Episode 27: Mexico in Crisis and Why America Needs a Real Border Strategy

The Reagan Faulkner Show exposes how cartel boss El Mencho built Mexico’s most brutal cartel, CJNG, and how weak U.S. borders, birthright citizenship abuses, and left-wing anti-ICE activism have enabled cartel penetration into America—arguing for closed borders, mass deportations, strong policing, and an unapologetic America First security strategy.

Transcript

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What's up guys and welcome back to the Reagan Faulkner Show. So as I'm sure many of y'all have seen in the news and are aware of, there is unprecedented levels of violence and chaos and turmoil happening in Mexico right now. So I think it's really important for us to dive into the background of what's happening and who El Mencho actually is so that we can have a broader conversation on national security and why our country needs real border strategy. This is a little bit of an episode to counter what we've been seeing from the anti-ICE protesters, to counter what we've been seeing from the anti-deportation people on the left and even the anti-deportation people that might be on the right, and to explain why ICE and why deportations, why arrests, why the police, if we want to go all the way back to our 2020 defund the police situation, and why closing our borders as a whole is integral to the survival of our country. So right now, if you haven't heard, there's extreme violence happening in Mexico. Americans and others are being told to shelter in place. Tourists can't leave because airports are shut down. And why did all of this happen? What occurred? So on Sunday, February 22nd, El Mencho, who was the drug lord for the Jalisco New Generation cartel, died. Now, it's unclear whether this was a specific execution that was trying to happen, whether they were trying to kill him, because that's kind of what we were led to believe right after it happened. But then new sources are coming out saying that 100 cartel leaders, 100 kind of cartel bosses, very high-ups in cartels, have been arrested and have been extradited to the U.S., including El Mencho's brother-in-law. So they say that he died en route to Mexico City as they were trying to send him to the U.S. for trial and trying to put him in jail. But we really there's there's no clarity as of now about how he actually died and if that was supposed to happen or not. So what we're going to do is jump into the background of who El Mencho is, how he rose to power, and a little bit about the Jalisco New Generation cartel, and then look at all the national security and border strategy that I was explaining earlier. So on May 14th, 1986, El Mencho was actually in the U.S. and he was arrested for drug dealing, specifically trying to deal meth, in a drug ring circle that he had created after he entered our country illegally. Now, he has been deported three different times from the U.S. So he was arrested here, deported, and then again in 1992, he was re-arrested for trying to sell $9,500 worth of heroin. Guys, that is so much heroin.$9,500 worth of heroin to undercover agents in a bar. And at that point, he was sentenced to four years in prison. He did not serve all years, and he was deported back to Mexico for the third and final time. Now, by this time, he actually had two children that were born in America and were obviously American citizens due to birthright citizenship. Now, upon his return to Mexico, he actually ended up joining a local police force, which is shocking. I mean, he entered the U.S. illegally three times, got deported three times, was arrested twice in the U.S., but you know, he's going to go back to Mexico and serve as a law enforcement official because that makes sense. Now, after that, he actually returned to his hometown where he joined the Millenio Cartel, and that was really known as a cartel for lots and lots and lots of drug trafficking. They were a drug trafficking cartel. And guys, going to stop right here and pause. If I mispronounce any of these names, I am so sorry. And by the way, for context, El Mencho is like his drug lord name. And for the sake of confusion and me not butchering every single thing that I say in here, we're just going to refer to him as El Mencho because he has many children and their names are very similar. And it's just a lot easier to keep things straight that way. So now, while he was in the Millenio Cartel, he was a trained assassin. So his purpose was to go and kill other targeted individuals for the purpose of strengthening the Millenio Cartel and taking out any enemies or targets that the cartel may have. And he was specifically an assassin against the Los Zetas cartel, which is actually a designated terrorist organization and one of Mexico's most dangerous cartels. Now, in the early 2010s, Los Zetas had many, many factions split off and create smaller cartels and then create like agreements with each other and treaties and I mean, I guess not treaties because they're not official, but kind of work with each other. There were just tons and tons and tons of factions. Think of