If you like drug trafficking you’ll love the FTAA. The NAFTA agreement has had several predictable nasty side effects. It has made it easier for drugs, illegal aliens, and even terrorists to cross our Southern border. The move toward fully open borders under the FTAA would only exacerbate these problems.

The May 5th 1997 edition of ABC's Nightline reported that since NAFTA was signed in December 1993, "some 12,000 trucks a day have freely come into this country from Mexico, largely uninspected for safety, many carrying, along with televisions, computers and fresh produce, massive amounts of cocaine and heroin."

This was not an unanticipated development. A Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) intelligence report completed before the NAFTA vote indicated that the accord would be, in the words of former DEA agent Phil Jordan, "a deal made in narco heaven," and drug cartels began buying up business fronts along the border to take advantage of the dramatic upsurge in uninspected commerce. However, according to Jordan, DEA officials were told by the Administration that the impact of NAFTA on drug enforcement "was a subject we could not discuss" prior to ratification of the agreement.

Recommended reading:

The Border War - The New American - July 1, 2002

Mexico is quietly waging war on our southern border with the complicity of elements in our government who seek to meld the nations of this hemisphere into a regional superstate.

Drugs and Dollars - The New American - April 10, 2000

The real forces behind the drive to establish the U.S. dollar as the currency of the Americas include illegal drug trafficking and money laundering for organized crime.

NAFTA: Open Door to Anarchy - The New American - October 27, 1997

Further reading in Archives