And affecting americans, jose. thank you very much, ken dilanian, for being with us. mike, i want to pick your brain. this, in many ways, reminds you of things that have happened in your career and in the past. mike, paint the picture of what exactly what happened and why it s happening. the thing is that in mexico, you know, we have a very problematic situation with the current administration. jose, this started in 2020 when the dea arrested the ex-cabinet level secretary, the head of defense under the then regime. at the time, they were going to limit the efforts of the dea, fbi and other law enforcement agencies. apart from that, there are
Jose. obviously, the number one priority for this white house at this time is not the politics here, it is trying to get more information about who is responsible for these deaths. so, ken, all of the information so far that we are getting come from the mexican officials. the governor of the area and the president of mexico this morning talking about it in his morning press conference. but all of the information so far coming out of official mexican sources. well, that s right, jose. although, i have to say, the american law enforcement officials i ve been talking to over the last 24 hours have been hinting that they did not think that there was going to be a great outcome here. based on the video that we all saw, they could clearly see that at least two of those americans were grievously wounded. in fact, one looked lifeless. there was a blood trail. they were expecting the worst here. we didn t get clarity on exactly whether there were negotiations
Abortions sued texas over its near total ban on the procedure. we ll hear from one of them who says she nearly died because of the law. we begin this hour with that breaking news out of mexico concerning those four americans who were shot at and kidnapped in matamoros, mexico. the governor of the state of tamaulipas says two of the four americans have been found dead while one more is injured. the fourth was found unharmed. disturbing video shows part of the kidnapping where you see the assailants dragging people into a white pickup truck. a law enforcement official confirmed. joining us now, nbc s ken dilanian, nbc s peter alexander at the white house, and the former head of the dea s operations. ken, what can you tell us? what the governor is saying is these americans have been recovered, two dead, two alive,
Policies, hugs and not gunshots, which means that he really doesn t want to confront these cartels. they re operating with greater impunity, more violent, and they have absolutely no respect for the rule of law. there s large swaths of territory in mexico that are being held by the cartels. not only are they trafficking drugs, but they ve infiltrated a lot of, you know, legitimate businesses in mexico. kidnapping has become a cottage industry in that country. the cartel hit men, they don t care about identifying their targets. they ve become so brazen that, you know, they shoot first and ask questions later. i want to bring in nbc s
It calls its do not travel warning. it was already in place, effectively saying that that particular region of mexico is very dangerous. according to the state department s website, it says in simple terms, avoid the area due to kidnapping and crime, organized crime activity, gun battles, armed robberies and kidnapping, as well. so those are the details as it relates to the white house at this moment. we should say this is also a political perilous situation, as well. it s become part of a wider debate right now about safety, not just along the border but in the northern portions of mexico, with some republicans, including tom cotton, the republican from arkansas, criticizing president biden and his administration. effectively saying that their failure to better enforce immigration policies at the border right now are, in part, to blame for the emboldening of the mexican cartels right now,