Quote:The United States has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs, part of the Trump administration’s more aggressive campaign against drug cartels, according to U.S. officials.

The covert drone program, which has not been previously disclosed, began under the Biden administration, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the program.

But President Trump and his C.I.A. director, John Ratcliffe, have repeatedly promised more intense action against Mexican drug cartels. Increasing the drone flights was a quick initial step.

The C.I.A. has not been authorized to use the drones to take lethal action, the officials said, adding that they do not envision using the drones to conduct airstrikes. For now, C.I.A. officers in Mexico pass information collected by the drones to Mexican officials.

(Feb 18, 2025 09:27 AM)Klonopin Wrote:  It would also probably help a lot with catching people who try to cross the border illegally.

Quote:The US Department of Homeland Security has estimated there were 11 million illegal migrants living in the US as of January 2022. It says about a fifth of them arrived in 2010 or later but the majority arrived before this time, some as early as the 1980s.

Quote:etween 2007 and 2018, visa overstays have accounted for a larger share of the growth in the illegal immigrant population than illegal border crossings, which have declined considerably from 2000 to 2018. In 2022, only 37% of illegal immigrants were from Mexico, the smallest share on record.

Quote:The report released Wednesday by the Center for Migration Studies of New York finds that from 2016-2017, people who overstayed their visas accounted for 62 percent of the newly undocumented, while 38 percent had crossed a border illegally.

Quote:Just 0.2% of US border fentanyl seizures are at the Canadian border
Trump has lumped together the Canadian border and the Mexican border when talking about illegal fentanyl imports. The day after his inauguration in January, for example, he said, “The fentanyl coming through Canada is massive. The fentanyl coming through Mexico is massive.”

(Feb 18, 2025 10:00 AM)Epic Wrote:  I'm always slightly confused when articles like this talk about Mexican "fentanyl drug labs". Nearly all fentanyl is produced in China and then sent directly to Mexico or the USA. I'm sure the have labs that recook it or whatever in Mexico though.

Shutinf down labs is good I guess, but a small cog in fixing the overall problem.

(Feb 18, 2025 10:03 AM)nodes Wrote:  Yeah, definitely true. I think it's made all over, but not sure if Mexico is the true "source" of this problem like you say.
Not sure if we can rely on low IQ individuals to think this deeply though. MAGA stopped reading when a hint of hispanic drugs came up.

(Feb 18, 2025 12:06 PM)Tyr Wrote:  Nodes should be the moderator for this subforum.

Quote:I'd like to see us collaborate with Mexico to rip control from the cartels. We can bomb their facilities, go in with military force, and ensure Mexico is a valuable trading partner with the US without the influence of criminals.