Guest Columnist Idaho Senator Brian Lenney: I Spent 3 Days on the Border. What I Found is Operating in Your Town Right Now.

December 8, 2025

I Spent 3 Days on the Border. What I Found is Operating in Your Town Right Now.
Cartels Are Running the Businesses You Use Every Day.

By: Idaho Senator Brian Lenney

That taco truck your kids love?

That construction crew building the new subdivision? That clothing store where you bought your daughter’s quinceañera dress?

They might be cartel fronts.

And they’re in your neighborhood right now.

I recently spent three days on the border in McAllen, Texas on a trip organized by Federation for American Immigration Reform because I needed to see this for myself.

Under a bridge, there was a processing checkpoint where Border Patrol, yes – OUR Border Patrol was helping human traffickers move people through. Not stopping them. Helping them.

That checkpoint’s shut down now, but the infrastructure that made it possible is still there. And the businesses the cartels built during Biden’s open border are (many of them) still operating in your community.

Border Czar Tom Homan knows all too well about the dark underbelly of what’s really happening. Tom Homan runs ICE under Trump. And he’s seen things that would break most people… nine-year-old girls raped multiple times by cartel members. Nineteen people baked to death in a tractor trailer. Children missing, trafficked, exploited.

He says:

“These criminal cartels have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world combined… and they’re doing it from inside your communities, using businesses that look completely legitimate.”

Take a look:

The Businesses You Already Use

For example, the Sinaloa Cartel doesn’t just smuggle drugs. They run clothing stores in Los Angeles that ordinary Americans shopped at every day. The DEA’s “Operation Fashion Police” uncovered how they laundered over $100 million through garment district businesses.

So that outfit you bought at a discount? Maybe you helped wash drug money.

Or, consider how in Chicago, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel operated taco trucks and restaurants serving authentic Mexican food to families. “Operation Taco Tuesday” revealed these were distribution hubs for fentanyl and meth, laundering millions through legitimate food sales.

Translation? Family taco night could be funding trafficking operations.

Or in Oklahoma, the FBI discovered how Los Zetas bred and raced quarter horses, creating a multi-million dollar business that attracted wealthy American investors and the entire operation was funded by human trafficking proceeds.

That’s what Ed Calderon said.

Ed spent 12 years in Mexican law enforcement fighting cartels. He watched his friends get murdered. He saw how cartels evolved from drug runners into Fortune 500-level operations.

And he explained on Joe Rogan’s podcast how cartel operations are in your neighborhood making Fortune 500 companies look primitive.

These are legitimate business models.

In Texas, I learned how the cartels run diversified international businesses across every industry, from fuel theft to used car rackets that finance their chaos. They steal fuel from Mexican pipelines, ship it to U.S. refineries, get it processed into gasoline and diesel, then ship it back to Mexico and sell it for massive profits. They send their children to Ivy League universities and embed themselves in normal American commerce, hiding behind legitimate business licenses while running criminal enterprises that kill more Americans than terrorism.

They’ve learned something crucial: the best way to hide criminal enterprises is to embed them in normal American commerce. And it’s working.

Look at Your Own Community

That restaurant with prices too low to make sense? That construction company that always underbids competitors by 30%? That car wash that’s busy but never seems to need customers? That dairy farm paying wages no legitimate business could sustain?

Start asking questions.

Because the cartels understand that once you establish legitimate business fronts in American communities, you create perfect cover for criminal operations.

Cash-intensive businesses are ideal for laundering money. Labor-intensive businesses are perfect for exploiting trafficked workers. Service businesses provide cover for distribution networks.

They’re operating in your strip malls, your business districts, your industrial parks. They look like every other business. They file taxes. They have business licenses. They advertise on social media.

And most Americans have no idea.

What Trump Changed

Trump designated cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This isn’t about immigration enforcement anymore. This is about counterterrorism.

Think about what that means legally.

That taco truck serving as a fentanyl distribution hub? That’s material support for a terrorist organization. That clothing store washing drug money? That’s financing terrorism. That construction company exploiting trafficked labor? That’s aiding a designated FTO.

Under Trump, the legal framework shifted from misdemeanors to federal terrorism charges. From local police matters to FBI counterterrorism investigations. Every cartel business operation becomes vulnerable. Every money laundering scheme becomes actionable. Every American business that knowingly participates faces federal anti-terrorism statutes.

Border crossings dropped by over 75% since Trump’s magnificent return. Not because of new policies. Because criminal organizations respond to consequences. Same border, same agents.

The difference is enforcement.

Mexican authorities, with American support, destroyed over 300 meth labs in the Sinaloa hills. Authorities are seizing auction car schemes. Authorities are disrupting legitimate business fronts.

But this is just the beginning. Because the infrastructure cartels built during Biden’s open border years is still operating. The businesses are still running. The networks are still active.

What Your State Must Do Now

Every state is a border state.

The cartel operations in your community didn’t arrive yesterday. They’ve been building for years, especially during the four years when the border was effectively open.

