Texas Republican Rep. Pat Fallon told Newsmax on Wednesday that he believes Mexican cartels have taken control over the southern border of the United States.
Responding to a question from "American Agenda" on the possibility of the cartels taking over the area, Fallon said, "I think they have."
"Let's look at what the cartels are doing there. They have a GDP estimated to be as high as $25 billion annually, which is the size of a small nation-state ... And you know they're a huge corrupting influence in Mexico. But the cartels are sinister and rather clever. They have monetized the illegal immigration crisis by charging a fee for quote-on-quote protection. And that is estimated to be an additional $13 billion of revenue from human smuggling."
"They're controlling the southern border. And Joe Biden has abdicated his responsibility, and it's been a gross dereliction of duty," Fallon added.
On Wednesday, the New York Post reported that residents and officials in Yuma, Arizona, have also said the cartels are in control of the border.
"This is not a political discussion," Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines said. "This is a national security issue."
"Unless this situation changes and we take back control from the cartels, for the trafficking coming across our border, it will only get worse."
According to a farmer in Yuma, Alex Muller, "There's a lot of people that don't like the United States for whatever reason, and there's plenty of people that want to get in here and do some damage. It's just like a ticking time bomb."
In fiscal year 2022, Customs and Border Protection recorded 2.7 million encounters with migrants crossing the southern border.
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