Drug cartels are causing a refugee crisis

[mota bhai 2,675]

Drug cartels are causing a refugee crisis
By Ted Galen Carpenter, Special to CNN

Officials in the United States might be tempted to view the disturbing surge in young refugees as simply a border security issue. But the problem is far more complex than that – the drug cartels are now major players in Central American countries, driving vulnerable populations northward to the United States to enhance their own profits.

...

Drug gangs have gained control of major chunks of Central America, making honest economic activity perilous. Teenagers especially have few options if they are not willing to work for the drug lords. As Caitlin Dickson noted in the Daily Beast, for example, “by making these countries so dangerous and virtually unlivable for its poorest citizens, the cartels have effectively created an incentive for people to flee, thereby providing themselves with more clientele for their human smuggling business.”

Since the cartels have seized control of human smuggling routes through Mexico, often charging refugees several thousand dollars for passage, the flood of undocumented immigrants significantly supplements the revenue that the drug gangs have long enjoyed from trafficking in illegal drugs. Would-be immigrants who can’t pay are pressed into service to carry drugs into the United States. And the surge of unaccompanied minors helps distract the already strained U.S. Border Patrol, making it easier for the drug lords to avoid having their products intercepted.

...

Editor’s note: Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is the author of nine books on international affairs, including The Fire Next Door: Mexico’s Drug Violence and the Danger to America. The views expressed are his own.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Drug cartels are causing a refugee crisis

By Ted Galen Carpenter, Special to CNN

Officials in the United States might be tempted to view the disturbing surge in young refugees as simply a border security issue. But the problem is far more complex than that – the drug cartels are now major players in Central American countries, driving vulnerable populations northward to the United States to enhance their own profits.

...

Drug gangs have gained control of major chunks of Central America, making honest economic activity perilous. Teenagers especially have few options if they are not willing to work for the drug lords. As Caitlin Dickson noted in the Daily Beast, for example, “by making these countries so dangerous and virtually unlivable for its poorest citizens, the cartels have effectively created an incentive for people to flee, thereby providing themselves with more clientele for their human smuggling business.”

Since the cartels have seized control of human smuggling routes through Mexico, often charging refugees several thousand dollars for passage, the flood of undocumented immigrants significantly supplements the revenue that the drug gangs have long enjoyed from trafficking in illegal drugs. Would-be immigrants who can’t pay are pressed into service to carry drugs into the United States. And the surge of unaccompanied minors helps distract the already strained U.S. Border Patrol, making it easier for the drug lords to avoid having their products intercepted.

...

Editor’s note: Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is the author of nine books on international affairs, including The Fire Next Door: Mexico’s Drug Violence and the Danger to America. The views expressed are his own.

Or he could start enforcing US law and stop using executive orders to make policy that only encourages more of it

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Legalize pot

[Darnell 8,478]

the president? of the usa? sorry, he's genetically predisposed not to do anything with Mexico [ie, he doesn't have a set of testicles]

[SMOKE 1,426]

all BS aside. Obama's none enforcement of US law is what is causing the border situation.

[mota bhai 2,675]

all BS aside. Obama's none enforcement of US law is what is causing the border situation.

Every contrary opinion is BS? The author of this piece works for the Cato Institute, he's one of you (conservative).

[lostinblue 1,989]

[SMOKE 1,426]

Every contrary opinion is BS? The author of this piece works for the Cato Institute, he's one of you (conservative).

no, trying to claim the cartels are to blame is BS. I'm not one of any group. the facts are the facts. the flood started when obama signed executive order #?????? then publicly stated we would not enforce the laws. as in not deport 'dreamers'.

[mota bhai 2,675]

no, trying to claim the cartels are to blame is BS. I'm not one of any group. the facts are the facts. the flood started when obama signed executive order #?????? then publicly stated we would not enforce the laws. as in not deport 'dreamers'.

If you say so.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

no, trying to claim the cartels are to blame is BS. I'm not one of any group. the facts are the facts. the flood started when obama signed executive order #?????? then publicly stated we would not enforce the laws. as in not deport 'dreamers'.

Don't you just love it when the same people who freak out if you try to draw any similarities between any group of people, so readily assign you a group that you have to be a part of

[rlogan 2,036]

The war on drugs has the same lessons as prohibition on alcohol. Eventually the country got sick of gangsters and ghastly murder rates over control of illegal alcohol distribution. They haven't managed to stem the tide of drugs, and the major drug problem we have in this country is prescription drug abuse in the first place. But since Big Pharma has congress in their back pockets, nothing will ever be done about the real drug problem.

The US electorate couldn't care less how miserable life is in Central America, so the effect of the War on Drugs there is irrelevant to them.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

The war on drugs has the same lessons as prohibition on alcohol. Eventually the country got sick of gangsters and ghastly murder rates over control of illegal alcohol distribution. They haven't managed to stem the tide of drugs, and the major drug problem we have in this country is prescription drug abuse in the first place. But since Big Pharma has congress in their back pockets, nothing will ever be done about the real drug problem.

The US electorate couldn't care less how miserable life is in Central America, so the effect of the War on Drugs there is irrelevant to them.

No oil in Central America.

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

The US electorate couldn't care less how miserable life is in Central America, so the effect of the War on Drugs there is irrelevant to them.

Evidently we care more about them than their own governments and their fellow neighbors.

No oil in Central America.

The largest oil reserves on the planet are just below them.. Are we treating the people there differently?

Edited July 8, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[rlogan 2,036]

Evidently we care more about them than their own governments and their fellow neighbors.

lol. Go ahead and explain that. The drug war has destroyed numerous countries now. Both the demand for and the war against is coming from the USA. The collateral damage is showing up in the only place that has money. GDP per capita in those three countries is about $3K. Something on the order of 6% of ours. You just go ahead and show us where the money is going to come from in those desperately poor countries.

At $252 a day you can preen around saying we care for them more than our own citizens. But that would be just as asinine.

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

lol. Go ahead and explain that. The drug war has destroyed numerous countries now. Both the demand for and the war against is coming from the USA. The collateral damage is showing up in the only place that has money. GDP per capita in those three countries is about $3K. Something on the order of 6% of ours. You just go ahead and show us where the money is going to come from in those desperately poor countries.

At $252 a day you can preen around saying we care for them more than our own citizens. But that would be just as asinine.

lol ok no problem.. First, demand does not come from the USA, it comes from EVERYWHERE, drug addicts abound in every country. We do have many more people than most, and they charge us a lot more money.. and our government wastes a lot more money than any other trying to pointlessly combat it with police, military, and education.. How about we throw another billion down there and give it to the government of whatever country to distribute, how much will these caring people at the top give to their people?

You are the one who separated out the US electorate and said they do not care about about the people of central America.. Compared to who? What country *does* care more than the US does? What country is doing more? Which country is giving more?? You must have some reason to select them to contrast from the rest right?? Otherwise what you said was way beyond asinine..

Edited July 9, 2014 by OnMyWayID