We're back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Emily Dashinski,
culture editor here at the Federalist. As always, you can email the show
at radio at the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at FDR LST,
make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcasts, and of course over
at the premium version of our website, the Federalist dot com as well.
We're joined today by Greg Sindelar. He is the CEO over with the Texas
Public Policy Foundation. You can go to their website at Texas Policy dot Com.
You can follow g. Sind Alar on x, Twitter, whatever you
want to call it, and they also have a big policy summit coming up
down in Austin in March. Austin is a good place to be in March.
Greg, thanks for coming on the show, Emily, thanks for having
me. Yeah, of course, did I get by the way, it's
Texas Policy dot com, right, Yes, ma'am, that is all right,
Texas Policy dot Com. Okay, perfect, And why don't you just
start off by telling us a little bit about your policy summit that's coming up
here and you know, just about a month and a half. Yeah,
you know, so Texas is an interesting place because our state legislature only meets
every other year, and so in twenty twenty four, we actually won't be
in session, and so but it kind of is a unique opportunity for us
to not only kind of set the stage for the next legislative session that will
start in twenty twenty five, but also to spend a lot of time talking
about issues that are important to Texas on the national stage. So you know,
from border security, energy policy, education, things of that nature.
And so we bring in folks from all stripes. Obviously there's a heavy Texas
focus. So like Governor Abbott will speak and Lieutenant Governor Patrick will speak.
We've had Governor DeSantis come before, people like Victor Davis Hanson come before,
Ted Cruz, you know, from all across the stripe and really talk about
the things are important knowing to Texas but to our country as we kind of
move forward. And so it's a great time. It's over a thousand people
attend here in Austin over the course of about two and a half days.
And yeah, so I would encourage any of you, all your listeners to
join us. So we're recording this the day after the Iowa caucuses, and
one of the things I noticed in exit polls is among people who voted for
Ronda Santis, immigration was a really strong issue. But immigration was actually a
really strong issue for people voting in general in Iowa. And that's always something
the national media will wonder a loud about. You know, people that are
so far away from any border, let alone the southern border, why on
earth do they care so much about immigration. I'm going to put a pin
in that question, but use it, Greg to actually just ask you for
your perspective as somebody who works on the issue of immigration, the issue of
the border from a border state that is just getting hit so heavily right now,
with a mass of human suffering, can you give us some perspective.
You know, it's January twenty twenty four. The last couple of years the
Biden administration really was the turning point. This has been a tough time for
Texas. It's been a tough time for Arizona. It's been a tough time
for California. Texas especially, though. Can you tell us a little bit
about just what it's like down in Texas at the moment. Yeah, Well,
you know, we could spend probably hours just going through that. But
I'll try to keep this very succinct. You know, if you spend any
time at the border, and I've been all across the border from El Paso,
you know, down to Brownsville, right, and every community there is
just overrun, right, Like their resources are just massively strained. And what
you see is every day is a constant influx of people in and out of
those communities and they're just really trying to hang on. In fact, when
you talk to people in these communities, they often ask like, well,
how much longer should can I hang on? Will I hang on? And
why am I doing this? Right? And a lot of times just because
generational they've been there, they grew up there, their families are from there,
and they've lived there for generations. But it's not just along the border.
You feel that everywhere. If you go to the San Antonio Airport,
so just south here of Austin, you know, a lot of the people
you'll encounter are migrants that are heading across the country. And so you know,
it's not just a unique Texas problem, but it is a problem that
is now really cascaded across across the country. And but we feel it most
acutely here because we're kind of, I guess that first line of defense.
