Mexico

Having seemingly just been handed a stinging defeat on Obamacare, the Trump administration is desperate to deliver some 'wins' for the people who voted him into office.  After all, he did promise voters "so much winning that you'll get tired of winning."

As the New York Times points out today, one such win could come in the form of recent advances on the construction of that "physically imposing" yet "aesthetically pleasing" border wall that was a cornerstone of Trump's campaign last year.

Authored by Michael Snyder via The American Dream blog,

Did you know that Mexico is the second deadliest nation on the entire planet? The drug war down there continues to spiral completely out of control, and often the violence spills over to our own side of the border. Thanks to President Trump, security along the border is improving, but we still have a long, long way to go. Ultimately what we need is a physical barrier, because large numbers of illegal immigrants continue to pour through the soft spots in our border security.

Content originally published at iBankCoin.com

A sharp dropoff in the number of illegal border crossers coming into the United States from Mexico is "nothing short of miraculous," National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd told C-SPAN on Monday.

As far as the Trump administration's efforts on immigration, this is something they campaigned heavily on.

We have never seen such a drop that we currently have.

Fuel theft in Mexico used to consist of a few villagers drilling holes in Pemex pipelines and carrying away just enough gasoline to fill their vehicles and maybe a couple extra gallons to sell on the side of the freeway.  But as The Columbian notes, illegally tapping into pipelines and stealing gas from Mexico's state-owned oil company has morphed into a very well organized criminal enterprise, run by well-armed regional cartels and supported by distribution on a commercial scale to factories and petrol stations.

Back in January, Trump took a very public victory lap when Ford decided to scrap plans to build a $1.6 billion manufacturing facility in Mexico and invest in its Michigan facilities instead (we discussed it here: Trump Takes Victory Lap After Ford Cancels $1.6 Billion Mexican Expansion Plan As "Vote Of Confidence" In President-Elect).

"@DanScavino: Ford to scrap Mexico plant, invest in Michigan due to Trump policies"https://t.co/137nUo03Gl