As the nation entered 2019, the federal government was in the midst of the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history as President Donald Trump and House Democrats clashed over funding for constructing a border wall. Recall that during this impasse Trump accurately described the situation at the border as a crisis. He highlighted a sad claim: “One in three women is sexually assaulted on the dangerous journey north.” At the time, Democrats and the Leftmedia widely criticized Trump’s characterization of the border situation as a “crisis” as inaccurate and challenged his sexual-assault claim as overblown.

However, as has all too often been the case, Trump was proven correct on both accounts. Few are currently arguing against the fact that there is a crisis at the U.S. southern border, and it was none other than The New York Times that admitted Trump’s assertion on sexual-assault statistics was in fact true.

Another factor that is less often discussed regarding illegal immigration is the illicit business aspect of the problem. According to a recent report from the nonpartisan RAND Corporation entitled, “Human Smuggling from Central America to the United States,” drug cartels “control primary smuggling corridors into the United States.” Their profits from this illicit enterprise netted them $2.3 billion in 2017 alone.

Clearly, the drug cartels are taking advantage of the U.S.‘s porous southern border, as well as the nation’s outdated asylum laws to make loads of money. With the Democrats and leftist judges actively working to prevent Trump from successfully addressing the problem of illegal immigration, is it any wonder the problem has risen to the crisis stage?