with

[41:59]

driver seat on how they're dealt with and it puts other agencies uh at the Forefront so so for instance Bankers who deal with them I mean let's be honest like like when we talk about loetta or the golf cartel who operate along they're headquartered on the US Mexico border uh there's multiple factions there's CDN which is the main faction of the Zetas there's uh the Rosa faction Los metos of the golf cartel these people it's all in the end of the day it's about money and power and and their money is being and and their money is being laundered in US Banks and us connected Banks so if banks if banks launder money of a of a terror organization um it's a very different situation for a bank than laundering money John so uh let me uh see if I can summarize this for the viewers and then we'll uh we'll wind down here in a minute so the summary is that our own State Department uh is keeping us from being aggressive with the crime on the other side of the Mexican border because they want to keep good diplomatic

[43:00]

they want to keep good diplomatic relations with Mexico but if we were to declare the two biggest cartels or the two most problematic cartels as terrorist or organizations which which would be legitimate then the state department would have to take a step back because they would not be the lead the lead group it would be would that be Homeland Security or just the military I'm not sure the state department would still be involved it would be different factions within it um you know our FBI would obviously be able to handle it more aggressively DHS as a whole like our you know which is part of ice but like homel security investigations would be able to handle it more aggressively our Treasury Department would be able to handle it more aggressively we could go down the line on on on how that would that would change but see I don't Advocate declaring the gulf cartel as a foreign Terror organization I advocate declaring a faction the most dominant faction as a foreign Terror org if if we you know a lot of people don't recognize the Nuance between criminal groups and it's very

[44:03]

between criminal groups and it's very important that we do like so if we took two Regional factions of these cartels and and made an example of them it would cause the other groups in Mexico to fall in line that's my thinking um if we just declared cartels as that obviously that would be very problematic and it would it would crush Mexico because of the the intertwined nature across the country so so we have to do an example but I think one of the most important things that I'd like to express here is that we continue to treat Mexico as though they're at an equal table with us as a government as a country um like they Canada or like their Germany but the truth about Mexico is that it's it's 32 districts 31 States One Federal District and over half of those territories are actually under the direct control or direct influence of of mexic of drug cartels drug cartels that when the Mexican military you know in the United States or Canada when we want to deal

[45:04]

States or Canada when we want to deal with bad officials in a region we send in our FBI or our federal agents in Mexico they can't send in their police they have to send in their Marines to to to go into Patrol areas over half of Mexican states are patrolled by the Mexican military because they are dealing with people who are fighting back against them with RPGs and armored vehicles um some cases with helicopters with drones this is a this is a paramilitary situation it's not a law enforcement situation in over half of Mexico yet we still try to deal with them as though they as though they are um as though they are not a falling a failing Narco state which they are all okay so let me ask the question that I keep getting on social media it's my position that the Border secur no amount of border security will make much of a difference to the amount of drugs coming in from below the Border true or false um I think that's false uh I think that

[46:06]

think that's false uh I think that according to the dea's National Drug threat assessment the vast majority of hard drugs coming across the boorder do come through ports of entury but 10 or 11% of of heroin is a is a significant is a significant amount of heroin coming into our country you know all right so let me let me drill down on that so if if the 10% that are not coming across the border crossings could no longer do it the way they were doing it wouldn't they just move to the border crossings which apparently works well or just throw it over the wall and have somebody on the other side right well so this is why it's so important that when we talk about border security we talk about holistic border security and not just a wall that's one of my objections to that that's why you can't tell what I support is because I have an objection to um just like I did with the Caravan right like we said we're going to stop the Caravan and I'm like okay there's there's more people coming across our border every week than are in the Caravan and by identifying the Caravan

[47:08]

Caravan and by identifying the Caravan as a victory point you really take the steam out of the movement to better secure the border and to change policy by talking about the wall if he gets his wall it is it is one component uh the physical barriers are one component of of a border of of of a comprehensive security plan one component it's an important component it's a symbolic component but it it is just one component and if it's done alone it it has very little effect if it has to be done with a lot of other things and that's what I'm trying to tell people is that those other things just are not happening right most of those other aspects are just not happening and that's why I don't really think that we're that that serious about securing the Border because if we were we would be doing a number of other things and instead of focusing on one or two aspects of it all right um I'm going to wrap up is there any final thing that maybe you'd like to restate or haven't haven't said yet about border I would

[48:10]

haven't said yet about border I would just say that um a couple of points I hope people take away from this is that the Border region is the US and the Mexico side right um I would like to you know really impress upon people that we need holistic border security multiple steps done um some of which could be done very easily by the president and by the state department without any work from the Democrats or from an opposing party and then the F finally I'd like to say that there is a humanitarian argument for border security there is a good humanitarian argument and if people would begin to make that argument uh they would find that it had a lot more support than the current arguments being made all right very good and thank you for that I'm gonna I'm GNA say bye for now uh I'm watching watching the the comments and people are loving this discussion so thank you thank you for having me all right and we'll talk again by bye bye

[49:14]

bye all right um those of you are wondering his vaping was not marijuana I know some of you were wondering that I asked them before we went live um so I hope that was was useful I learned a ton about that and I'm not going to bring up any other topics on this I think I'll just keep this pariscope on the single topic um we'll talk about climate and other things later um so the the takeaways are that if we if we were to declare the the worst of the cartels the factions within those cartels as terrorist organizations we might be able to beat the other terrorists uh into line to be just regular criminals so apparently taking it down from Defcon 10 to DEFCON 5 normal crime would be sort of a win uh the other thing that was use useful is that the safest two conditions from a humanitarian perspective humanitarian

[50:17]

humanitarian perspective humanitarian meaning the people coming across themselves would be complete border security or no border security at all but but half of a border security is the most dangerous uh least optimal situation and that's the one we're in so maybe we should just have that conversation about getting rid of it all or having a complete border security because those are the smart choices for the benefit of the immigrants because remember it's a moral argument so let me put this in Nancy Pelosi terms it is immoral to have a partial
border am I wrong because the worst case scenario for the immigrants themselves is what we have a p a partial border the the two ways that you can be morally let's say acceptable would be to have no border at all which has its own problems but it's at least morally acceptable or to have a really good

[51:18]

acceptable or to have a really good border where people are you know not trying to get across uh that's a fascinating reframe of things and I'm I'm glad we had that conversation I'm going to end it here and I will talk to you later