Last weekend, a gun fight between Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s former drug cartel and a rival cartel resulted in the deaths of 19 people in northern Mexico.

The encounter started late on April 3, 2020 when cartel members connected to El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel were caught in a gun fight with drug traffickers from the Juarez cartel and other criminal syndicates in the state of Chihuahua, according to Mexican police reports.

The following day, authorities discovered 18 bodies at the scene of the violent exchange in the town of Madera. Another man that was wounded died shortly in a hospital, according to law enforcement sources.

Mexican soldiers were sent to the area and discovered several weapons, which included two grenades.

Back in January 2019, a Brooklyn federal judge sentenced El Chapo to life in prison.

Since El Chapo’s sentence, there has been an enormous power vacuum in Mexico’s Drug War, as numerous cartels vie for power after El Chapo left the picture.

Mexico’s government has proven to be incompetent on the matter of public security so cartels will continue to have their way in the country.

For that reason, the U.S. should proactively seal off its border and restrict migration from Mexico.

Not taking action on border security will only leave America susceptible to Mexico’s problems, which will only spillover to the U.S. if the borders remain porous.