I'm surprised at all the people calling for more prohibition. Since forever, we've proven that prohibition is absolutely a lost cause.
I completely agree that we need to starve the cartels out. I think we do it by out-competing them, though. I don't think this is possible. 40+ years and no slow down. America is slow and an easy target for this type of infiltration and we have high powered USA lawyer teams aiding this attack.
Legalize drugs. Hard, soft, everything. In my opinion, this would eventually fix the fentanyl problem, and would cost the cartels lots of profit. They would have to shrink in proportion to the profit they lost. Sounds a little drastic to the average American. I think you can legalize weed and maybe even cocaine, but fentanyl? That stuff would make a great weapon, say I want dibs on your stuff, oops he overdosed, never mind I laced your drink. Bye!
Be our own Coyotes. As in, the existing immigration policies need to continue or be accelerated for the white-collar-type immigrations. For the laborers that don't have a real path to citizenship--expand the numbers allowed, and charge them for it. These people are able to come up with $10k/head to pay the cartels to get them across. Allow them to buy their way into the country legally for $10k, and allow them in as taxpayers. Cuts out the cartels, and removes many of the issues with illegals. At the same time, though, you'd have to address entitlements. Currently, entitlements for illegal immigrants cost us less per capita than poor native-born Americans. I don't know how we make sure that trend continues, but I'm sure the answer is in shrinking entitlements for everyone, including Medicare and Social Security. Question comes to mind, what do you think would be a fair number? Do you think that fair number would still be enough in six months? How about 1 year? Because I don't believe there is a shortage of Central and South Americans that are willing to pile across the boarder.
Legalize prostitution. This should fix the sex-trafficking that is pretty hard to gauge the scope of. And, again, prohibition doesn't work. Isn't there a pretty solid chance you can pick up an illegal prostitute in Las Vegas, with legal prostitution available in close proximity? I just don't see this ending the problem.