I Spent 3 Days on the Border. What I Found is Operating in Your Town Right Now.

Cartels Are Running the Businesses You Use Every Day

That taco truck your kids won’t shut up about? It might be washing cartel money. I’m serious.

The construction crew down the street building those new houses. That clothing store where you got your daughter’s dress for her quinceañera. They could all be fronts. And I didn’t believe it either until I spent three days in McAllen, Texas on a trip organized by Federation for American Immigration Reform. I needed to see this stuff with my own eyes.

There was this bridge. Under it, Border Patrol had a checkpoint where they were literally helping human traffickers process people through. Not stopping them. Helping them move through the system. The checkpoint’s gone now but all the infrastructure they built during Biden’s four years? It’s still there. Those businesses the cartels set up? Many of them are still running. In your town.

Tom Homan Sees What Most People Can’t Handle

Tom Homan knows this better than anyone. He runs ICE under Trump and he’s seen things that would destroy most people. Nine-year-old girls raped repeatedly by cartel members. Nineteen people who died baked to death inside a tractor trailer. Kids who just vanish.

He said something that stuck with me:

“These criminal cartels have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world combined… and they’re doing it from inside your communities, using businesses that look completely legitimate.”

Take a look:

The Businesses You Already Know

The stuff you buy every day? It’s connected.

Sinaloa Cartel ran clothing stores in Los Angeles. Regular Americans shopped there. The DEA found out they’d laundered over $100 million through garment district businesses. That discount outfit you bought last month? You might’ve helped clean drug money without knowing it.

Chicago had these taco trucks and restaurants. Families went there for dinner. Jalisco New Generation Cartel was using them as distribution hubs for fentanyl and meth, washing millions through food sales. Your family taco night could’ve funded trafficking operations.

Oklahoma’s wild. FBI discovered Los Zetas was breeding and racing quarter horses. Multi-million dollar operation. Wealthy American investors got involved. The whole thing was funded by human trafficking money.

Ed Calderon said if you order extra guac at Chipotle, you’re putting money in the pockets of the New Generation Cartel. Ed spent 12 years in Mexican law enforcement fighting these guys. He watched friends get murdered. He explained on Joe Rogan how cartels aren’t just drug runners anymore:

They’re running operations that make Fortune 500 companies look primitive.

What I Saw in Texas

What I learned in Texas? It’s… sophisticated.

Cartels run diversified international businesses across every industry. Fuel theft, used car rackets, everything. They steal fuel from Mexican pipelines, ship it to U.S. refineries, get it processed into gasoline and diesel, ship it back to Mexico and sell it for huge profits. They send their kids to Ivy League schools. They embed themselves in normal American commerce while hiding behind legitimate business licenses and running criminal enterprises that kill more Americans than terrorism does.

They figured something out. The best way to hide criminal operations? Embed them in normal businesses. And it works.

Look around your community.

That restaurant with prices that make no sense? How do they stay open? That construction company underbidding everyone by 30%? That car wash that’s always busy but never needs customers? That dairy farm paying wages no legitimate business could afford?

Start asking questions.

Cash businesses? Perfect for laundering money. Labor-intensive operations? Great for exploiting trafficked workers. Service businesses? Cover for distribution networks.

They’re in your strip malls. Your business districts. Industrial parks. They look like every other business. They file taxes, have licenses, advertise on Facebook. Most Americans have zero clue.

Trump’s Designation Changed Everything

Trump changed something big. He designated cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.. This isn’t immigration enforcement anymore. It’s counterterrorism.

Think about what that means legally…

That taco truck distributing fentanyl? Material support for a terrorist organization. That clothing store washing drug money? Financing terrorism. That construction company using trafficked labor? Aiding a designated FTO.

The legal framework shifted from misdemeanors to federal terrorism charges. From local police to FBI counterterrorism investigations. Every cartel business becomes vulnerable. Every money laundering scheme becomes actionable. Every American business that knowingly participates? Federal anti-terrorism statutes.

This bridge in McAllen, Texas housed a Border Patrol checkpoint that effectively aided human trafficking during Biden’s open border years. It’s shut down now, but the damage is done.

Border crossings dropped by over 75% since Trump came back. Not new policies. Criminal organizations respond to consequences. Same border, same agents.

The difference? It’s enforcement.

Mexican authorities destroyed over 300 meth labs in the Sinaloa hills with American support. They’re seizing car auction schemes. Disrupting business fronts.

But this is just starting. The infrastructure cartels built during Biden’s years is still operating. The businesses are still running. Networks are still active.

Your State Can Act Now

Every state’s a border state now.

The cartel operations in your area didn’t show up yesterday. They’ve been building for years, especially during those four years when the border was basically open.