And so it doesn't matter what community you're in in Texas, it doesn't matter
really what local party you're in. You know, if you pull this issue
here in the state, border security is the top issue, you know,
especially when it comes to Republicans. You know, I've talked to several statewide
elected officials, and I was talking to the Speaker of the Texas House and
he told me, because poll every member district, every Republican member district in
the House, and the number one issue is border security. And that didn't
matter if you're an Amarillo or if you're closer to the border. And so
I think people just realize what a cataclysmic event is happening down down there,
and they want somebody, anybody to do something about it. Yeah, so
I had some of the numbers jumbled up in my head. Actually, I'm
going to correct myself that when an exit polls, voters were asked in Iole
which one of these four issues mattered most in deciding him to support today.
Of the people who said so, immigration was thirty four percent overall, but
sixty four percent of those who immigration were Trump voters. Eighteen percent of those
who answered immigration were DeSantis voters, and immigration came in just behind the economy
overall. So the economy was at thirty eight percent of all voters. Immigration
came in at thirty four percent of all voters. And again people say we
was a non border state, this is Iowa. Texas is sort of famous
for really pioneering the strategy of putting the screws to sanctuary cities like where I
am right now, Washington, d C. New York City, and you
know, trying to offload some of the just impossible social burden that's pushing people
deeper into suffering at in places like El Paso, in places like Brownsville,
and bringing migrants voluntarily where they want to go, places like New York and
DC. Greg, can you talk to us just a little bit about how
Governor Abbott has handled this because we could talk all day about the federal level,
and we'll get to that just a second, but how Governor Abbott specifically
in recent years of Operation Lone Star. Are there are all kinds of very
particular things that he's done. What approach has he taken locally in Texas?
Yeah, you know, and It depends on how far you want to go
back. But you know, I would say, you know, at the
end of the Trump admin we had one of the more secure boarders we've had
in a while. And you know, and I think that we'll get into
the federal stuff in a minute, but that goes to show that the tools
are there for the feil government. But the reason I highlight that is on
the state level, we haven't had a governor or a state have to deal
with the issue of the Feds just abdicating the responsibility in such a overwhelming fashion
as we have since the current administration. The bid administration came into power.
And you know, we've written a lot about this here at TPF and we
talked a lot about this, but you know, it's become adversarial, right
you know, Texas is in the middle of two maybe three. I can't
if they filed the one lawsuit yet on the on the border, and what
Texas is trying to do and specifically what Governor Abbott is trying to do,
is orodd the federal government to do anything to stem the tide, you know,
and that's the reason that so many that he's sending so many of these
folks voluntarily on these buses to New York and Chicago and other places like that.
And that's the reason that we've we've passed laws like we just passed last
legislative session. That's the reason we put up the Booie is the reason we
put up the razor wire. Is that we're trying to to push and and
and and and ensure that the federal government does it's it's duty. And so
it's just been really difficult. But you know, Abbot specifically, it has
just been trying to add as many tools tools toolbox as he can. So
Operation Loan Star and getting people down there has been good, but it's not
a good long term solution, right, And it's just trying to put as
many fingers in the dike as you can until the federal government actually does what
they need to do. But I think Texas is starting to look at this
as like we can't be in this position forever, and so we got to
start making some more permanent solutions. And so we looked at things like creating
a border force and more funding for our law enforcement officials, especially focused on
the border. And so I think that it's just it's really a multi front
battle that Texas is facing and governors leading to try to stem the tide as
much as possible. And that's really where the rubber meets the road that you
mean, Greg Abbott, And I know there's debate over even on the right,
there's debate over what Greg Abbott has done in the wisdom of what Greg
Abbott has done in Texas. Has it gone too far and not far enough?
I think probably a lot of people fall into the not far enough camp.
But again, this is a raging debate. Yet there's only so much
that any governor could do. Donald Trump could be the governor of Texas.
