Simon Vance

So really, the question is right now, what are those troops realistically going to be able to do when we have those boots on the ground? Will they make a difference? Because it's not clear whether they made much of a difference before. Of course, the conditions right now on the US-Mexico border are really different. It's actually remarkably calm at the moment.

So really, the question is right now, what are those troops realistically going to be able to do when we have those boots on the ground? Will they make a difference? Because it's not clear whether they made much of a difference before. Of course, the conditions right now on the US-Mexico border are really different. It's actually remarkably calm at the moment.

Illegal crossings across this border are at their lowest level since 2020. The border is very calm for a combination of reasons. Part of this are asylum restrictions that the Biden administration put in over the past year. And part of this has to do with the Mexican government's own actions, right? They have been breaking up migrant caravans long before they make it to the border with the U.S.

Illegal crossings across this border are at their lowest level since 2020. The border is very calm for a combination of reasons. Part of this are asylum restrictions that the Biden administration put in over the past year. And part of this has to do with the Mexican government's own actions, right? They have been breaking up migrant caravans long before they make it to the border with the U.S.

They've also been detaining migrants at levels rarely seen before in recent history in Mexico. So this has resulted in really a sharp decline in illegal crossings at that border.

They've also been detaining migrants at levels rarely seen before in recent history in Mexico. So this has resulted in really a sharp decline in illegal crossings at that border.

And one other thing I want to say about this is if the goal is to address not only migration, but the flow of illegal drugs across the border, Mexico sending thousands of National Guard soldiers to the border is really going to do very little to attack that problem. Because while...

And one other thing I want to say about this is if the goal is to address not only migration, but the flow of illegal drugs across the border, Mexico sending thousands of National Guard soldiers to the border is really going to do very little to attack that problem. Because while...

President Trump and other leaders in the Republican Party have argued that migrants are responsible for taking a lot of the fentanyl across the border into the United States. Actual U.S. government evidence and statistics show that that's not the case. U.S. citizens overwhelmingly are the ones who are smuggling fentanyl into the U.S.

President Trump and other leaders in the Republican Party have argued that migrants are responsible for taking a lot of the fentanyl across the border into the United States. Actual U.S. government evidence and statistics show that that's not the case. U.S. citizens overwhelmingly are the ones who are smuggling fentanyl into the U.S.

So it's not like the fentanyl crisis is going to be solved in one month. It's not going away. It's not clear if the deployment of soldiers is going to do much about it either.

So it's not like the fentanyl crisis is going to be solved in one month. It's not going away. It's not clear if the deployment of soldiers is going to do much about it either.

You know, really from Mexico's perspective, I think that there's the view that the relationship with the U.S. has been transactional for a very long time now, independent of which president is in power. There are good things about that relationship and there are bad things about that relationship from Mexico's view.

You know, really from Mexico's perspective, I think that there's the view that the relationship with the U.S. has been transactional for a very long time now, independent of which president is in power. There are good things about that relationship and there are bad things about that relationship from Mexico's view.

So I think that it just wasn't all that surprising for this crisis to erupt in the first place. Mexican authorities really kept a cool head throughout much of the process, which was very interesting. They didn't take the bait, though they did respond assertively on certain points. But from Mexico's point of view, I don't think that the outcome of this is all that surprising, no.

So I think that it just wasn't all that surprising for this crisis to erupt in the first place. Mexican authorities really kept a cool head throughout much of the process, which was very interesting. They didn't take the bait, though they did respond assertively on certain points. But from Mexico's point of view, I don't think that the outcome of this is all that surprising, no.

Thank you, Michael.

Thank you, Michael.

My life has gone rosy again, Alice Munro told a friend in a buoyant letter of March 1975. For Munro, who was then emerging as one of her generation's leading writers, the previous few years were blighted by heartbreak and upheaval. A painful separation from her husband of two decades. A retreat from British Columbia back to her native Ontario.

My life has gone rosy again, Alice Munro told a friend in a buoyant letter of March 1975. For Munro, who was then emerging as one of her generation's leading writers, the previous few years were blighted by heartbreak and upheaval. A painful separation from her husband of two decades. A retreat from British Columbia back to her native Ontario.