The US southern border is constantly in the news. Illegal immigrant crossings have exceeded one million people a year for the last four years, with total crossings for that period, in the six million range. At the same time, the movement of illegal drugs across the border has skyrocketed, especially cross border shipment of fentanyl. Much has been made of the current administration's failures to secure the border, and much of the criticism is valid.
How can amateur criminal cartels possibly be orchestrating an onslaught that allows non-citizens to illegally cross our border, an onslaught over the last three years that exceeds the population of our ten smallest states? How can the same amateur criminal network move deadly drugs that kill more than 100,000 Americans each year? They can’t.
The cartels are highly sophisticated with technology advantages over the Mexican government and a willingness to use intimidation and murder to further their business ventures. Mexico’s current president reached out to the cartels in his first days in office, asking them to be more civilized, and less violent in their operations. What he didn’t do is use the power of his government to reign in illegal operations that now represent as much as seven percent of Mexico’s GNP. The current president has been able to travel throughout Mexico without the risk of assassination, but the violence he wanted to curtail is rising again, and the number of Mexican lives torn apart by illegal drugs is exploding.
Do the cartels really want to kill off their fellow citizens? Perhaps not, but are they really calling the shots anymore? The billions of dollars in illegal drugs are almost all coming from China. Chinese institutions now launder illegal drug money for the cartels. Chinese citizens, many men of military age, now make up a significant percentage of people crossing the border illegally, with no effort to halt their way to the border by Mexican authorities. Chinese weapons, including sophisticated communications technology has given the cartels a leg up over the Mexican police and military. Corrupt authorities who used to flaunt their newfound wealth in Mexico, now have help moving income from bribes and payoffs out of the country.
In my book, The Shadow Game, I examine how new technology can allow powerful non-governmental groups to literally stir up a war. In The Eel and the Angel, I look at the technology advantages of both China and the USA and how those differences can lead to miscalculations by governments. (Since that book came out, US-China relations have become even more strained.)
In my next Team Walker book, I look at the relationships between illegal groups in Mexico and those in China and the effects on both countries and the US. The conflict with Mexican authorities is heating up, while along the border American authorities are battling an opponent that is more sophisticated than most military groups. Among the questions I explore in writing the book is: IS THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT BEHIND THE PROBLEM? I encourage you to do your own homework and then compare it to the story line of the next Team Walker thriller. The subject and book are a great read and may just scare the hell out of you.