After some members of the migrant caravan from Central America threw rocks and tried to rush America’s southern border over the weekend, the story was big news. The use of tear gas by border officials ended the skirmish, but produced heart-tugging photos of children caught in the melee.
Separately, those who bothered to dig deeper into the news pages and broadcasts learned that “El Chapo,” the Mexican drug lord, allegedly paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes to a former police chief in Mexico City and spent $6 million buying airplanes on a single trip to Los Angeles.
The two stories are separated in the news flow because, as far as the media are concerned, there is no connection between them. The media are technically right and fundamentally wrong.
The waves of desperate migrants and the “El Chapo” operation that is said to have brought drugs and death into the United States are two sides of the same problem: our Swiss-cheese border with Mexico. Both the physical barriers and our laws have too many holes in them, and Americans are paying a steep price on many fronts.
President Trump has focused on the holes since becoming a candidate, showcasing the flow of drugs across the border and the violence committed by illegal immigrants. Leftists and many Democrats mock him and call him a racist, a pattern on full display when CNN’s Jim Acosta argued with Trump on television and foolishly insisted that the caravan was not a threat and that its members would not try to force their way into the US.
We didn’t need Sunday’s rush on the border to know Trump was right and Acosta was wrong. But there is still an eyes-wide-shut approach among many Americans about the problems porous borders cause our country.
Nor are many Americans aware of the horrific levels of violence in Latin and Central America that are driving migrants to risk their lives and break the law to get into the United States.
Even while acknowledging that the vast majority of illegal immigrants, who could number more than 20 million, work hard and obey the laws once they are here, it remains a fact that across the nation, there are whole communities living outside the legal system and that inflated medical and school costs are one result. There is also a downward pressure on wages for unskilled workers, and harsh conditions are imposed by some employers willing to exploit the fact that their undocumented workers won’t complain about labor violations.
Then there is the violent crime and the decades-long drug epidemic, as gruesomely reflected in the trial of “El Chapo,” whose real name is Joaquin Guzman Loera. He is on trial in Brooklyn federal court in part because, prosecutors say, his drugs ended up in the US and in part because Mexico is too corrupted by drug money. Twice, he escaped prison there, and allowing him to be extradited to New York was a tacit admission by Mexican authorities that they could not guarantee he wouldn’t escape again or that his trial wouldn’t be tainted by bribes.
Even in Brooklyn, security has been extremely tight, with the Brooklyn Bridge shut down to other traffic when a convoy, including an ambulance, moves him. Witnesses are guarded and, when a former pilot for Guzman testified Monday, Judge Brian Cogan ordered sketch artists not to show any facial likeness that would make the witness an easy target for assassins. To make sure the artists complied, prosecutors were given final say over what sketches were allowed to leave the courtroom and be published, a form of censorship the media accepted.
The extraordinary precautions reflect the charges against Guzman, which are so gruesome and sweeping that they defy easy comprehension. Prosecutors allege he is guilty of the torture and murder of rivals, money laundering and weapons offenses. They say his Sinaloa Cartel, named for the Mexican state where he was born, smuggled more than 200 tons of cocaine into the US.
The former pilot who testified, Miguel Angel Martinez, said he began working for Guzman 30 years ago and was soon moving 800 kilos of cocaine each night from Colombia to Mexico, using as many as 10 airplanes and various boats. The prices were high — a kilo was worth $25,000 in Chicago and $40,000 in New York, and prosecutors say Guzman took in more than $14 billion. The impact of his operation and others like it are not limited to the US, and the crime and corruption associated with the drug trade in their home countries explain why so many people are desperate to get to America. Cities in Central America and Mexico have some of the world’s highest murder rates, and most crimes go unsolved because of the power of cartels and other criminal gangs.
With just 8 percent of the world’s population, Latin America accounts for about one-third of all global murders, according to The Wall Street Journal. It said four nations — Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia — account for nearly 25 percent of the world’s homicides.
Against that hellish reality, and not to mention the threat of international terrorists coming through Mexico, a strong southern border is not just an option. It is essential if America is to remain a safe haven from the violence and mayhem engulfing our neighbors.
Call him Pinoch-Cuomo
There he goes again. Still and always, Gov. Cuomo refuses to tell the truth about the federal tax law.
In a radio interview, he claimed it “was basically a tax cut for the richest Americans” and “the effect of it will raise New York’s taxes by about 30 percent, property taxes and income taxes, city tax, state tax.”
None of this is true. Studies show that more than 80 percent of New Yorkers will get a tax cut under the law, and those who pay more will be in the highest income brackets.
As for forcing hikes in state taxes, that will happen only if limits on deducting state and local taxes drive high earners to low-tax states, and Cuomo tries to make up the lost revenue by raising state taxes on those who don’t flee.
He never mentions another alternative — cutting New York taxes to make it more competitive. If he did that, he wouldn’t have to worry about people fleeing, nor would he have to pay Amazon to come here.
Sweet and sour charity
Giving Tuesday is a global good idea that urges people to pick out their favorite causes and make a financial contribution. Many companies match donations made by their employees.
Yet proving that politicians are willing to ruin the best things, city Councilmember Jumaane Williams of Brooklyn sent out a creepy e-mail. Here is the opening:
“Today is #GivingTuesday and we’re asking you to invest in the future of this city. Rush a donation to Jumaane’s campaign for Public Advocate right now!”
Yuck.
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