President Trump has said he is close to a decision that would designate Mexican drug cartels as officially recognized terrorist networks by the United States.

Remember, within the geopolitical dynamic that benefits all three North American countries, Mexico needs to start taking clear and decisive actions toward all levels of internal corruption if the ultimate economic objective of the USMCA is going to work.

Mexican President Lopez-Obrador is concerned this designation could lead to U.S. military engagement against the cartels.  The Democrats are concerned this designation would mean they could no longer accept campaign donations from the drug cartels; and into this mix of interests, U.S. Attorney Bill Barr is going to Mexico.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that his government was committed to fighting organized crime, seeking to dispel fears that the United States could take matters in its own hands in the fight against drug cartels.
U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he plans to designate the Mexican cartels as terrorist groups, a move aimed at disrupting their finances by imposing sanctions.
While this does not directly give the United States authority for military operations in Mexico, many Mexicans are nervous their northern neighbor could use it as a pretext for a unilateral invention.

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Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case: “DHS -vs- Regents of University of California“, also known as the DACA case: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.  DACA was instituted by a President Obama ‘executive action’, not an ‘executive order’.
The Obama Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) did not fully support the constitutional framework around the effort to protect a sub-set of illegal aliens; and therefore the originating presidential action was not an official ‘executive order’, a technicality that could end up as part of the argument(s).  The same issue existed within DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Arrivals), and was ruled unconstitutional by a divided SCOTUS.
Amy Howe at SCOTUS Blog has a great encapsulation of the case and current status:

In 2012, the Obama administration established a program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows undocumented young adults who came to the United States as children to apply for protection from deportation.

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Promises made – Promises Kept…

President Donald Trump delivers remarks to the media today while touring border wall construction in Otay Mesa, California.   As a builder himself, the president outlined some of the more particular details of the construction project including the difference between compressive strength and tensile strength of 5,000/lb concrete.  There is apparently some additional aspects to the wall that are kept secret (they’re wired for sound).

The President was briefed on the project by Douglas Harrison (Acting San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent, United States Customs & Border Protection); Kathleen Scudder (San Diego Sector Deputy Chief Patrol Agent, United States Customs & Border Protection); Scott Garrett (San Diego Sector Division Chief, United States Customs & Border Protection); James O’Loughlin (Border Wall Program Lead, Emergency Action Programs, Department of Defense), and various local officials.
[Video Below, Transcript Will Follow]

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By now everyone is familiar with the Lawfare network; an alliance of ideological political interests inside and outside government who use the law to achieve their objectives.  [Specific Example Here]

During the Obama administration the Lawfare group: (1) weaponized the IRS for political targeting; (2) weaponized the DOJ and FBI for political targeting; (3) weaponized the intelligence community for political activism; (4) created new legal theories around ‘disparate impact’ to weaponize the National Labor Relations Board; and generally used embedded officials to advance far-left political interests across the spectrum of govt.

After they lost the 2016 election the Lawfare group immediately: (1) worked to delegitimize the presidency of Donald Trump; (2) delegitimize National Security Adviser General Flynn; (3) target, disempower and isolate AG Jeff Session; (4) delegitimize AG Bill Barr and the institution of the FBI outside their control; (5) delegitimize DHS, Border Patrol and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE); and (6) delegitimize any institution or office that would now be removing or overturning their former Lawfare constructs.
What we are seeing today from the Lawfare Alliance appears as a designed effort to continue this overall agenda; now focused on delegitimizing the Supreme Court of the United States.

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The supreme court has upheld President Trump’s immigration enforcement policy that denies asylum claims to migrants who travel through safe nations to reach the U.S.

(Via AP) […] The justices’ order late Wednesday undoes a lower-court ruling that had blocked the new asylum policy in some states along the southern border. The policy is meant to deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without seeking protection there. (more)

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Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan holds a press conference to update on the status of ongoing border security and immigration enforcement.  [Video and Transcript Below]
Border arrests fell to roughly 51,000 in August, a more than 60 percent decrease from 133,000 arrests in May, which was the peak of the recent surge. [CPB Press Release] However, Commissioner Morgan emphasized that Mexico must continue to do more to secure the border.  Morgan said Mexico has taken “meaningful and unprecedented steps” to stop migrants passing through its country, “but they need to do more.”

U.S. and Mexican officials are scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss ongoing efforts and expectations from the Trump administration to continue avoiding tariffs. President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador deployed thousands of troops from a newly formed National Guard to intercept migrants and keep them from reaching the U.S. Southern border.  AMLO does not want to face U.S. tariffs on Mexican products.
[Transcript] ACTING COMMISSIONER MORGAN: Good morning. And thank you all for being here today.
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I am thankful every day that we have a businessman in the White House who brilliantly understands how to leverage U.S. economic power to achieve national security objectives.
While remaining under the threat of punishing U.S. tariffs, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (aka AMLO) is strictly enforcing migrant blockades to stop the unlawful travel of Central American migrants to the U.S. border.

(Via AP) […] Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said he believes Mexico’s strategy of cracking down on illegal migration with a National Guard deployment, investment in Central America and allowing the U.S. to make more asylum seekers wait in Mexico is enough to avert President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on all Mexican imports.

Ebrard is scheduled to meet with U.S. officials Tuesday at the White House to review the progress.

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HatTip DaveNyiii – Shocking video has surfaced (via Voice of America) of Mexican military police battling today with swarms of African migrants outside an immigration detention center in Tapachula, Mexico.  WATCH:

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How do African nationals get to Mexico?

[…]  J. Antonio Fernandez, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of San Antonio. These new arrivals hail from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola—two countries with no strong historic ties to the United States. (link)

It’s the business end of illegal immigration.  Previous background here.
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After federal authorities raided seven chicken processing facilities in Mississippi last week evidence is now surfacing (within probable cause affidavits – full pdf below) of willful and intentional illegal hiring practices.  But don’t look for all the employers to be prosecuted.
The Washington Post has an excellent outline of the seven facilities citing dozens of instances where evidence shows each company knew they were hiring people who were not legally eligible for work.
In a surprising number of cases the illegal employees were arrested by Border Patrol in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona and released on electronic-monitoring programs, including ankle bracelets, to await court dates.
According to the affidavits federal authorities tracked the GPS locators on some of the employees and found they were illegally working in all of the facilities.  During interviews with the workers they stated how friends and family members in Mexico and Guatemala told them where to go for work in Mississippi.
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The White House has announced the Trump administration will enforce long-standing immigration laws that require entrants to be economically self-sufficient and limits public welfare benefits.   An entry alien who is -or becomes- dependent on public welfare assistance, is known as a “public charge”.   Aliens will be barred from entering the United States if they are deemed likely to become public charges, or welfare dependent.
These immigration rules have been in place for over 100 years, and generally were strictly enforced until the last 25 years.  The Trump administration is re-enforcing the rules.

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The enforcement action will have a direct bearing on the current immigration process as most border arrivals are economic migrants manipulating asylum claims.  Immigration based on self-sufficiency has been U.S. law for generations.
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