And so long as Joe Biden's asylum policy is what Joe Biden's asylum policy is,
you're going to continue to see people to to see people flooding up through
Central America into Mexico. Greg could you talk to us just a little bit
about how the Biden administration's approach to asylum, in particular with CBP one and
you know, all of the different sort of bureaucratic machinations that they've really quietly
been using, how that's affected Texas. Can you talk to us a little
bit about that? Yeah, absolutely, you know, and as I said
earlier, you know when at the end of the Trump deminstration, the border
was fairly secure, and that number one, that was because it remained in
Mexico. And that's an asylum policy. You know, people were coming over
here and we're claiming asylum. We we're sending them back to the last country
they went through that was safe arbor, right, and so that's you remain
in Mexico until your asylum claim is adjudicated. And so when the the Biden
adminstration removed that, it just created an influx right and then you have catch
and release, and it really sent a signal to everybody that hey, the
southern border is is wide open, and these are the things you have to
do to gain the system, and you can overrun it so much that now
we're seeing years wait time just to judicate asylum claims. And it's it's it's
just not serving our country, is not serving our state, and it's it's
a it's a real shame right that our federal government is is completely and only
abdicated this. Uh, their ability to protect our border and your sovereignty and
rule of law are important things that create a country. But what they are
really doing is they've they've abdicated our border to the cartels, right who you
know, I gave a speech in Mexico about a year and a half ago
and the title of that speech was nobody crosses for free. And the point
is that every single migrant that comes across is being trafficked by the cartels,
and so by a lot doing these asylum. Doing asylum in this way,
we are allowing the cartels to make millions and millions billions of dollars really off
the backs of these people who are trying to get to America and do it
and not through our regular channels. And so it's just a quagmire is probably
the nicest term I could use for but it is a self created one by
the Biden administration. And it all starts with how they are adjudicating these asylum
claims. If they just went back, if they stopped catching release and they
went back to remain in Mexico, then then we could really stematize really quickly
with new migrants here at our border. All Right, You've got to hear
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the good times. Yeah, no, I mean it's such an important point.
I remember when my colleague John Daniel Davidson and I along with David Agrin,
actually so a lot of TPPF people are people. Yeah, when we
went down to the border when title forty two was kind of going back and
forth almost two years ago. Now every single person, every single person that
we talked to had paid the cartels. That's not unique to us, as
you said, Greg, that's absolutely everybody in general. But that brings us
to another big question. And I know this WAGH is really heavily on the
minds of people in Texas, but certainly ways heavily on the minds of people
in Iowa who are listing. Immigration is one of the biggest issues for them.
People are are always, I think rightfully confused about what the government means
when it says known god aways about what the government means when it says people
from the You know, a couple hundred people from the terrorist watch list have
crossed under Biden. I don't know the exact figure, but numbers like that
because it's sort of staggering to think of what we don't know. Who we
don't know really is the best way to put it, but also what we
don't know in terms of gang affiliations, connections, drugs, weapons, et
cetera. That is coming into the country And you guys, are you see
this first in Texas? Obviously it makes its way elsewhere. There have been
you know, rings caught in Maine, in other states, in the mountain
west of Cartel activity and all of that. Can you talk to us,
Greg, just a little bit about how the sort of unknown factor when we're
looking at the numbers and the information that we do know, and it tells
us sort of a little bit about what we don't know. But as we
you know, you've studied that obviously closely, looked at it really closely.
What could be here in the country based on what we can know? Yeah,
well, that's the hard thing is, you know, how do you
quantify something that you don't really have hard fast data on. But what we
you know, obviously we know the encounters that Board Patrol has had, but
we know that the vast majority, you know, maybe ten percent, that's
only ten percent of what is coming across, you know, and the cartels
are really smart about the way they do this, right Like, if they're
trying to move certain individuals or they're trying to move drugs, right like,
they will create scenarios where it draws and sucks in all the law enforcement so
that they can then move on the outside of that. Right And so we
hear stories about this time and time again. But you know, the estimates
by is that every year, in the last couple of years, we've added
you know, somewhere between seven fifteen million, you know, undocumented immigrants into
into the country. You know, that's give some context, right, Like,
that's you know, the greater Houston area. You know, we're adding
that every year. Let's just not sustainable. That's you know, my home
state, the state I was born in, Nebraska only has like a million
people. You know, that's like, you know, seven to fifteen Nebraska
is a year coming in, right Like, It's just an overwhelming amount of
people. And so you see the strain it has on our social services.
