McAllen, Texas — Miami Mayor and Republican presidential hopeful Francis Suarez says there is a sense of hopelessness along the border. People don’t see an end to the current crisis where only the cartels seem to be benefiting, he explained during a visit to the Texas/ Mexico border.
“There is a sense of hopelessness, it’s chaos, it’s anarchy, and I am going to fix it,” Suarez told a group of reporters during his South Texas visit. He added that he is not looking to score political points but to provide long-term solutions.
As part of the visit, Suarez toured several parts of the border and met with law enforcement officials and business leaders. The groups spoke to the Republican primary candidate about the many challenges they are currently facing, how laws are not being enforced, and the lack of response from federal government officials.
“I am the only mayor in this race,” he said. “I know how these issues, especially the presence of cartels, affect our communities.”
“In the 1980s in Miami, in the era of the cartels, we had 300 murders; this year, we had 17,” the Miami mayor stated
One of the topics discussed during the trip was how some drug cartels are making more money from human smuggling and trafficking than the drug trade — something that the current Biden administration has only emboldened, Suarez said.
The immigration crisis, coupled with the current fentanyl overdoses nationwide, place drug cartels at the top of his list. He pledged to designate them as terrorist groups and use tariffs if needed. He added he would increase investment and commerce to force or encourage Mexico to become a true partner in targeting them. One of the ways to do that is to stop sending half a trillion to China for jobs that can be done in America and neighboring countries, Suarez explained.
In addressing immigration, Suarez said part of the solution is to focus on increasing legal immigration to fill employment needs in the U.S. and make smart investments in Latin America. He said that immigrants looking for a better life would rather stay home if the conditions there were to improve.
“People want to come here legally,” Suarez said. “When they can’t, then they take a chance risking their lives. The only ones that benefit from this are the cartels.”
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at
