RUSH: We’re in sunny south Florida with heavy rains in the forecast starting later this afternoon. Did you know that? And into tomorrow. Not that it matters; we all have roofs. But it’s headed our way. Great to have you with us, my friends, at the EIB Network. Open Line Friday means that you can talk about whatever you want. Even if I have spent four days talking about it, you can weigh in. 800-282-2882 if you want to call.

The email address is ElRushbo@eibnet.us. Okay folks, as we noted yesterday, Mexico seems to be already buckling under the threat of Trump’s tariffs, which are to begin on Monday.

I pointed out yesterday that Mexican authorities stopped a caravan from Guatemala at their southern border, which they should be doing, and they detained some of its members and sent many of them back home. Do you realize if that was happening routinely, the fact that Mexico has not… Mexico has known full well these people are not stopping in Mexico.

They’re coming through the southern border on their way here. And Mexico, up ’til now, has not been cooperative. They may have sounded like they wanted to be, but they haven’t actually been. Now all of a sudden the threat of financial leverage already appears to be working. And the news today is arguably even better than it was yesterday.

Apparently Mexico has arrested two of the top leaders of the caravans, including Irineo Mujica, who is the director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras. Mujica, who holds dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship, has been organizing these caravans since 2008. These are political caravans. These are not the starving, the homeless… The homeless are headed to LA anyway.

But it’s not the starving, the homeless, the hungry, the thirsty. These are people who are being rounded up and paying one way or the other.

But all of this is a political operation! There’s nothing else it could be! As organized and massive as it is. And for Mexico to have arrested two of the top leaders of the caravans just shows what has been possible all along, what they could have been doing if they were an ally in all of this. It shows what they could have been doing. Mexico arrested these two because they’ve been charging immigrants — quote, unquote, immigrants — not even immigrants.

Anyway, they’ve been charging these immigrants to get them to the United States. (paraphrasing) “Mexico’s charging the two caravan organizers for human trafficking and child smuggling, on top of that. Mexican tax officials froze the assets of 26 people and entities that they allege are tied to human smuggling organizations that fund and promote the caravans. The Mexicans say that the funding for the migrant caravans comes mostly from the United States.” Well, of course it does. And it comes from people with ties and sympathies to the Democrat Party. But the money also comes from Africa and Central America.

Now, they haven’t released the names of the 26 people they’ve arrested, but how much you want to bet a lot of familiar names are on it? Such as George Soros, which is what makes this even more incredible to believe. (paraphrasing) “Tax officials froze the assets of 26 people and entities tied to this human smuggling that fund and promote the caravans.” Africa, Central America.

On top of all of that, the Washington Post is reporting (paraphrasing) “Mexico is ready to accept the U.S. demand and sign on to a third safe country agreement. That would mean that the migrants from the northern triangle countries will have to ask for asylum in Mexico.” All of this is happening with just the threat of tariffs being imposed on Monday, just the threat of them. And even though the Republicans in the Senate are raising hell about it and saying they’re gonna try to stop it, the Mexicans are continuing to implement policies they should have been implementing long ago, but have never done before.

This is the first time that they have begun to do things like this, and it’s under the threat of tariffs. Now, the Drive-By Media is filled with news that the tariffs will not hurt Mexico. (impression) “No, the tariffs are gonna cost 400,000 American jobs and the tariffs are gonna reduce wages, and the tariffs are gonna do this, and they’re gonna harm the American people, they’re not gonna hurt Mexico at all.”

Well, then if it isn’t, then why is Mexico….? This is serious stuff the Mexicans are doing. And this third safe country is one of the loopholes, this is one of the big abuses of our asylum system. I’m sure that most of you know this, but the way asylum works, in a legal sense, if you’re say, from El Salvador or Guatemala and you want to flee and seek political asylum elsewhere, guess what? The law says you must apply in the first country you reach after fleeing your own.