You see the strain it has on our society as a whole. And and
we're just not doing anything about it. And so that the numbers are just
staggering. And that's why you've seen it from being maybe an issue where you
is more acutely felt and known at the border and places close to the border.
And now that's why a lot of the presidential candidates will say this,
and they're absolutely right, is that every state is a border state, every
city is a border city. Because when you go down there and you talk
to these folks, you've been down there, they're going everywhere. They're going
to Portland, they're going to Denver, They're they're going to Boston, they're
you know, they're they're all over the place, and it's it creates a
strain no matter where they go. And it's millions, We're talking millions and
millions of people every year that are coming in and we're just not doing anything
about it. And fentanyl is, uh, you know, a problem all
over the country obviously, and another interesting thing about it is it's across all
kind of income demographic groups. It's just having just a credible effect on the
country as a whole, from coast to coast. I'm curious, Greg,
what the scene for fentanyl looks like in Texas, obviously, because fentanyl so
often is coming up through the poorest Texas border in various ways. What can
you tell us about how those drugs are getting trapped through borders, like you
know Texas's border with Mexico of course, also that includes Arizona, California.
And what you know, if you're on the streets of Austin, like your
guys is building amazing. You're so close to the capital and yet I imagine
you see fentanyl sort of ravaging people in big cities all throughout Texas. Yeah,
and you know, and it's not just ravaging you know, the quote
unquote junkie community, right, the hardcore users. You know, people you
might see near thirty five here in Austin around the homeless center. You know,
absolutely they're being ravaged by this and they're being exploited by this. But
you see it everywhere. You see in our schools. There's a reason that
it's you know, top killer for you know kids, you know, was
it like sixteen to thirty or whatever the age brackets are. And it's not
uncommon to hear about kids who are trying to buy adderall or something else off
the streets and they they end up it's laced with fentyl, right, and
they overdose. And the problem with fentyl is it's such a such a small
amount can can kill you, but such a small amount can also get you
high. That it makes it easier to traffic because you don't need you don't
have to hide as much. And you know, and and kind of to
my point earlier, you know, the way they'll do it is they will
send one hundred migrants and bring in all that law enforcement that will have to
then process all these people and figure that out. And then while they're dealing
with that, you know, outside of that perimeter, they'll they'll send the
drugs drugs through and so it just kind of flows through, and it's just
it's just really sad. Right. You know, if you go to any
major city, not just here in Texas, but in the country, you
can see the effects that this drug is having on people, and they're just
zombies. And that's if they live through it. And you know, and
even even sadder than that, right as the kids who are oding in our
schools, you know, I just here south of Austin and Hayes County,
I think they had three kids last fall that that odd matter a couple of
weeks from each other, right, and so it happens everywhere. And you
know, the one thing that we aren't always thinking about is the ingredients for
this are coming from China, and it's either being manufactured over there and brought
through Mexico and up through a border. Are the ingredients are brought to Mexico,
manufactured there, and then brought through our border. And so it's it's
it's really a devious and terrible what they're able to to do to the American
public through such an addictive, dangerous drug. You know, I've seen Henry
quay Are obviously a Texas Democrat, doing more and more events with Senator Tuvid
Cruz, obviously a Texas Republican, and he's always been sort of against his
party's establishment line when it comes to immigration, partially because it would be impossible
in the state of Texas, where you see all of this up close,
not to be But at the same time, the Texas Left actually maintains some
people in the Texas Left actually still maintain these sort of absurd positions on immigration,
even though their constituents see a lot of those happening before their eyes.
