What can stop the Africans from coming in at the southern border...at the Laredo entry?
Or, is it too late?
“What can stop the Africans from coming in at the southern border...at the Laredo entry?”
Laredo is the biggest city on the border, that does not have significant barrier built, and none is scheduled for this year. Military troops can string some concertina, but there are a good fifty miles of open border around Laredo, for Cartels to smuggle humans and drugs.
Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side, is one of the most violent cities on Earth. Laredo and Nuevo Laredo are almost the same size. They have very similar economic motors, cultural heritage, populations and socio-economic indicators. Yet, in 2012, Nuevo Laredo had at least 36 times the number of murders. They actually disbanded their Police Force for quite a while, and only had limited patrols by the Military.
Nuevo Laredo has been a battlefield among drug cartels, with the Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel being pushed back by Los Zetas. Then the Northeast Cartel split off from Los Zetas, and the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels are currently vying for territory there.
Laredo needs a SuperMax border barrier, like San Diego is getting (but about 50 miles worth). They don’t seem likely to get it soon though, because of the extra engineering difficulties provided by the river, all the private property, and the local politics, especially Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) who sabotages all the border wall legislation for Texas.
All the 2018 and 2019 funding for border barrier in Texas seems to have gone to the South of Laredo in the Rio Grande Valley (33 miles in 2018, 55 in 2019), or El Paso. If that gets built and future funding gets stalled, then Laredo will likely become the new main crossing point for illegals.
In the near term, I think that the “caravan” of Africans in Laredo will likely linger there for a while, and eventually break up into small groups, spread out, and filter in; with about half getting caught and claiming asylum.
Senator Graham’s recently proposed legislation to change asylum processes would help a lot.
Ultimately, Laredo needs a huge dose of extra-strength border infrastructure. After the Rio Grande Valley to the South of Falcon Lake (which is now significantly funded, and just getting work started), Laredo is toughest security problem on the border. I sure hope it gets done with the DoD emergency funding, or in next year’s appropriation.