Well, that’s Mexico. But Mexico has been acting as a pass-through. Mexico has not been stopping the people or the caravans. Mexico has been facilitating their trek northward. And so when they get to the United States, then they seek asylum, and the other loophole for that is that once you seek asylum, it’s different than coming in and being an illegal immigrant. When you seek asylum, well, that’s when you get detained and that’s when you get separated from your family, and that’s when you get released after time with an order to come back and have your asylum request processed in court.

But guess what happens? They never come back. They just disappear into the framework of the country. It’s a scam! It has been a scam, and it’s been a scam, allowed to be a scam because nobody’s had the guts to enforce the law. And they said, “Well, we can’t, Rush, because we can’t track every one of these people. Once, you know, we detain them and they leave and don’t come back for their hearing, what are we supposed to do?”

Well, it would seem to me maybe the solution is to not let ’em in and apply in the first place because that’s first step of the illegality here. Well, what’s this third safe country thing is, where Mexico… The Washington Post is saying Mexico’s ready to accept our demand that they sign on to this, which would mean these migrants from the northern triangle, Guatemala, El Salvador, and so forth, will have to ask for asylum in Mexico since that’s the first safe country they are entering on their way to the U.S.

The Washington Post says (paraphrasing) “The Mexicans will agree to signing a third safe country agreement if Trump will remove the threat of tariffs.” Now, also keep in mind the Drive-By Media said that none of this would happen. When Trump originally threatened to place tariffs on Mexico, the Drive-By Media said it is a waste of time, (impression) “Trump’s not gonna accomplish, the Mexicans are not gonna be afraid, the Mexicans are not gonna be deterred, the Mexicans are not gonna be intimidated, the Mexicans are not gonna fold.”

Some in the Drive-By Media like Jorge Ramos said that it was unfair to ask Mexico to try to do anything since it’s impossible to stop the caravans and the flood of illegal aliens into the U.S. Oh, it’s impossible to stop them? Let me ask you folks a question. I’m being serious about this. You, who voted for Trump… The news yesterday said just in this year alone to date, 1,072,000 illegals have entered the country. Every day, we get stories about how the Border Patrol is overwhelmed and TSA agents are now putting illegal agents on airplane flights without processing them.

We’re just so overwhelmed there’s nothing we can do and here’s Jorge Ramos saying, (impression) “Well, there’s no way Mexico can stop them.” Well, how come we can? If nobody can stop them? Well, Mexico’s just demonstrated they can stop them. They can stop them at their southern border. They can shut this down right now when they want to. But the point is, 1,072,000 illegals, we don’t know how many millions prior to that at some point, if not already, this is going to have an overwhelming impact on the very makeup of this country and our culture and society.

I don’t know how impatient some of you are, but I would imagine a lot of you are beginning to say, “When are we gonna do something about this?” Even though the rejoinder is, “Well, there’s not much Trump can do. The Democrats don’t want to do it, they don’t want to help him, they don’t want to do anything to make him look good.” “Well, where’s the national emergency? Where’s this? I mean, this is what Trump ran on and, in large part, was elected for.” I just wonder how many people are losing patience. I don’t know that anybody is in great numbers, but I’m just asking. ‘Cause I know there are people getting nervous about it.

I mean, the guy that gets elected with the most pointed rhetoric on dealing with this and the record numbers of illegals keep pouring into the country with news every day about how the system is so overwhelmed. We can’t stop it. It appears to be, in other words, the way the media is covering it, it appears to be worse than ever. And if that’s the perception that a lot of Trump voters have, that it’s worse than ever, then that’s not gonna be helpful.

But you know, with George Ramos, Jorge. I’m sorry. With Jorge Ramos saying it’s unfair to ask Mexico to try to do anything, that’s why the Drive-Bys are giving all this news from Mexico very little coverage.

What I just told you is not being widely reported. Even the Washington Post story is not on the front page. It’s not even top drawer. It was a Reuters story yesterday that reported the initial discovery of arresting the caravan leaders, a couple of them, and stopping the caravan at the Mexican southern border. That didn’t make any wide news coverage.

