Here’s one consequence of the mass shooting in El Paso that you probably didn’t see coming. While investigators are still questioning the alleged shooter and trying to pick up the pieces, the Mexican government has announced that it may take the United States to court for failing to protect their citizens in the “violent” city of El Paso. The Mexican President supposedly ordered his Foreign Minister to look into the situation because at least three and possibly as many as six of the victims were Mexican nationals. (NBC News)

Mexico on Sunday threatened to take legal action against the United States for failing to protect its citizens after this weekend’s mass shooting in the border city of El Paso.

Of the 20 people gunned down at a Walmart at the Cielo Vista Mall, at least three were Mexican citizens, and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard promised Mexico City will act.

Ebrard called Saturday’s shooting an “act of barbarism.”

“The president has instructed me to ensure that Mexico’s indignation translates into … efficient, prompt, expeditious and forceful legal actions for Mexico to take a role and demand that conditions are established that protect … Mexicans in the United States,” Ebrard said in a video posted on Twitter.

We should all have sympathy and empathy for the families of those who were lost on Saturday, including the legal visitors and tourists from Mexico. But with that said, I have to wonder if AMLO has gone off his meds this week or something. He’s seriously insinuating (if not directly stating) that El Paso is too dangerous and we’re not doing enough to keep visitors safe?

For anyone who is unable to find a map close to hand, here’s a reminder that El Paso is across the border from Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. If that name sounds familiar it might be because up until around 2012, Juarez was listed by Mexico’s own Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice as being “the most violent city in the world,” largely due to the endless wars between rival drug cartels. Things have improved there a bit since then, of course. According to a report that just came out this March, Juarez is now only the sixth most violent city in the world. And just for the record, five the six most violent cities are all in Mexico. (LA Times, emphasis added)

In Tijuana, where local gangs have been battling over a lucrative domestic drug market, the report tallied 138 killings per 100,000 residents last year, or about seven killings on average per day. The Mexican resort city of Acapulco was in second place, with 111 killings per 100,000 people. Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, which has been beset by crime and food shortages amid the country’s political crisis, was in third place with 100 killings per 100,000 people.

The fourth- and fifth-most violent cities, according to the Citizens’ Council, were in two of Mexico’s northern border states: Ciudad Victoria, in the state of Tamaulipas, and Ciudad Juarez, in Chihuahua. Irapuato, a city in the state of Guanajuato that has been the site of fierce battles over control of stolen gasoline, is sixth on the list. There were 15 Mexican cities on the list of 50, more than any other country in the world.

By comparison, the murder rate in El Paso last year was 2.9 victims per 100,000. Yes… that’s 2.9 as compared to nearly 100 in Juarez. The murder rate in Juarez is nearly double that of Baltimore, and that’s really saying something.

Yes, three Mexican nationals were murdered by a madman in El Paso this weekend, and that’s a tragedy we should all be mourning. But to keep a bit of perspective here, a Forbes report from last year found that more American citizens were murdered in Mexico in 2017 than were killed in all other countries of the world combined.

So AMLO wants to bring a lawsuit against the United States for unsafe conditions and murders? No problem. We’ll make a deal with you and settle out of court right now. How about we give you a million dollars for each Mexican killed over here and you give us the same for any Americans killed in your country? Your check for six million will be in the mail by Wednesday. We await the payment of the roughly quarter-billion you owe us.