Here are three simple things your state can do immediately:

1. Mandate 287(g) Programs Statewide: 287(g) programs let local sheriffs work with ICE to detain illegal immigrants. Sheriff Mark Lamb uses it in Pinal County, Arizona. It works. But most sheriffs don’t participate.

“There’s no excuse for American sheriffs not to implement this program. None.”

That’s what Sheriff Mark Lamb told me when we met and discussed all this.

Lamb knows the cost of lawlessness personally.

In December 2022, his 22-year-old son Cooper, Cooper’s fiancée, and their 11-month-old daughter were all killed when a driver with alcohol and THC in his system, traveling 70 mph in a 45 mph zone, struck their Toyota Corolla. Cooper and the baby died at the scene. Caroline died at the hospital nearly a week later. Three lives gone because someone decided the law didn’t apply to them.

2. Make Harboring Illegal Aliens a State Crime: if Catholic Charities can testify before state legislatures (see video below) that they harbor and transport people here illegally, your state needs laws with teeth. Remove the sanctuary protection that cartel operations rely on.

3. Require E-Verify for All Businesses (No Exceptions): if a business can’t verify the legal status of its workers, it loses its business license. This destroys the cheap labor pipeline that makes cartel operations profitable.

One Thing You Can Do This Week

I know this feels overwhelming. I know it’s easier to think “someone else will handle it.” But that’s what they’re counting on.

Your kids are growing up in a country where cartels operate openly. Where human trafficking is a $100 billion industry. Where fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 45.

You don’t have to become an activist.

You just have to make one call this week.

Call your sheriff tomorrow and ask: “Are you participating in the 287(g) program?” If they say no, ask why not.

Because when your sheriff partners with ICE through 287(g), cartel operations can’t hide as easily in your community anymore. That construction crew using illegal labor? They get detained during traffic stops. That restaurant laundering drug money? Their workers get checked during routine inspections. That business undercutting American competitors by 30%? They lose their cheap labor pipeline.

287(g) makes cartels choose: stay out of your county or risk getting caught every single day.

Sheriff Mark Lamb runs 287(g) in Pinal County, Arizona and his county is safer because of it. Cartel operations avoid his jurisdiction because they know his deputies are authorized to detain illegals on the spot. No catch and release. No waiting for federal agents. Immediate consequences.

Your sheriff has that same power. They’re just choosing not to use it, and that choice is putting your community at risk.

What to Say if They Gaslight You

“We don’t have the resources.”

Sheriff Lamb in Arizona does it with the same budget constraints you have. Trump rolled out the red carpet. ICE provides the training for free, the legal authority is already there, and the federal support is active right now. In December 2025, you have zero excuses. What’s the real reason you won’t protect our community?

“It’s not our job to enforce federal immigration law.”

287(g) makes it your job, and sheriffs across America are doing it successfully right now. You’re choosing not to. When cartel businesses in our county are funding human trafficking, that becomes our problem. Are you telling me you’re okay with that?

“It’ll hurt our relationship with the immigrant community.”

Legal immigrants want cartels out of their communities too. This targets criminal organizations and individuals hurting our community and exploiting people. If you can’t tell the difference, maybe we need a sheriff who can.”

“We’re already working with ICE when needed.”

287(g) is a formal partnership with legal authority and federal backing. ‘Working with ICE when needed’ means you’re choosing when to enforce the law. Cartels operate every single day. Why don’t you?

“This is politically divisive.”

Dead kids from fentanyl aren’t divisive. Human trafficking isn’t divisive. Cartel businesses stealing American jobs isn’t divisive. Keeping our community safe is your job. Do it.”

If your sheriff refuses, maybe say something like:

Sheriff, Trump designated cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The federal government is providing support, training, and legal authority through 287(g). Sheriffs across the country are implementing this successfully right now. You have every tool you need. So I’m asking you directly: why are you choosing not to protect our community from terrorist organizations operating businesses on our streets?

If they still refuse, call your county commissioners. Call your state representatives. Post about it on social media. Tag your sheriff’s office. Make noise. Because here’s what they’re betting on: that you’ll make one call, get a run-around answer, and give up.

Don’t.

The cartels are counting on your sheriff doing nothing. And the sheriffs who ignore the problem are counting on you being too busy to follow up. Prove them both wrong.

It starts with one call.

That’s it.

The Window’s Closing

But the cartels are still in your community, operating the businesses you see every day, and hiding behind legitimate facades while running criminal enterprises that kill more Americans than terrorism.

They play the long game.

They survived Trump’s first term, exploded under Biden’s open border policies, and now they’re waiting for the next administration that will give them another four-year window to expand. While they wait, they’re sending their children to American universities, constructing business fronts that look entirely legitimate, and embedding themselves so deeply in American communities that most people don’t even realize they’re there.

The cartels built a $100 billion empire by operating businesses that most Americans never questioned. They succeeded because we weren’t paying attention.

The question is: what are you going to do about it?

Call your sheriff tomorrow about 287(g) programs. Call your state representative about legislation. Start asking questions about businesses that don’t make sense.

Because the cartels are counting on you being too busy, too distracted, and too uncomfortable to demand change.

Prove them wrong.