The suggestion to send US troops to Mexico to fight drug cartels combines the worst features of the war on drugs and the war on terrorism. From Ron Paul at ronpaulinstitute.org:
The 50-year US war on drugs has been a total failure, with hundreds of billions of dollars flushed down the drain and our civil liberties whittled away fighting a war that cannot be won. The 20 year “war on terror” has likewise been a gigantic US government disaster: hundreds of billions wasted, civil liberties scorched, and a world far more dangerous than when this war was launched after 9/11.
So what to do about two of the greatest policy failures in US history? According to President Trump and many in Washington, the answer is to combine them!
Last week Trump declared that, in light of an attack last month on US tourists in Mexico, he would be designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Asked if he would send in drones to attack targets in Mexico, he responded, “I don’t want to say what I’m going to do, but they will be designated.” The Mexican president was quick to pour cold water on the idea of US drones taking out Mexican targets, responding to Trump’s threats saying “cooperation, yes; interventionism, no.”
Trump is not alone in drawing the wrong conclusions from the increasing violence coming from the drug cartels south of the border. A group of US Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging that the US slap sanctions on the drug cartels in response to the killing of Americans.
Do these Senators really believe that facing US sanctions these drug cartels will close down and move into legitimate activities? Sanctions don’t work against countries and they sure won’t work against drug cartels.
A recent editorial in the conservative Federalist publication urges President Trump to launch “unilateral, no-permission special forces raids” into Mexico like the US did into Pakistan to fight ISIS and al-Qaeda!
I am sure the military-industrial complex loves this idea! Another big war to keep Washington rich at the expense of the rest of us. And the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force can even be trotted out to fight this brand new “terror war”!
Perhaps unintentionally, however, this sudden push to look at the Mexican drug cartels as we did ISIS and al-Qaeda does make sense. After all, the rise of the drug cartels and the rise of the terror cartels have both been due to bad US policy. It was the US invasion of Iraq based on neocon lies that led to the creation of ISIS and expansion of al-Qaeda in the Middle East and it was the US war on drugs that led to the rise of the drug cartels in Mexico.
Here’s another suggestion: maybe instead of doing the same things that do not work we might look at the actual cause of the problems. The US war on drugs makes drugs enormously profitable to Mexican suppliers eager to satisfy a ravenous US market. A study last year by the CATO Institute found that with the steady decriminalization and legalization of marijuana across the United States, the average US Border Patrol agent seized 78 percent less marijuana in fiscal year 2018 than in FY 2013.
Instead of declaring war on Mexico, perhaps the answer to the drug cartel problem is to take away their incentives by ending the war on drugs. Why not try something that actually works?
STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 
docfnc
David Olen Cross writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime
Oregon Department of Corrections: Foreign National Drug Crime Report October 2019
December 2, 2019
Data Compiled By David Olen Cross
Information obtained from the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) indicated on October 1, 2019 revealed that 65 of the 857 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) in the state’s prison system were incarcerated for drug crimes — 7.58 percent of the criminal alien prison population.
Using DOC U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the total number criminal alien inmates in the DOC prison system along with the number and percentage of those alien inmates incarcerated on October 1st in the state’s prisons for drug crimes.
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Month/Day/Year DOC Total Inmates W/ICE Detainers DOC Number of Inmates W/ICE Detainers for Drug Crimes DOC Percent of Inmates W/ICE Detainers for Drug Crimes
October 1, 2019 857 65 7.58%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 19.
The 65 criminal aliens in the DOC prison system incarcerated for drug crimes were 7.13 percent of all inmates, domestic and foreign, in the state’s prisons for drug crimes.
Using the DOC Inmate Population Profile and ICE immigration detainer numbers from October 1st, the following table reveals the total number inmates incarcerated for drug crimes, the number of domestic and criminal alien inmates incarcerated for drug crimes and the percentage drug crimes committed by criminal aliens.
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Month/Day/Year DOC Total Number of Inmates Incarcerated for Drug Crimes DOC Number of Domestic Inmates Incarcerated for Drug Crimes DOC Number of Inmates W/ICE Detainers Incarcerated for Drug Crimes DOC Inmates W/ICE Detainers as a Percentage of All Inmates incarcerated for Drug Crimes
October 1, 2019 912 847 65 7.13%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 19 and Inmate Population Profile 01 October 19.
Criminal aliens were incarcerated in DOC prisons for drug crimes from 15 of 36 Oregon counties — 41.67 percent of the counties in the state.
Five Oregon counties, Multnomah (14 alien drug criminals), Clackamas (13 alien drug criminals), Washington (10 alien drug criminals), Jackson (6 alien drug criminals) and Marion (6 alien drug criminals) had 49 of 65 criminal alien inmates incarcerated in DOC prisons for drug crimes — 75.38 percent of the alien inmates incarcerated for drug crimes.
Using DOC ICE immigration detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of criminal alien inmates incarcerated on October 1st that were sent to prison from the state’s 36 counties for drug crimes.
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
County DOC Number of Inmates W/ ICE Detainers by County Incarcerated for Drug Crimes DOC Percent of Inmates W/ ICE Detainers by County Incarcerated for Drug Crimes
Multnomah 14 21.54%
Clackamas 13 20.00%
Washington 10 15.38%
Jackson 6 9.23%
Marion 6 9.23%
Umatilla 4 6.15%
Lane 3 4.62%
Jefferson 2 3.08%
Benton 1 1.54%
Deschutes 1 1.54%
Josephine 1 1.54%
Klamath 1 1.54%
Polk 1 1.54%
Union 1 1.54%
Wasco 1 1.54%
Baker 0 0.00%
Clatsop 0 0.00%
Columbia 0 0.00%
Coos 0 0.00%
Crook 0 0.00%
Curry 0 0.00%
Douglas 0 0.00%
Gilliam 0 0.00%
Grant 0 0.00%
Harney 0 0.00%
Hood River 0 0.00%
Lake 0 0.00%
Lincoln 0 0.00%
Linn 0 0.00%
Malheur 0 0.00%
Morrow 0 0.00%
OOS (Not a County) 0 0.00%
Sherman 0 0.00%
Tillamook 0 0.00%
Wallowa 0 0.00%
Wheeler 0 0.00%
Yamhill 0 0.00%
Total 65 100.00%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 19
Criminal aliens from five identified countries were incarcerated in DOC prisons for drug crimes.
Foreign nationals who declared their country or origin as being Mexico were 61 of 65 criminal aliens convicted of drug crimes incarcerated in the DOC prison system — 93.85 percent of the alien drug criminals in the state’s prisons.
Using DOC ICE immigration detainer numbers, the following table reveals the self-declared countries of origin of the 65 criminal alien inmates by number and percentage incarcerated on October 1st in the state’s prisons for drug crimes.
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Country DOC Number of Inmates W/ ICE Detainers by Country Incarcerated for Drug Crimes DOC Percent of Inmates W/ ICE Detainers by Country Incarcerated for Drug Crimes
Mexico 61 93.85%
Cuba 1 1.54%
Honduras 1 1.54%
Italy 1 1.54%
Laos 1 1.54%
Total 65 100.00%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 19.
David Olen Cross of Salem, Oregon is a crime researcher who writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime. The preceding report is a service to federal, state, county and city elected and non elected governmental officials to help them assess the impact of foreign national crime in the United States of America. He can be reached at docfnc@yahoo.com. His current and past crime reports can be found at http://docfnc.wordpress.com/.
https://docfnc.wordpress.com/2019/12/02/oregon-department-of-corrections-foreign-national-drug-crime-report-october-2019/
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