Free Republic

Mexico is the living example of what befalls a nation when it allows corruption to run rampant and fails to crack down on crime. The effect cartel violence has on the lives of Mexicans is now common knowledge — for many in the Latin American nation, there is always a lingering fear, a walking on eggshells to avoid running afoul of deadly organized crime. The average Mexican citizen understands that, should he rub the local narcos the wrong way and incur their displeasure, he can expect little-to-no help from the authorities and can do just as little to defend himself...

WASHINGTON – When Sen. John McCain spoke during an Armed Services Committee hearing last year on security issues in the Western Hemisphere, he relayed a stark warning about the spread of Mexican drug cartels in the United States. “The cartels,” the Arizona Republican said, “now maintain a presence in over 1,000 cities.” McCain based his remarks on a report by a now-defunct division of the Justice Department, the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), which had concluded in 2011 that Mexican criminal organizations, including seven major drug cartels, were operating in more than 1,000 U.S. cities. But the number, widely reported...

A big drop in illegal immigration seems to be taking place along the US-Mexico border. Some attribute this to rising prosperity in Mexico, but other more influential factors are in play. According to a 2010 Department of Homeland Security report, the number of undocumented immigrants living in the US declined from 11.6 million in 2008 to 10.6 million in 2009, the largest decrease in 30 years. One of the most common explanations for this phenomenon is that Mexico has witnessed the emergence of a middle class, lessening the economic incentive to cross the border. While it is true that a...