them like organized crime political parties. And then in 2011, they were actually weak enough in the Guadalajara region that the Millenio were able to take control of that territory. And this is very common with the cartels where they're constantly fighting for territory in different regions and things like that. So at this point, the Millenio was at least strong enough in Guadalajara to overtake Los Zetas. And then in 2008-2009, El Mencho was actually passed up for a couple of promotions that he had expected. So leaders were being killed and there were power vacuums emerging and he was passed up and passed up and passed up and he never got the promotion. So in 2011, he actually started leading a coup against the Millenio cartel. And he won. He won in 2011. So I think he actually I was mistaken. He started in 2010, his coup, I believe, and in 2011, he won. He then renamed the cartel the Jalisco New Generation or the CJNG. And he brought in the Los Coenis cartel. And that was a cartel that many of his wife's siblings were in the leadership of. So after that, the CJNG, the Jalisco New Generation cartel, was the they were just growing, they were growing at unprecedented rates, they were growing across, they were mostly on the west, the Millenio was mostly on the west coast of Mexico. They grew, like I said, to all 32 Mexican states, they were growing in their ability to traffic drugs, how much drugs they were trafficking, and how much money they were making. Now, the CJNG is known for their violence, their torture, and their force. Many of their members are actually forced to join at the age of 12 years old, there are lots and lots and lots of evidence that they've had members as young as 12 years old, literally being forced to join the cartel or having no other place to go except to join the cartel. Now, they also utilize forms of torture, such as acid baths and cannibalization, which is just horrifying and disgusting and sickening. They are considered the most powerful cartel in Mexico, and have mind boggling amounts of military equipment and military prowess. They also have an estimated net of $8 billion annually in cocaine and $4.6 billion in crystal meth. And finally, they're also reported to be involved with sex trafficking, as well as drug trafficking. And I also read something that said that they've started being involved in like rackets and schemes and things like that. So they might be involved in more white collar crimes, as well as all of this drug trafficking and sex trafficking and torture. And there's also like, there's evidence of murders and how ever since they grew when El Mencho took over in 2011, there are just these mass graves that have popped up all over Mexico. It's, it's truly sickening what the Jalisco New Generation cartel is capable of and what they are doing and what they have brought upon the entire nation of Mexico. But what is my point to telling you all of this? So that was a little bit about the Jalisco New Generation, a little bit about El Mencho, what they're capable of, what the cartel became when he got into power and how sickening and cruel and evil they became. But really, what is my point of telling you this? Well, first, it should be a good thing for the nation of Mexico that he is no longer in power and no longer trying to put this, this evil and this cruelty onto the streets of Mexico into all 32 states. But instead, what we've seen is the cartel actually start an uprising and attempt to overthrow the nation of Mexico. They have declared war on Mexico. They've also declared war on the U.S. So they're not going to stop. They have not eliminated the cartel. And if anything, there is just even more, at least visible chaos that we're seeing coming out of Mexico right now. Now, in relation to the U.S. and border security, why am I telling you this? Well, first, let's look a little bit at El Mencho's family tree. So obviously, he was the former leader of this cartel. He made it into the U.S. three separate times, was deported three separate times, didn't even serve the entirety of one of his prison sentences. So I think that's pretty important for us to understand about the way that, A, our border security was back in the late 80s and early 90s. And whenever the first time he came into the U.S. is, because at least personally, I can't find that. I don't know if anybody else can or if it's even known. And additionally, just like I said, the ease, the ease with which he got into the country, the ease with which he got let off on, you know, not not being there for his whole four years. And he just came in here and he dealt drugs, which obviously some of the drugs that he was dealing, if it's meth and heroin, he obviously killed Americans with those drug deals and with that drug ring. And we don't know what happened to the rest of the drug ring. We only know what happened to El Mencho. Now, the CJNG is also actually operating in the U.S. as we speak. And like I said, they have declared war on the U.S. So at least personally, that's slightly concerning. I think that should be concerning to anybody listening or anybody that