Can you talk to us, Greg just a little bit about how Democrats in
Texas are handling this influx. I mean, again just to emphasize the numbers
that we saw in twenty twenty three and even what we've seen early this year
in twenty twenty four, I mean, we're taping this in mid January,
are staggering. I mean, it is just an incredible, massive humanity that
is making these impossible trips up through Central America, Derry Gap in New Mexico,
at great danger, always at you know, always always boosting the financial
status of the cartels, the power of the cartels with every single human being.
And Democrats in Texas, where are they on all of this? Greg,
Well, the unfortunate news is they're much like the federal government, they've
kind of abdicated the playing field. You do have people like Henry Koyar who
you know, it's kind of funny is you have the people that aren't like
totally insane and somehow, you know, it's a very low bar for for
that. And it's not that Quaar is always the best on this, but
he is willing to have honest conversations and I've always found him to be somebody
that we can engage and have serious conversations about this. You know, when
I look at the state legislature, you know here in Texas, you know,
a lot of the Democrats are unwilling to lead or touch on it because
they are affected by kind of national thought leadership on the issue. But there
are some, especially in the vallet. You know, if you want to
look at a reason South Texas is turning red, it is because of this
issue. It is because their their communities are actually hit the hardest as much
as every single Hispanics in the valley, right Yeah, Hispanics, especially ones
that have come over legally, are some of the most hardcore border security folks
that I've come across, and they understand how much it's ravaged their communities and
how uninhabitable at times it's made their communities, and that is what they want
addressed. And when you're just unwilling to even engage in conversations, or if
you do, you start getting into you start calling everyone a xenophobe or bigot
and things like that, Well those aren't serious conversations, right Like, it's
ignoring the fact that this is really an issue that is affecting the lives of
a lot of people that are Typicallymocrat voters. And I think the reason you're
seeing changing part of the affiliation is because they're tired of no one doing anything
about it, and so they're willing to give a look to Republicans and people
like Donald Trump and other folks to to and and you know, Tony Gonzalez,
who has the largest border district in the in the whole country, to
say like, okay, well maybe you can help solve this problem. And
it's it's really interesting, and you do have some folks who are saying but
then you also have folks like Congressman Great Casar, who came out of you
know, the Union organizing here in Austin and the City Council and is now
as progressive as AOC and doesn't want to do anything about it. And so
you have that progressive element that is overtaking, you know, kind of these
sensible liberal element of the Democrat Party. And that's the more existential crisis that
they probably face as a party because if they don't do something about it,
then it will really make people feel like they're not serious about a major major
issue. You know, it wasn't that long ago that Bernie Sanders and Barack
Obama wanted to do a lot about border security, right, and so it's
just interesting how the times have changed that and as a party, they aren't
seeming to recognize that right now. Have you guys looked into just specifically in
the Texas economy, what this like spigot of cheap labor that's been turned on
and then just like you know, completely turned on, like screwed so hard
that it's like bursting to continue torturing this metaphor of us, think what has
that done to workers in Texas? If you do, you guys have information,
have you been able to look at it? I mean, it's kind
of a hard thing to study, but just logically you would assume that that
has not been great for the middle class. Yeah, it has it.
We don't have any studies on that because it's very hard to get you know,
I would say, reputable data on it. But we do know that
there are other societal costs, right, like the cost to educate and healthcare
and all these things that go along with this. And so you do have
the government spending that has increased dramatically, and I've seen studies that you know
has has that and the you know, billions of dollars as well that that
it has cost taxes. But yeah, you know, if you're you know,
it's simple economics, right, Like it's supply and demand. If your
supply is far overpacing your demand, then you will have distortions in the market.
And that's that's that would be the concern, right And that's a lot
of where the America First movement was born out of is that people are like,
you know, you're not really looking out for Americans, and we got
to look out for America, our country and our people first and foremost and
figure out how to assimilate and integrate, you know, those who want to
come here and and and provide you know, value through their their labor and
their culture and all these other things. But right now it's just such an
open space yet that it's kind of I think everyone kind of feels like they're
they're they're drowning. And then the other thing is these folks that are here
illegally, like they're absolutely being taken advantage of by employers often cases, and
you know, and they have to worry about that. And then the cartels.
