It’s one thing to secure our borders so that illegal immigrants, or migrant workers, are prevented from entering the United States.

It’s a completely different matter when we have Mexican drug cartels literally taking over massive amounts of land in America through which they smuggle drugs, weapons and gang members. We would not be at all surprised if Mexican drug cartels were eventually found to have assisted terrorists by smuggling them through our southern border.

In two prior articles we outlined that the National Guard has been mobilized and that they are also engaged in training for domestic policing in emergency scenarios like riots or evacuations. While many of our readers, including this author, have misgivings about domestic deployment of military personnel, there are some instances when we believe this must be done in order to preserve order and prevent chaos. Hurricane Katrina is one example where we believe a Guard presence is justified.

What we have not discussed up until now is the deployment of the Guard into domestic war zones. If there was ever a case where we feel it’s justified to deploy military personnel, it is along today’s Arizona border.

Up until now, the so called “war on drugs” has been fought by police on the streets of America or in foreign lands like Columbia. But now the threat is becoming much more serious.

In the last year, over 20,000 people have been killed in drug violence on the Mexican side of the border. We’ve crossed a dangerous threshold and the war is now moving into the United States:

The United States is ceding parts of Arizona to the Mexican drug cartels. So says Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Paul Babeu.

In a press conference ignored by the American national media, the sheriff described how his deputies were outmanned and outgunned by the cartel smugglers who increasingly operate using military tactics and weapons. The result, said Sheriff Babeu, was that a wide corridor of Arizona from the border North to the outskirts of Phoenix is effectively controlled by the cartels. “We do not have control of this area,” the sheriff said.

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Frequent cross border incursions into the U.S. by cartel soldiers in Mexican Army uniforms driving American-made Humvees and toting automatic weapons support an increasingly sophisticated web of smuggling routes. Patrolling sheriff deputies or lone Border Patrol officers are no match for this firepower and are ordered to fall back when confronted with the cartels’ military might.

Aerial photographs taken by American civilian pilots show cartel bulldozers improving dirt roads across the undefended border after a seasonal rain to facilitate the nightly drug runs.

According to reports, over 3500 acres of public land have essentially been appropriated by Mexican drug cartels. Local police forces, which are designed to provide services to local inhabitants of their counties are simply undermanned and outgunned, as reported in this ABC story:

A Mexican drug cartel has threatened police officers in Arizona who confiscated a marijuana shipment, prompting the small town department to warn its officers to remain armed and have radios with them at all times, and keep their body armor handy.

Police and experts believe the warning against the Nogales, Ariz., cops marks the first time that powerful Mexican drug cartels, used to bribing and bullying police south of the border, have targeted U.S. officers.

Mexican drug cartels have threatened to use snipers and armed gunmen to eliminate local police.

There should be absolutely no doubt that Mexican drug cartels will carry out these threats.

They have brought the war into the United States. What they do not understand, and hopefully will soon, is that our warriors are superior to anything Mexican gangs can bring to the table.

It is time to deploy the National Guard to the border, and the longer the President waits before doing so, the more land will be taken over by cartels. It is simply a matter of time before these animals start decapitating US law enforcement officials in border towns and executing their families like they do south of the border.

What we need on the border, and especially on US land currently controlled by cartels, is a surge and heavy presence of military.

We need to send a message to Mexican cartels, and that message should come in the form of  Apache Helictopers, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, M-249, M-203 and the gambit of tactical strike bombs like the Viper Strike GBU-44:

And if Mexican drug cartels think that they can threaten American citizens with snipers, we should immediately deploy some of these guys:

Mexican drug cartels must understand that the United States of America will not allow the invasion of our land in any form.

It is our view that President Obama should give a single warning in a prime time speech giving them 48 hours to withdraw from the United States or face the threat of annihilation. Anyone remaining on that 3500 acres of land after said deadline will be terminated with extreme prejudice. In addition, the United States, since it has been engaged on US soil by cartel leaders who insist on terrorizing US citizens without any sort of effort by the government of Mexico to stop them, will directly strike top level drug cartel members within the country of Mexico.

We are doing this in Pakistan already, and we’ve done it in other countries. And if Mexican officials can’t keep these “terrorists” from crossing into the United States, we should do the same there.

Once combat operations are completed, military personnel should remain along the entire southern US border to prevent any illegal border crossings, including those by migrant workers.

Border security light being implemented by DHS Chief Janet Napolitano is not going to cut it anymore:

Federal officials will send drones into the skies to patrol the U.S.-Mexican border to beef up surveillance of criminal trafficking along the Mexican border.

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“Our Southwest border states have endured more than their share of challenges,” the former Arizona governor said. “I share the frustration border communities feel.”

During a speech at a Washington think tank, Napolitano argued that “border is as secure now as it has ever been” but said some “are looking to score political points” by depicting the border as far more dangerous than it really is, the Post reported.

The problem with this statement is that our border has never actually been secure!

Unarmed drones patrolling this gang infested area of Arizona where cartels have threatened local police forces with violence and snipers is simply not enough. In addition, even if the drones remain unarmed, and spot illegal border crossings, Border Patrol simply does not have the personnel to respond quickly enough. Again, a strong National Guard presence across the entire Southern border is required.

Rather than accusing Tea Party members or those who speak out against big government policies of being home-grown terrorists, the White House and Congress need to focus their efforts on actual terrorists invading this country. Of course, that may not be politically expedient for an administration that reportedly believes that border security is a negotiable part of a greater comprehensive immigration reform initiative, the safety of the American people be damned.

We need to either tighten up the Southern border and destroy drug gangs coming in to the United States, or, we need to legalize drugs for personal use. The legalization argument is one that we’ll save for a later discussion, but we really don’t have many choices here. Even with the National Guard on the border, there’s no guarantee that the flow of drugs can be stopped so long as demand in the United States continues, and let’s be honest – that’s not going away anytime soon.

Hat tip Tom of the North of the Looming Doom for links to our border security reference  articles.