Americans' kidnapping in Mexico reignites debate over ending drug cartels' control: 'It's a never-ending war'

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Judge Jeanine Pirro on drug cartels operating in US: ‘That’s treason’

'The Five' co-hosts discuss Mexican cartels killing two of the four Americans kidnapped in Matamoros. 

Two Americans were found dead in Matamoros, Mexico, Tuesday after the initial group of four was kidnapped over the weekend by gunmen in what authorities say was likely a case of mistaken identity. 

The remaining two survivors, Eric Williams and LaTavia Washington McGee were transported to a hospital in Brownsville, Texas, after U.S. authorities worked with Mexican law enforcement to help bring back the victims, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price. 

One of the four kidnapping victims was identified as Zindell Brown of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, by his older sister, Zalandria Brown. Brown told the Associated Press that her brother and two other friends were accompanying a fourth friend to Mexico for a tummy tuck surgery.

Matamoros is a city dominated by factions of the Gulf cartel and is known for violence and kidnappings, according to the Associated Press. 

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A Red Cross worker closes the door of an ambulance carrying two Americans found alive after their abduction in Mexico last week, in Matamoros, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Two of four Americans whose abduction in Mexico was captured in a video that showed them caught in a cartel shootout have been found dead, officials said Tuesday.  The two surviving Americans were taken to the border near Brownsville, Texas, in a convoy of Mexican ambulances and SUVs. (AP Photo)

Fox News' Judge Jeanine Pirro said on "The Five" Tuesday the Gulf cartel is one of the most dangerous in the area. She blamed "corruption" in the Mexican government for allowing the drug cartels to thrive. 

"The corruption in Mexico is staggering. It is at every level of government," she said. "It's even generational, where the grandfather took money, the son is taking money, the grandson. And then what you have is this concept of, 'Oh, great, let's just do some military strikes.' If we do a military strike, the problem is we're going to inevitably hit someone in the government because they are working with the cartels."

Mexican army soldiers prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, March 6, 2023. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the four Americans were going to buy medicine and were caught in the crossfire between two armed groups after they had entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday.  (AP Photo)

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"That puts us at another level," she added. "And it's a never-ending war because the United States is the marketplace. We are the people who want the cocaine. All right. And so it's never-ending. I don't know what to do." 

Pirro highlighted a map that shows the presence of drug cartels in the U.S., saying the fact that they are operating in the country is "treason."

"If you look at that, if you look at that map of where the cartels are in America, that is a killer. That is to me, that's treason. To allow that to exist in this country is treason," she argued. 

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"And if you go three miles over the border from Brownsville, Texas, and you get yourself shot up. I mean, then, you know, you have to talk to Americans. Short order number one: You don't go to  Level 4 area. Number two, if you do go as an American to Mexico, you take someone who's been in the military who knows how to protect you. And number three, we've got to do something at this end about the drug problem that we have." 

Fox News' Michael Lee contributed to this report