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If it is true, it might actually work, under some certain conditions.

To start with, the Mexican army is inadequate to take on the cartels, for all sorts of reasons, so currently the heavy lifting is done by the Mexican marines. Typically they are sequestered on their bases, no contact with the outside, their identities are not known, to protect their families from retribution.

So if the US and Mexico agreed to crush the cartels once and for all, the Mexican army would pull back and just create a defensive perimeter around the major cities. Otherwise the roads heading south would have heavy checkpoints, manned by several agencies, not just the army, but the federal police and maybe others.

With coordination and assistance from the Mexican marines, The US army combat divisions, with some subset of likely the 82nd Airborne (Fort Bragg) and 101st Airborne (Ft. Campbell), with the 1st Cavalry division (Ft. Bliss), 1st ID (Ft. Riley and Ft. Knox), and 3rd ID (Ft. Benning), would rapidly occupy all the cartel areas in northern Mexico.

http://www.storybench.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/dea-mexico-drugcartels.png

The idea would be to break up the biggest of the border cartels, smashing their power base, taking over their buildings and ranches, and restoring the civilian governments. And most particularly, to stop the flow of drugs north and money south.

In effect northern Mexico would be under martial law for a few months. Surprisingly little fighting, but giving the Mexican government time to reestablish itself. Importantly, any cartel members we caught would be taken back to the US and kept as detainees until both the US and Mexican governments decided to do something about them.

An irony of this is that we would ask them to identify to which cartel they belonged, so that they would not be put in the same prison as enemy cartel members. If they refused to say, well, they take their chances.

Administratively, the US and Mexico would strip them of assets, weapons, hidden bank accounts and laundering capability.

The overall operation would be based on the “Giuliani method”, that once you totally clean a place of crime and bad influences, it is much easier to keep clean with just a fraction of the effort.

The US and the Mexican marines would be quite literally “liberating” entire towns and cities occupied and ruled by the cartels, almost as murderous as ISIS or the Taliban.

Finally, again after a few months of stability, with the Mexican government comfortable enough to take charge, the US military could leave, and wish them the best of luck.