On Mar 8, 2023, four American citizens traveling to Matamoros, Mexico for a medical procedure were abducted at gunpoint by a cartel. Two of the group were sadly killed, and the other two were shockingly only rescued after South Carolina friend Cheryl Orange made a phone call to the Brownsville Police Department from a Motel 6. Immediately, the FBI was notified and began an investigation across the US Mexico border.

Unfortunately, this type of violence is all too commonplace in border towns. The kidnapping serves as a wake-up call that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “Hugs not Bullets” policy has failed. Around 20% of Mexico is effectively under cartel control, according to the CIA, and over 360,000 homicides in the past 17 years. Despite criticism, previous security cooperation between the US and Mexico had some successes but was abruptly stopped by Lopez O