Our 50-State Border Crisis: How the Mexican Border Fuels the Drug Epidemic Across America

by Howard G. Buffett

Overview

From one of America's most prominent philanthropists, an eye-opening, myth-busting new perspective on the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Howard G. Buffett has seen first-hand the devastating impact of cheap Mexican heroin and other opiate cocktails across America. Fueled by failing border policies and lawlessness in Mexico and Central America, drugs are pouring over the nation's southern border in record quantities, turning Americans into addicts and migrants into drug mules -- and killing us in record numbers.

Politicians talk about a border crisis and an opioid crisis as separate issues. To Buffett, a landowner on the U.S. border with Mexico and now a sheriff in Illinois, these are intimately connected. Ineffective border policies not only put residents in border states like Texas and Arizona in harm's way, they put American lives in states like Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont at risk.

Mexican cartels have grown astonishingly powerful by exploiting both the gaps in our border security strategy and the desperation of migrants -- all while profiting enormously off America's growing addiction to drugs. The solution isn't a wall. In this groundbreaking book, Buffett outlines a realistic, effective, and bi-partisan approach to fighting cartels, strengthening our national security, and tackling the roots of the chaos below the border.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316476584
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	04/03/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	55 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Howard G. Buffett is Chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. A farmer, businessman, elected official, photographer, law enforcement officer, and philanthropist, he has dedicated his life to finding solutions for some of the world's most serious and intractable problems, including hunger, conflict, wildlife trafficking, border security, and public safety. He is currently serving as the sheriff of Macon County, Illinois.

Table of Contents

A List of Acronyms xi

A Note on Names xiii

Foreword Senator Heidi Heitkamp xv

Preface Cindy McCain xix

Introduction xxiii

Part I Costs and Consequences

1 Red Shoes "Walk Up" 5

2 Lights Off, Pistols Ready 11

3 Stepping on the Balloon 37

4 An Expensive Juggling Act 48

5 Sanctuaries and "Slam Dunks" 60

6 Drug Cartels and Decaturs 79

7 What about Demand? 90

8 Ton Much, Too Fast 101

9 Barriers 129

Part II Countries of Origin

10 Red Shoes in Honduras 149

11 Stolen Harvests 163

12 Two-Legged Predators 174

13 Prison or the Cemetery 195

14 Silencing the Canary 212

15 Red Shoes on the Road Again 228

Part III What Needs to Change

16 Reboot Command of the Border 243

17 Respect and Work with Mexico 265

18 Create a Persistent Presence 274

19 Reduce Demand for Drugs and Illegal Labor 284

20 Support Peace and Security in Our Hemisphere 293

Epilogue. Orange Shoes in Arizona 307

Acknowledgments 317

Notes 323

Index 347

About the Howard G. Buffett Foundation 355

Editorial Reviews

"[Buffett's] argument is not doctrinaire.... In all this, he urges probity and diplomacy... A useful, reasonable work of civilian policy analysis sure to invite discussion and even controversy."—Kirkus

From the Publisher