A lot of times it's in dentured servitude where they have you know,
loans quote unquote loans that they have to pay off, and so you know,
it's just a never ending cycle of abuse that all the way around,
where everyone is getting exploited and the only people coming out on top are the
cartels. The Watched Out on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day
Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy and how it affects your
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out the Watchdot on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski on Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, if our listeners haven't read that
a New York Times deep dive into the indentured servitude and the abuse of children
labor abuses of children that was published last year, commend it to everyone because
it's still happening. Essentially, nothing has happened policy wise to prevent any of
this. And Greg, that's where I want to go next, we saw
immigration once again become the kind of the typical political football. As Republicans and
Democrats we're working on year end spending. They're working on another deal right now.
I'm not sure to what extent immigration will be part of that. You
know, the Biden administration has basically agreed to the easiest things for Democrats to
agree on, which is, you know, adding money to border, give
them more money, give them more resources, et cetera, et cetera.
But I imagine Greg again as you watch this conversation pan out, the one
thing they won't agree to is seriously changing asylum laws. Do you see any
hope even as you know Republicans at least supposedly numerically have a majority in the
House of Representatives, do you see any major policy achievements or victories for everyone
who's concerned about this in the near future? Oh, man a question.
I think you get a new administration. Yeah, And that's the frustrating part
is, you know, policy wise, on the federal level, there's nothing
that's changed, you know from the Trump admin to the Biden Admin. That
the Biden admin could do all of the things that Trump admin was doing,
because a lot of it was via executive order, and there's nothing Congress has
done to clamp down on their ability to do that. They're just unwilling to
do it. And I think that is almost the most frustrating thing. And
so I think with the w up, but maybe a new administration, whether
that's Trump coming back or whoever else, or maybe a change of heart for
President Biden. Who knows, you could you could start seeing that. You
know. On the state side, you know, there are a lot of
things. You know, we pass Center Bill four here in Texas which made
a state felony to uh ours the House before, I can't remember visit it,
but I can't remember the exact name. It doesn't matter, but we
made a state felony for a legal entry right and so allows law enforcement to
detain and take legal migrants in front of a magistrate to you know, they
can either go to jail for the state felony or they can return back to
Mexico. And it's not the be all, end all, but it at
least creates a disruption in this and I think sets up maybe some ability for
the states to start getting more involved and maybe sets up our ability to challenge
Arizona b US which has really kind of curtailed the state's ability to be active
in the uh UH in immigration and border policy. And so my an horison.
But I think long term, in the next year or two, you'll
start seeing more and more. Was it was sorry, I didn't mean to
interrupt, but was that the Jan Brewer SB ten seventy case. No,
it's uh, the area was in the last leg savee session. It just
passed and like right around Thanksgiving and the governor signed it and do o J.
I'm trying to remember exactly where it is if DJ has filed suit or
just said that they are going to file suit, but it literally just went
into effect, and so but it's it's a yeah, that's but Arizona v.