Your state can do things immediately. Mandate 287(g) programs statewide. These programs let local sheriffs work with ICE to detain illegal immigrants. Sheriff Mark Lamb uses it in Pinal County, Arizona. It works. Most sheriffs just don’t participate.

Sheriff Mark Lamb told me there’s no excuse for American sheriffs not to implement this program. None.

Some of the men on the front lines of the cartel war. Sheriff Mark Lamb (cowboy hat on the left). I was in the circle with these guys for a few days. Grateful for every minute I got to spend with them.

Make harboring illegal aliens a state crime. if Catholic Charities can testify before state legislatures that they harbor and transport people here illegally, your state needs laws with teeth.

Remove the sanctuary protection cartel operations rely on.

Require E-Verify for all businesses. No exceptions. If a business can’t verify legal status of workers, it loses its business license. This destroys the cheap labor pipeline making cartel operations profitable.

One Call This Week

You can do something this week. I know you’re busy. I know this feels overwhelming. I know it’s easier thinking someone else will handle it.

But that’s what they’re counting on.

Your kids are growing up in a country where cartels operate openly. Where human trafficking is a $100 billion industry. Where fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 45.

You don’t need to become an activist.

Just make one call this week.

Call your sheriff tomorrow. Ask them: “Are you participating in the 287(g) program?” If they say no, ask why not.

When your sheriff partners with ICE through 287(g), cartel operations can’t hide as easily anymore. That construction crew using illegal labor? They get detained during traffic stops. That restaurant laundering money? Their workers get checked during routine inspections. That business undercutting competitors by 30%? They lose their cheap labor pipeline.

The program makes cartels choose between staying out of your county or risking getting caught every single day.

Sheriff Lamb runs it in Pinal County and his county’s safer because of it. Cartel operations avoid his jurisdiction because they know his deputies can detain illegals on the spot. No catch and release. No waiting for federal agents. Immediate consequences.

Your sheriff has that same power. They’re choosing not to use it. That choice puts your community at risk.

When They Try to Gaslight You

“We don’t have the resources.”

Sheriff Lamb does it with the same budget constraints you have. Trump rolled out support. ICE provides training for free. Legal authority’s already there. Federal support is active right now. December 2025, you have zero excuses. What’s the real reason you won’t protect our community?

“It’s not our job to enforce federal immigration law.”

287(g) makes it your job. Sheriffs across America are doing it successfully right now. You’re choosing not to. Cartel businesses in our county are funding human trafficking. That becomes our problem. Are you telling me you’re okay with that?

“It’ll hurt our relationship with the immigrant community.”

Legal immigrants want cartels out too. This targets criminal organizations exploiting people. If you can’t tell the difference, maybe we need a sheriff who can.

“We’re already working with ICE when needed.”

Working with them when needed means you’re choosing when to enforce the law. Cartels operate every single day. Why don’t you?

“This is politically divisive.”

Kids dying from fentanyl, that’s not a political issue. Human trafficking isn’t something we debate at dinner parties. Cartel businesses stealing jobs from Americans while funding terrorism. Keeping our community safe is your job. Do it.

If your sheriff refuses, try this:

Sheriff, Trump designated cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Federal government’s providing support, training, and legal authority through 287(g). Sheriffs across the country are implementing this successfully right now. You have every tool you need. So I’m asking you directly: why are you choosing not to protect our community from terrorist organizations operating businesses on our streets?

If they still refuse? Call your county commissioners. Call your state representatives. Post about it on social media. Tag your sheriff’s office. Make noise.

They’re betting you’ll make one call, get a runaround answer, and give up.

Don’t.

They’re Playing the Long Game

Cartels are counting on your sheriff doing nothing. Sheriffs who ignore the problem are counting on you being too busy to follow up.

Prove them both wrong.

It starts with one call. That’s it.

We went from the most secure border in decades under Trump’s first term to the largest human trafficking operation in American history under Biden. Now we’re back to enforcement.

But cartels are still in your community. Operating businesses you see every day. Hiding behind legitimate facades while running criminal enterprises killing more Americans than terrorism does.

They play the long game.

They survived Trump’s first term, exploded under Biden’s open border, and now they’re waiting for the next administration that’ll give them another four-year window to expand. While they wait? They’re sending kids to American universities. Building business fronts that look entirely legitimate. Embedding themselves so deeply in American communities most people don’t even realize they’re there.

Cartels built a $100 billion empire by operating businesses most Americans never questioned. They succeeded because we weren’t paying attention.

What are you going to do about it?

Call your sheriff tomorrow about 287(g) programs. Call your state representative about legislation. Start asking questions about businesses that don’t make sense.

Cartels are counting on you being too busy, too distracted, too uncomfortable to demand change.

Prove them wrong.