I moved out of Mexico about a year and half ago into deep south Texas in order to stay warm and have inexpensive rent but not be in Mexico. And supposedly because I was going to watch the Starship launches in person but I am too lazy and broke for that.

This article makes me think I should definitely find another completely different inexpensive area to live when the lease runs out.

But the recommendation to build a wall and hope you can choke them off doesn't sound very promising. I also personally think part of the problem is the extreme wealth disparity between the countries. And I know people will say that is because rich Mexicans hoard wealth more or something but that's only part of it.

I just don't think you can have a "real" civil society without effective government. Despite how horrible we know government to be, we can see the alternative in Mexico today.

My own opinion is that it's a humanitarian crisis that doesn't actually stay outside of the US anyway, and at some point we need an integrated and functional cross-continental American government and much more relative equity in income between regions. And if you can approach that then maybe you can work on a reversal of the criminal culture.

My suspicion is that a lot of this is getting worse with deteriorating real-world economics.

I am interested to hear about this "build a wall and choke off the demand" thing could really work out in the long run. It doesn't sound effective or humane.

How would the cartels get anywhere close to an important place within the US?

I think this article is imagining that the cartels are effective military, that the US military stands down, and that US citizens are weak and ineffective like South American peasants.

In reality a little bit of unpoliced chaos in the US would quickly lead to civil war level cleansing in the affected areas. How far would a gringo get unnoticed in Mexico or Somalia? (Not very far)

Interesting article, but I have little reason to believe the Cartels would provoke further attacks with indiscriminate murder in Texas. It's also questionable to claim the majority of Cartel members, most of which are street gangsters and untrained affiliates, would have the resolve to fight a guerrilla war.

Hit them hard and keep it up until they're all dead