So the Drive-Bys are not giving it much coverage at all, and they certainly don’t want to cover it from the standpoint that Trump is the reason why this is happening, and it is. The threat to impose tariffs is what has caused Mexico to start executing, implementing the law, becoming helpful. So, I don’t know.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, folks, I was just channel surfing around here during the break and I accidentally clicked on the Fox Business Network. I generally zoom past that, and I saw a little screen graphic. I said, well, I haven’t seen anything about this, and here’s the screen graphic. Report: Mexico to deploy 6,000 the rooms to border with Guatemala. All of a sudden, out of the blue, with a tariff threat looming over the country on Monday, Mexico’s not only stopping the caravans, freezing the accounts of the people paying for it and arresting a couple of leaders, now they’re deploying 6,000 troops to the border with Guatemala.

So there apparently was not a one-off, if this is not just a show, if this is for real, they intend to make this permanent. Well, I don’t mean permanent, but they’re gonna sustain this policy for a while, anyway, by shutting down people crossing their border of Mexico-Guatemala, on their way to the United States. If they’re gonna go along with this third nation business, they don’t want these asylum seekers in Mexico.

RUSH: This is Ecedro in Lubbock, Texas. Great to have you, Ecedro. Welcome to EIB Network. Hello, sir.

CALLER: Rush Limbaugh. I am an Hispanic conservative Republican in Texas. I’ve been listening to you since 1991 when I first came out of the Army, and I want to tell you something, Rush. I am sick and tired of the Democrats categorically listing all Hispanics as Democrats, because that is an insult to every rational, free-thinking, aware Hispanic in the whole state of Texas. I’m just so tired of it!

RUSH: Well, you’ve got this guy at Telemundo or Univision — I don’t know where he works — Jorge Ramos running around pretty much saying so. The Democrat Party acts on the belief that Hispanics are gonna vote Democrat. That’s why they want as many illegals in the country eventually registered to vote as they can. I know it’s bogus, but I don’t know what the percentages are.

CALLER: We call him “Ranting Ramos” here in Texas among my friends, Rush.

RUSH: (laughing) He is a little loony. He is a little —

CALLER: (laughing) A little Spanish lingo for you, Rush.

RUSH: I appreciate that. “Ranting Ramos.” Well, what —

CALLER: It’s a pleasure talking to you, Rush.

RUSH: Wait. Before you go, Ecedro —

CALLER: Uh-huh?

RUSH: — what percentage…? How many the people in your immediate circle…? Are all of your friends pretty much like you, conservative Republican?

CALLER: Well, see, Rush, the thing is that the majority of my friends are conservative Republican. But I have a lot of Democrat friends, a lot of them, because it’s not about the person, Rush. It’s about the ideas.

RUSH: Okay, great. What do you have in common with them?

CALLER: Culture. We love the music, the food, the camaraderie. We hug when we see each other, call each other brother when we meet.

RUSH: Did you see that Chipotle was gonna raise the price of burritos or tacos if Trump puts these tariffs on Mexico?

CALLER: (laughing)

RUSH: I’m not making it up!

CALLER: No, no, no.

RUSH: I’m not making a joke. It’s actually a news story. Chipotle is promising to raise prices on burritos or tacos or something.

CALLER: Rush, it does not matter. It doesn’t matter. We are gonna stand with the president on this because he’s right. Oh, by the way, Rush, I want to tell you something. I’m ticked off at John Cornyn, because if he was going to be in opposition to our president, he should have done it in private, not publicly like he did. I’m really ticked at him about that. I’m a primary voter! He’s not gonna get my vote.

RUSH: Well, that’s not gonna be good for him to hear, John Cornyn. Well, look, Ecedro, I’m glad you called. I’m really glad you made it through. I appreciate your patience in waiting and it’s great to know that you are out there.