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Bill Bennett Brings Up Hidden Border Wall Benefit That Went Completely Unnoticed

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When we talk about the border wall, the benefits seem to begin and end with illegal immigration. If we talk about the criminal cartels south of the Rio Grande, what we’re usually discussing is their role in human trafficking.

However, as noted conservative Bill Bennett points out, these cartels make most of their money trafficking something else. He would know — under the George H.W. Bush administration, Bennett served as “drug czar,” the individual in charge of coming up with plans to interdict narcotics before they reached the United States.

And, in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Sunday, Bennett said that a border wall could make a “real and profound difference” in the drug crisis America is currently facing.

President Donald Trump’s current battle with Democrats in the government shutdown, Bennet said, is “making a line in the sand now and I think he’s absolutely right.”

As Fox News noted, 86 percent of the heroin that came into the United States in 2016 entered through Mexico. Given the scope of the opioid epidemic, Bennett said stopping that could be huge.

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“The president’s instincts on this are very, very good,” Bennett said, drawing comparisons to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

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“After 9/11, you’ll remember, we shut down the border. When we shut down the border, drugs didn’t come in,” he continued. “Emergency room admissions were down, the price of drugs went up.”

That means, “if you shut down that border, if you close it off, if you build a wall, it can have a real and profound difference,” Bennett said.

While Bennett noted that there were other ways to solve the opioid crisis — namely putting pressure on China, which is one of the top producers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl — he still noted that “Mexico is the point of trans-shipment for a lot of these drugs.



“So (Trump’s) instincts are right and it is connected to this whole wall debate.”

Bennett also said Trump was right to pursue these instincts by insisting Congress provide funding for the wall — and partially shutting down the government if that funding doesn’t come through.

“Look, this wasn’t just a campaign promise,” Bennett said. “This was the principal campaign promise. And most of the American people are with him in this notion that you’ve got to have a country, and to have a country you’ve got to have sovereignty and you’ve got to have borders.

“So he’s making a line in the sand now and I think he’s absolutely right. I hope he holds firm. I think he will and we’ll see what happens.”

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If he can, it could be huge — and not just on stopping illegal immigration, but illegal drugs as well.

If you think cartels are going to be angry about losing money from human trafficking, just wait until you see what happens when the drug trade is shut down.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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