[Hackers]

The covert program, begun during the Biden administration and stepped up by President Trump, is hunting for the location of fentanyl labs.

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.

Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/us/po...exico.html

What do you think?
I'm happy to see us targeting fentonyl labs. The drug kills countless Americans & others each day.
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. To do so, we may need to forcefully remove the current President as they are known to be loyal to cartels behind the scenes.

[Klonopin]

It would also probably help a lot with catching people who try to cross the border illegally.

[Hackers]

It would also probably help a lot with catching people who try to cross the border illegally.

Yes & no, there are illegal crossings, but many have been here for decades. There are also a significant amount that come in "legally" on a visa and then "become illegal" by not leaving when they're supposed to. Others will violate the terms of the visa, such as starting a business while on a student visa.

Not arguing with you ~ you are correct that the drones could be used for that.

I do just want to point out the following quick stats still though:

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.

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.

A similar stat:

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.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/686056668...-crossings

All in all, illegal crossings are obviously a major problem.
But there are so many other things we'll need to do to get rid of illegal immigration. The border is only part of the issue.

I think it's worth mentioning - and again, not really directed at you specifically Klonopin.
It's worth mentioning because I feel that some people in MAGA think the problem is just a matter of securing the border. If they want to get rid of ALL illegal immigrants like they say they want to, they'd need to monitor US soil mostly and do ID verification checks on the entire population. They can limit future immigration on the border but they're solving less than 50% of the current & future problem.

----

On the topic of fentonyl, this is related - but for Canada:

> I am mentioning this part because a large part of MAGA believes that Canada is a much larger threat than it is, regarding illegal drug trafficking:

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.”

It's worth noting that Canada intercepts a very high amount of fentonyl & other drugs illegally entering their country from the USA.
The gaslighting from the Trump admin on this is ridiculous.

[Epic]

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.

[Hackers]

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.

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.

[Epic]

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.

Good shout here. I did a little more research after my last reply, it seems Mexico may actually be doing more manufacturing than I previously thought. But for the Mexican labs they do still get precursors from China. Crazy situation really.

[Tyr]

Nodes should be the moderator for this subforum.

[Hackers]

Nodes should be the moderator for this subforum.

Omniscient would have to fully trust me to be unbiased, which I mostly am, but he wouldn’t trust me on that one Tyr lol

I will say that I do well in positions and have happily sacrificed my own views to do my job well in the past.

But I also was a forum admin for years before I really got into coding. I think my forum management days are best left in the past.

Appreciate you Tyr lol

[Rsynced]

Well I guess it's not a secret ?

[Omniscient]

Doesn't seem like much of a "Secret" program to me if the New York Times is writing about it. And I'm SHOCKED that CIA is sending drones over Mexico looking for Cartel, just shocking.

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.

I don't like the idea of drone attacks for basically civilian crime. No way do I trust that innocent civilians won't get killed. Also, where is due process in this? Surely the Mexican government wouldn't be too pleased if we started to do this. If anything, we should send trainers to Mexico and equip them for this type of action, let them do the dirty work and we just offer training and logistics supplies.

But overall don't like the idea of drone strikes on what is technically civilians even if they are criminals. I think military use only in war situations. So unless USA declares war against Mexico because of the cartels, prefer we didn't do drone strikes. IMHO it's terrorism.