Neo-Monroe Doctrine for America
Ending mass migration into the United States requires us to reassert dominance in our hemisphere.
Dyllan Angelo-Ogurkis is a postgraduate researcher of international relations at London Metropolitan University.
While the United States has become an overextended power, focusing the majority of its fleeting resources in the Middle East for two decades, Washington’s policy establishment has neglected its own hemisphere. In 1823, President James Monroe saw the importance of cultivating relationships with our neighbors against the influence of external great powers, thus establishing the Monroe Doctrine. However, over 200 years later, the United States has seemingly abandoned the lessons of President Monroe and neglected important partnerships with Central and South America.
As the geopolitical world has shifted from American hegemony to a multi-polar landscape, the time for strong partnerships amongst the nations of the Americas is needed now more than ever. With the re-election of President Trump this November, we must take drastic steps to end mass immigration and develop a new strategy for securing our nation, and our hemisphere, from foreign influence — something Joe Biden has failed to accomplish.
Unfortunately, the focus of American foreign policy on deposing and intervening in far away governments has left the Americas open for the taking. Cartel and Chinese influence have swarmed into that open void. Now is the time for the United States to develop a neo-Monroe Doctrine to fight Narco-terrorism, Chinese influence, and economic instability — all of which power mass migration through our Southern border, a problem we must eradicate.
The narcotics cartels of Latin America today make Pablo Escobar look like a common criminal. These billion dollar transnational criminal corporations wield tremendous economic and military force behind their operations. While compiling data is difficult due to the nature of these organizations, let us focus on our direct neighbor Mexico. It is estimated that there are nearly 175,000 members of cartels in Mexico alone, a figure considerably larger than the size of Canada’s military.
With their organizational might, these cartels conduct narco-terrorism throughout the hemisphere, targeting not only rival criminals but also any civilian, political, or economic obstacle that happens to stand in their way. The 2024 election in Mexico has produced their bloodiest cycle of electoral assassinations, with 37 candidates killed and a whopping 823 non-deadly attacks. This trend of expanded narco-terrorism has been seen all throughout the hemisphere.
The United States has completely failed to address the rampant drug trafficking operations throughout South and Central America, which have killed more Americans than any Middle Eastern terrorist group. Cocaine, meth, and heroin are smuggled through our porous borders, poisoning and killing Americans every single day.
Drugs have only grown more deadly in recent years with the introduction of fentanyl-laced products. The mere presence of this deadly chemical is the leading cause of death for Americans between 18-45. Customs and Border Patrol estimate that six billion deadly doses of Fentanyl entered the country in 2023. There is also growing data to connect Chinese actors with Narco-Cartels on the production of fentanyl in “pill mills” throughout Latin America.
Foreign influence by the Chinese in the Americas goes far beyond the fentanyl connection. As the CCP has expanded their neo-colonization of the developing world via their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Latin America has found themselves in the eyes of China. BRI has been one of President Xi Jinping’s key foreign policy endeavors to develop a network of infrastructure and economic investments with partner nations. Despite initial focuses in Asia and Africa, China has expanded their vision to the Americas through initial projects with Argentina, Brazil, and Panama.
Diplomatically, the CCP also maintains good relations with BRICS member-nation Brazil as well as Maduro’s Marxist regime in Venezuela, the latter of whom being described as an “all weather, strategic partnership” by Chinese state media. Regardless of rhetoric focusing on multipolarity and global partnership, the Chinese injection into the American hemisphere is simply designed to challenge America in her our backyard, all the while draining South and Central America of their natural resources, which the CCP desperately needs.
Lastly, economic instability is a driving force behind a need for a newfound foreign policy vision in the Americas. Like most of the global economy, slow growth is the landscape of Latin America post COVID. Inflation remains as high as 8% in states like Mexico and Chile, while unemployment is estimated to be slightly receding and varying from 2.8%-14.9% throughout the hemisphere.
This economic stagnation combined with rising costs of living and low wages has powered mass migration northward to the United States in search of supposed economic asylum. In 2023 alone there were 2.47 million migrant encounters, a considerable amount of whom traveled northward from South America and through the Darien Gap.
Going forward, the United States should move to establish a Neo-Monroe Doctrine that directly answers American interests. This new vision would refocus foreign endeavors from coffer-draining operations in Ukraine and the Middle East and instead focus on securing our own border. The United States must also target the real danger to American citizens, which are the cartels waging a war right next door.
With access to more funds by pulling out from non-advantageous interventions abroad, the United States would be able to consider limited developmental partnerships with Latin America which would not only drastically reduce the mass migration through our borders, but also send the message to China that America will retain hegemony in the region.
While we further transcend into the 21st century, the time is now to honor President Monroe’s vision and take charge in bringing peace, sovereignty, and stability to the hemisphere.
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