“We have to work together to confront this crisis”, President Sheinbaum declared, framing her sweeping anti-fentanyl campaign as both a national security imperative and a diplomatic balancing act with Washington. Sheinbaum is acting forcefully, but she’s also under attack for failing to combat the growing drug crisis in her own country, where communities are taking it upon themselves to operate unregulated drug rehab centres. 10,000 Mexican troops have been deployed to stop the production and export of the deadly drug fentanyl. On the US side, armoured vehicles and drones patrol the border wall. Tensions are high in an area controlled by the notorious Sinaloa cartel, which is under attack from both sides. With inside access to the Mexican police, Foreign Correspondent sees first-hand the methods being used to hunt down the criminals, including a rare look at the maze of tunnels used to smuggle drugs across the border. In Mexico, the crackdown is already reverberating across rural communities that depend on illicit trade for survival. Local officials warn of deepening instability: “If the cartels don’t kill you, the poverty will”.