has heard that, that they've declared war on the U.S. and the gang or the cartel, whatever you choose to call it, is operating in the U.S. as we speak. So there are people in the U.S. that have declared war on us and that want to see bad things happen to our country because we were the ones that gave Mexico the location of El Mencho for them to carry out the raid. Additionally, El Mencho's son is serving life without parole in a U.S. federal prison on your tax dollars. And like I said earlier in the episode, he was born in the U.S. and is a legal U.S. citizen. So if one cartel leader had a son in America and made him a U.S. citizen due to birthright citizenship, then how many others are living in here? How many others? There are so many different cartels that aren't obviously as powerful as this one. So how many other people are in here like that, that are legal U.S. citizens due to birthright citizenship, but that have loyalty to gangs and to war lords in other countries, specifically Mexico or other Latin American countries? Now, his daughter was also born in the U.S., making her a legal U.S. citizen. She served 22 months in a U.S. prison for her relationship with the cartel. Now, it's my understanding that she was released and that she has gone back to Mexico or was sent back to Mexico. Well, I guess she can't be sent back to Mexico because she's a legal U.S. citizen. I think she returned back to Mexico to further work with the family business, I guess you could say. Now, El Mencho's brother, Antonio, was arrested in 2022 after faking his death and fleeing to the U.S., but he was released in 2024, and he has allegedly been taken back into U.S. custody following the raid on February 22nd, along with those 100 other individuals that I mentioned. His brother-in-law, Jose Gonzalez Valencia, was extradited to the U.S. in 2025 and is now serving 30 years in prison. His son-in-law, Christian Fernando Gutierrez Ochoa, was arrested in California after faking his own death and was sentenced to 11 years in U.S. prison last December, December of 2025. So, obviously, it's a family business. This runs in the family, and we have to wonder, again, with other cartels, is this a family business? Have people been crossing our border illegally for all these years trying to conduct work for the cartel, and are they still in our country and they haven't been picked up by ICE yet? They haven't been found, or they're trying to operate some sort of network of people that are here, but they're the higher-ups in leadership, and they're still in Mexico. It's really hard to know. I also think I mistakenly said that it was El Mencho's brother-in-law that was sent to the U.S. following the raid. It was actually his brother, so I'm sorry for that mistake. It is really hard to keep this family tree straight because there is so much going on here, and they are literally all involved in just some of the most horrific crimes that you can imagine. Now, just based on this small analysis, kind of reiterating what I said, there are so many cartel leaders. There's so many of their children and their other relatives that are just around. They can be living in the U.S. They can be living in Mexico. They can be living in other Latin American countries. They can be living in other countries in general. We just don't know, and we can see how easily El Mencho and literally all of his relatives were able to come into the country illegally. To the benefit of the doubt, yes, it stopped because of President Trump and his strict border policy that was enacted, but prior to January 20, 2025, how many of those people came over our border under Biden? How many people came over the border under Obama? I know that with Trump this round, we've had zero border crossings, but I honestly don't. I believe that we may have had a couple of border crossings or border encounters under President Trump 2016 to 2020. We were still building the wall. We didn't have such a tight border protocol as we do now, so who entered, how many entered, and have we rounded them all up? Do we know where they are? Did they make it to other countries? Are they still out there, and we don't have the authority to take care of that situation. It's really hard to say, and I'm telling you this specifically to get to the people that are on the far left trying to protect these awful criminals from ICE and trying to allow them to stay in the U.S. These are people who rape and kill for sport. These are people who literally use cannibalization as an initiation ritual for new cartel members, even cartel members that are being forced to join the cartel, even people who don't want to do it. They are using cannibalization as an initiation ritual. These are the people who result to torture when people don't want to join a cartel or don't want to join, I mean, when they don't want to leave a cartel, or when they want to leave a cartel. They don't want to join the cartel. They want to leave the cartel, and specifically the CJNG. When people want to leave, they literally torture them. They torture anybody that stands in their way if they don't immediately