Melissa Ford is the policy director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Secure & Sovereign Texas campaign, which strives to keep our nation safe and free. Melissa’s work and expertise is focused on policies that secure the border and restore the rule of law as we fix and improve legal immigration to the United States. Melissa writes about foreign policy, public safety, drug cartels, and organized crime.
Berta Gisela Gaitan, who was running mayor of the municipality of Celaya in Mexico, was gunned down on Monday at a political rally. Hers was the third such assassination of a political candidate in recent weeks. Her brazen murder indisputably refutes many of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s claims in a recent “60 Minutes”...
On Dec. 28, the White House issued a joint communiqué with Mexico that created some tension when the American version identified “democratic decline” as one of the root causes of heavy and irregular migration flows at the border. When Mexico’s version excluded that phrase, it was immediately removed from the White House statement to align with the...
Amid one of the worst national security, immigration and public safety crises in U.S. history, President Biden’s attempts to smooth over the crisis at the southern border are actually exacerbating the situation. At this point, he is empowering the very authoritarian regimes responsible for orchestrating the flow of refugees and migrants to the U.S. to begin with....
In late July, the U.S. State Department presented a report to Congress which added nearly 40 individuals from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, including former presidents, judges, and other public figures to this year’s list of “corrupt and undemocratic actors.” Yet strangely enough, our close neighbor, Mexico—which ranks among the top five most corrupt countries globally—remains absent from...
Last week, Chinese organized crime groups were found working with the Mexican cartels in a global money laundering scheme. But while the White House, Beijing and Mexico City continue to trade accusations, officials in Texas — which has the nation’s longest border with Mexico — are taking real steps to address the problem. Chinese involvement in the...
A compelling collection of stories by Jason Buch tells a gripping tale about embezzled money stolen from Mexican taxpayers making its way through a Texas bank and ultimately into extravagant assets such as real estate, cars, and various luxury items. Buch’s investigative reporting begins by delving into the life of Luis Carlos Castillo Cervantes, also...
The former Mexican governor of Tamaulipas and one-time presidential hopeful was sentenced to nine years in prison two weeks ago, after spending millions of dollars in illegal bribes to fraudulently purchase property in the U.S. Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and has long been accused of accepting millions in bribes from...
It’s hard to imagine the same barbaric cartel activity that has ravaged Mexico spreading across the border we share, but make no mistake—cartel activity is no longer confined to Mexico. It is present in all of our communities. Drug cartels are ruthless, strategic, highly organized money-making entities that continue to evolve in strength and sophistication....
Since President Joe Biden took office, he has prioritized strengthening relations with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Biden has called the Mexican leader a “friend and partner,” proclaimed his “great respect” for him and often touted their “strong and productive relationship.” AMLO, as the Mexican president is commonly called, successfully campaigned on promises to pacify the...
It’s impossible to ignore the historically high level of violence in Mexico, the southern neighbor with whom we share the largest border, trade alliance, and heritage. For years, cartels in Mexico have engaged in mass killings, kidnappings, decapitations, rapes, and torture—nothing new. What’s concerning is the Mexican government’s involvement, now enabling drug gangs to operate...
Last week, journalist Hector de Mauleon published a column revealing alleged classified cables claiming the state of Tamaulipas’s governor-elect, Americo Villarreal, received up to $7 million from the Mexican gang Cartel del Noreste to finance his political campaign. To no one’s surprise, Villarreal is denying these allegations. However, accusations of cartel collusion are common in Mexican politics — and...
Ronald Reagan once observed that, “Whenever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off.” The Texas version of that statement equates to: Whenever we lower property tax rates to the no-new-revenue level or lower, our entire state is better off. For those not familiar with the term, the no-new-revenue tax rate is...