By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
When Steve and I lived and worked at an orphanage in Ciudad Juárez from 1998-2000, there was talk often amongst fellow missionaries about the prospect of having the military in Mexico actually get involved in stemming the tide of drugs and illegal border crossings into El Paso, just across the river. We lived in Anapra, located on the far northwest part of town. It was essentially where the American states of Texas and New Mexico, along with the Mexican state of Chihuahua, intersected with each other, and we literally watched people cross the orphanage property in order to “make it” to the other side. It seemed like deploying troops to stem the drug tide was a logical move for a country to make with its most powerful ally. However, because everyone knew that the cartel was in bed with the Juárez police, the federales, and the military, it also seemed like a pipe dream. While we certainly were not military strategists, it also seemed reasonable to us to have American National Guard units do rotations on the border on the El Paso side, and this was a quarter of a century ago. Now this has become a reality.
The orphanage was also located 15 kilometers away from a cartel ranch where in the late ‘90s, 22 bodies of people murdered by the cartel were exhumed by American and Mexican agencies, and we drove past that ranch every time we entered the U.S. at the Santa Teresa border crossing into New Mexico. Needless to say, each time we did so, we were highly motivated to pray, and on country dirt roads, there were no speed limits. I will freely admit that I kicked up my fair share of dust while driving like a bat-out- of-a-very-hot-place-that-you-don’t-want-to-occupy-even-for-a-second.
If there is one thing that has surprised me since President Trump was sworn in for his second term, it is to watch things that appeared to be so entrenched start to unravel and wrinkle like a cheap suit. Only a few months ago recruitment levels in our military were at dangerously low levels, even with unprecedented incentives including gender reassignment surgery, which can cost anywhere from $6900 to $140,000. In under two months, recruitment quotas have been met handily, and once again it is because young men and women want to serve and protect their country for that reason alone.
So, recently I cheered inside when I saw pictures of the Mexican National Guard actually working the border on the Juárez side, and all that it took was the threat of tariffs to get them there within the space of 72 hours. What was their operational focus? Fentanyl. The White House made a statement saying, “Last fiscal year, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended more than 21,000 pounds of fentanyl at our borders, enough fentanyl to kill more than 4 billion people.” FOUR BILLION PEOPLE.
At this point, there is a plan to deploy 1,650 of the Mexican NG to Juárez, and I am quite sure the cartel will not just “go quietly into that good night.” Their viciousness is legendary, and the people on both sides of the border are going to need our prayers as this war on narco-terrorism is fought.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
February 21, 2025