kill them. These are the people who deal drugs to get rich. They want the money. They want the profit. They want the power. So what do they do? They deal drugs that kill people, and they have absolutely no concern for the immense cost and the immense toll that it takes on human beings. It kills people. It ruins families. It leads people to commit suicide because they either can't overcome their addiction or their loved one died from an overdose. It is such a tragic situation, and these cartels are just dealing and dealing and dealing more and more and more drugs that are stronger and stronger and stronger and kill you faster and faster and faster because they want more money and more power. When we allow people like this to flood into our country because of our poor policies and because of the toxic empathy of random Karens on the far left, we not only put Americans at risk, but we put the entire world at risk. When they expand the cartel, they expand the cartel's reach, and what this means is that drugs and other forms of contraband can flow into other countries faster, cheaper, and easier. And maybe this isn't even drugs in human beings. Maybe this is also arms. Maybe this is also weapons. Maybe this is also things that we are supplying to our enemies that can hurt us in the future. When we allow this type of third-worldism to flood into our country, it changes our culture. It causes safety concerns. As you can tell, I don't even have to expound upon that because this entire episode has been safety concern after safety concern after human rights violation after human rights violation. It exposes our children and specifically our children and our citizens over on the west coast of our nation to degrees of violence that some of us could never even imagine and would never want to imagine. It puts our citizens at a greater risk of becoming addicted to drugs because there's no barrier that's so easy to access. There's no, there's nothing there to stop them if there isn't a border, there isn't any enforcement of our laws. It allows human trafficking to continue uninterrupted, further putting women and children in more and more and more danger. It opens the risk of cartel warfare in our nation. I mentioned earlier that they're constantly vying for power and for territory. So look at the potential civil war situation in Mexico. They're literally battling the Mexican military and the Mexican government for the southwestern portion of Mexico, for Guadalajara and all the regions around that. Imagine if we kept our border open and didn't deport anyone, any one of these violent criminals, any one of these people that might be related to a drug warden doing their bidding on our side of the border. Imagine if we actually did defund the police back in 2020 like the George Floyd sympathizers wanted us to do and no one like El Mencho and his children and his relatives ever got arrested here in the U.S. We would be seeing the same unrest here that we're seeing there if we allowed the far left to simply open our borders and not enforce the law, which are literal policies that people campaigned on and that people are still campaigning on ahead of our 2026 midterms. People are still campaigning on defunding the police. They're still campaigning on citizen patrol rather than law enforcement patrol, and they are still campaigning on stopping ICE, defunding homeland security, and reopening our border for the sake of equity. We would see mass murdering of innocent American citizens, innocent tourists from other countries, innocent nationals, people who have green cards, people who actually are here legally trying to make a better lives for themselves, innocent people getting murdered over the qualms of a few illicit highly violent organized crime rings because the far left wants you believe that it's your humanitarian duty to let these sick, evil, violent criminals into our country unimpeded. This is why we need border security. This is why we need mass deportations, and this is why we need to stop protecting violent foreign criminals. We need to stop doxing ICE agents that are trying to save us from these types of people, and we need to stop burning down our streets in the name of protecting criminal terrorists. Empathy is not trying to save people who don't value human life and would kill you in a New York minute. Empathy is actually putting your American neighbors first, putting your legal neighbors first, putting your neighbors that care about you first, securing your communities from foreign organized crime rings, and honestly crime in general, and saying no to the deluge of drugs and human beings across our border and putting America first. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of The Reagan-Faulkner Show. For more, remember to check us out on social media. You'll find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook at TheReaganFaulknerShow. You can check out our website reaganfaulkner.com. Also check us out on the same socials minus TikTok at TheWilmingtonStandard or TheWilmingtonStandard.com. Thank y'all so much, and I will see you on the next one.