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Paul Ryan’s Challenger: Illegal Mexican Drugs Carried Into the U.S. in Box Labeled ‘DRUGS’

Paul Ryan's Tea Party-backed opponent has an interesting take on how drugs get into the U.S.

Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 1.54.30 PM
Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 1.54.30 PM

Paul Nehlen, House Speaker Paul Ryan's Tea Party-backed opponent, has an interesting take on how drugs get into the country from Mexico: They are apparently walked across the border via the Rio Grande in a black box labeled "DRUGS."

Paul Nehlen, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Tea Party-backed opponent, has an interesting take on how drugs get into the country from Mexico: They are apparently walked across the border via the Rio Grande in a black box labeled “DRUGS.”

At least that’s what he is trying to prove in a new campaign spot posted on YouTube Monday. In what appears to be black Tupperware, with the word “DRUGS” written on it in all white letters, Nehlen wades through what is passed off to be the Rio Grande, the river separating the U.S. and Mexico. It’s impossible to tell if he actually traveled to the border to shoot the spot.

“Smuggling drugs into America shouldn’t be this easy — but it is,” Nehlen, who is running for Ryan’s Wisconsin sear, says as he carries the “DRUGS” box. “Cheap Mexican heroin is killing Americans in record numbers, and it’s got to stop.”

Check out the video below.

Nehlen’s simplification of how drugs are smuggled into the United States from Mexico is reminiscent of Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s generalization of Mexican immigrants as rapists, criminals, and drug dealers. Illegal narcotics usually don’t cross the border in boxes. Cartels use elaborate means, including tunnels and submarines, to get drugs into America.

It doesn’t appear as if Nehlen will bring his views on drug smuggling to D.C. One poll shows him trailing the House Speaker by 64 points.

Photo Credit: Nehlen Campaign

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