U S was the that was yeah, back in that the Brewer like
yes, sorry, yes, oh no. That's actually really interesting though,
because I'm thinking back to John and David and I were talking to a pastor
who runs a shelter in Matamoros, and he always pointed to he actually said
it was an Obama administration policy when they got rid of the policy that you
could flee Cuba, touch the ground in Florida and get asylum status of the
United States. When that changed, people started carving out these like literal pathways
through Central America. Cuban stood into Mexico and crossing that way, and that
was around twenty ten. That was like right around the same time. And
so he said, it's really never been the same since these early Obama era
policies happened. Trump sort of was able to stanch the flow briefly. It's
the spigots turned back on with Biden. But yeah, Greg, I mean,
I guess I'm curious for your perspective on that too. Like this is
at this point, we're over a decade of policy where we're not seeing Reagan
numbers, we're not seeing Bush one or two numbers, We're seeing something totally
different. Yeah, and well, and I would I would say that that's
where conservative and the most frustrated because this is decades actually in the making right
where no one's taking border security. Uh, they've never taken it seriously and
and uh. And so that's why it's important that the states stand up and
do something. You know, and Abbot's gotten you know, a few several
of the governors around and I know, you know, DeSantis has been part
of this and stit in Oklahoma and Reynolds and Iowa and uh and and many
of the other Republican governors. But you know the problem is if you look
at our southern border right like New Mexico and Arizona, California, you know,
they're they're not trying to do as much. And so it's you know,
Texas can do what can do what it can to try to protect itself,
but you know, America is still wide open even if Texas is able
to clamp down. It's just that you take the easiest routes out of there,
and then it becomes even more dangerous because you're going through desert and really,
uh horrendous, you know, desert that for a lot of these migrants,
and so you know, it's it's extremely frustrating. But I think the
good thing is Conservatives actually seemed very unified on the issue, probably more so
than they have been in you know, you know, ten twenty years,
and so I think, you know, that gives me optimism that that we
will be working together to stend the flow. And if you look at things
that this Speaker Mike Johnson has said, and several members of the House,
even some of the folks in the Senate. I think we can potentially see
some realization and movement in DC where at least it's like, hey, if
you want to continue sending funny to Ukraine, or you want to do this
or that, Well, we also got to set aside some money for the
border. We got to take this a lot more seriously. And I think
as the election looms, this administration's you know, you look at polling,
as we talked about earlier, earlier on, you have to do something about
it. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for probably not a very good election cycle
if you're if you're not willing to be serious about the crisis actually emanating from
our border. This might sound like a really stupid question. Do cartels have
any influence over Texas politics? And maybe I'll just add yet, is there
any I mean, obviously Mexico's rife with corruption, but is there a serious
risk or potentially any evidence that there's a relationship or or relationships between cartels and
politicians or special interests in Texas themselves. Well, I would be really careful
about that because I don't want to accuse anyone of being on the take.
But what I would say is Mexico to me as a failed narco state at
this point, right, you know, Amlo, the reverence he shows for
the cartels is it's breadthtaking. And how open he is about it, and
the fact that he's openly campaigned against you know, Republicans specifically because of some
of our border security policy shows you that there's probably some financial gain and there's
probably a lot of financial gain in it for him with if we keep things
the way they are, and that's because the cartels are making so much money.
The concern would be right that you know, there's a way that things
are run in Mexico and can that and will that infiltrate Texas? And has
that infiltrated I? You know, I don't. I want to be careful
not to speculate on that because I haven't seen anything in particular, but knowing
that that's the mo of these organizations, it makes you wonder, right,
and when you see legislators being unwilling to challenge uh these issues and take these
issues seriously, it makes you wonder. But I haven't seen anything that makes
me think that it has fully infiltrated Texas, But that would be the concern,
and that's why this is such an important issues. At the core of
this issue is the rule of law, and if we're unwilling to enforce the
rule of law at our border, where else are we're going to be unwilling
to enforce laws? And what kind of corruption comes with that and seeps into
whether it's local government, state governments, or federal government officials. And would
it surprise me to know that there are government officials somewhere in Texas who are
on the take of the cartels. No, it wouldn't. But I think
the longer we allow this crisis to go on, the more likely that that
becomes, and the more prevalent it becomes. And we cannot afford for that
to become a regular way of life the way it has in Mexico and many
other countries. Greg Sindelara is the CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
You can go to Texas Policy dot com for more information. You can follow
Greg at g sinda Lar If you're on x you're on Twitter. Thank you
so much, Greg for joining the show. It was super interesting. Really
appreciate the insight. Yeah, thank you for having me. Of course,
you have been listening to another edition of The Federalist Radio Hour I'm Emily Taschinsky,
culture editor here at The Federalist. We'll be back soon with more.
Until then, be lovers of freedom and anxious for the friend. You got
me right, well, you