While the mainstream media and much of the nation are preoccupied with sob stories about the shelter accommodations of illegal immigrants, the U.S.-Mexico border remains a cesspool of crime where federal agents have confiscated more than 360,000 pounds of drugs, arrested thousands of individuals with criminal convictions and busted hundreds of violent gangbangers so far this year. The latest statistics issued by the Border Patrol are downright disturbing and illustrate the urgency of properly securing the famously porous southwest border.
Through the end of May 2018, the frontline Department of Homeland (DHS) agency reveals that it seized 360,241 pounds of marijuana, 7,205 pounds of methamphetamine, 5,321 pounds of cocaine, 315 pounds of heroin and 309 pounds of fentanyl. The agency also encountered 18,568 criminal aliens convicted of a crime or wanted by law enforcement and 509 gang members, mostly from the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a feared street gang of mostly Central American illegal immigrants that’s spread throughout the U.S. and is renowned for drug distribution, murder, rape, robbery, home invasions, kidnappings, vandalism and other violent crimes. The Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) says criminal street gangs like the MS-13 are responsible for the majority of violent crimes in the U.S. and are the primary distributors of most illicit drugs. The criminal aliens listed in the 2018 Border Patrol figures include those convicted of felonies such as assault, battery and domestic violence as well as burglary, possession of illegal weapons and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.