Editor’s Note: The following article is part of our “Debunking the Lies” campaign. Leading up to the election we aim to publish articles refuting mainstream lies told about immigrants, migrants, and refugees.
Lie #12: Mexico is bringing in drugs and weapons across the border.
The Truth: Mexico’s guns come from the United States. And the drugs? They’re coming in through legal ports of entry, not through migrants.
Former President Trump has variously proposed firing missiles into Mexico, sending assassination teams, and invading Mexico to target drug cartels as his solution to the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. Trump Plans To Send Kill Teams To Mexico To Take Out Cartel Leaders – Rolling Stone
It does sound extreme, doesn’t it? What’s the truth of the matter?
- Between 70% to 90% of guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico can be traced back to the U.S. Stopping toxic flow of gun traffic from U.S. to Mexico — Harvard Gazette.
- Mexico has no domestic manufacturers of guns for civilians, unlike the U.S. which has several, as well as a powerful gun lobby. The licensing process in Mexico is strictly controlled and laborious. It’s only gun shop is on a military base There is only one gun store in all of Mexico. So why is gun violence soaring? – Los Angeles Times.
- In 2004 the U.S. automatic weapons federal ban expired. In 2007 then Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched his campaign against narcotraffickers. US. producers of high-powered rifles put their production into high gear due to the heightened demand for them. An unprecedented wave of violence in Mexico erupted due to an unrestricted flow of weapons to south of the border. Tráfico de armas en la frontera de México y Estados Unidos: La frontera porosa y el río de acero: las armas ‘made in the US’ desangran a México | EL PAÍS US
- The same guns that are causing widespread violence in Mexico are used for mass killings in the U.S. For the U.S. semi-automatic adaptations are applied, though they are easy to convert to machine guns, as witnessed in recent high profile mass killings in the U.S. The semi-automatic adaptations are unnecessary for the Mexican gun market. “It is no coincidence that cartels choose the same types of assault weapons, namely AR-15s and AK-47s, that have been used in the deadliest mass shootings in the United States.” Damming the Iron River | Everytown Research & Policy
- The cartels preferentially purchase high powered military grade weapons from unscrupulous arms dealers and middlemen in the border states, especially Texas, Arizona, and California, but increasingly from states far removed from the border in order to escape detection Damming the Iron River | Everytown Research & Policy.
- Yes, the Mexican drug cartels are heavily armed but with U.S. guns. And Mexico’s gun violence is escalating with rival drug cartels fighting for control of the lucrative drug trade to the U.S., the world’s largest market for illicit drugs. Increasingly innocents in Mexico are caught in the crossfire, let alone Mexican police and military who are frequently outgunned by the cartels. CNN Español
- Today’s consequences In Mexico: 15% of homicides in 1997 were caused by guns. This figure rose to 68.3% in 2021. Between 2015 and 2022 160,000 people were killed by gun violence in Mexico. Cómo es el “tráfico hormiga” de armas de EE.UU. a México detrás de la inédita ola de violencia en ese país – BBC News Mundo
- Today’s consequences in the U.S.: In 2023, the country experienced the second- highest number of mass shootings on record, falling just behind the grim peak of 689 mass shootings in 2021. There were 712 mass shootings in 2023. Gun Violence by the Numbers in 2023 – The Trace
- Drugs, whether illegal or legal and guns go hand in hand. They are both highly profitable enterprises and are highly dependent upon each other. Militarizing the border to try to keep asylees and undocumented out of the U.S, does nothing to prevent the transport of weapons going the other direction, that fuel the drug problem, destabilize entire communities, and force people to flee for their lives. As the previous article pointed out, drugs such as fentanyl are coming into the U.S. through normal points of entry, smuggled in by U.S. citizens– not by undocumented persons. “La crisis del fentanilo e inmigrantes” – Tribuno del Pueblo
- Mexico has won in a U.S. court of appeals ruling against arms manufacturers earlier this year. The court ruled that “…the defendants have been aiding and abetting the sale of firearms by dealers in knowing violation of relevant [Mexican] state and federal laws.” CNN Español
Much more needs to be done. It all comes at a steep cost though.
- Purdue and the Sackler family had to pay for the drug problem they created with promoting prescribed legal drugs like oxycontin by deceptive advertising and marketing. When the drugs became unavailable a huge market was created due to prescriptions being cut off. This black market was driven by withdrawal symptoms and addiction as users began to self-medicate. The void was filled by black tar heroin and later fentanyl brought in by Mexican “businessmen” not unlike the Sackler family and U.S. armaments dealers—simply supplying a product to fill a demand and making a profit. The cost thus far in the U.S.: nearly a half million lives lost, social destruction, and continuing turmoil.
- It is necessary that the U.S. seriously address the weapon problem and violence wreaked both in Mexico and in the United States by easy access to military grade weaponry. Our futures are linked, border wall or no border wall.
- In the end the drug manufacturers, the gun manufacturers and dealers, and the cartels have been making their profit –whether legitimate or not– at tremendous loss of life and human cost on both sides of the border. To them it all comes down to the “cost of doing business.”
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