ANALYSIS – South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has received a lot of flak for her book anecdote about killing her dog. She has also been banned from almost all the Indian reservations in the state.
The latter for rightly stating that Mexican drug cartels are operating on these reservations.
And while killing her dog may have been wrong (bragging about it in her book certainly was), she isn't wrong about the cartels.
But they are operating far beyond South Dakota. A chilling new report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment paints a grim picture of how the deadly Mexican cartels are operating across our entire country. And no state is immune from this scourge.
The recent explosion in cartel activity across the U.S. is largely driven by Joe Biden's disastrous open borders policy which is allowing the notorious Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) to establish a stranglehold on the illicit drug trade, fueling an unprecedented number of overdose deaths for Americans aged 18-45.
The report notes that:
No single cartel controls specific border crossings, or ports of entry (POEs), into the United States, and some drug shipments cross the border between, not through, official POEs. The size and firepower of the cartel that controls the border region of Mexico immediately south of the U.S. border, however, does dictate which other drug trafficking groups have to pay a piso [fee] to smuggle drugs through the region toward the border, and which are barred from transiting the region altogether. The Sinaloa Cartel exerts near-total control over the border region south of Arizona, giving the cartel easy access to the San Luis Rio Colorado and Nogales POEs.
The report adds:
The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, or Jalisco Cartel, is one of Mexico's most powerful and ruthless criminal organizations, and another key driver of fatal drug poisonings in the United States. Since its formation around 2011 out of the remnants of the Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated Milenio Cartel, the Jalisco Cartel has become wholly independent and now operates well beyond Mexico's borders, with a presence in dozens of countries around the world and all 50 U.S. states.
DEA further explains:
The Jalisco Cartel mainly uses legal POEs for crossing drugs over the Southwest Border into the United States, mostly in shipments carried by tractor-trailers or by couriers in personally-owned vehicles. Although the Jalisco Cartel is one of the two largest cartels in Mexico, they control very little territory in immediate proximity to the U.S. border. Therefore, its members willingly pay a piso for the use of POEs, tunnels, or other smuggling routes into the United States to whichever criminal organization currently controls access. Alliances and relationships with these smaller groups provides the Jalisco Cartel with a measure of protection from theft or law enforcement seizure as their drug shipments cross through these other groups' territories.
The DEA report shows how these cartels have come to dominate the production and trafficking of fentanyl, methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs that have ravaged communities nationwide.
As the Tampa Free Press notes: “The DEA's report also paints a troubling picture of the cartels' deep infiltration into communities across the United States.”
It continues:
Thousands of cartel-linked drug dealers operate in major cities, serving as the final link in a vast distribution network that stretches from Mexico to every corner of America.
The report identifies key hubs for the cartels, such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami, where the organizations maintain a strong presence. From these central nodes, smaller branches spread the deadly drugs further, often utilizing social media and messaging apps to advertise their products and recruit new dealers.
The DEA's report includes a detailed map illustrating the varying levels of cartel presence in each U.S. state. The border states of California, Arizona, and Texas, as well as Illinois, Florida, and New York, are shaded in the darkest blue, indicating the highest levels of cartel activity. However, the report emphasizes that no state is immune, with some degree of cartel presence now documented in all 50 states.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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