Mark Karlin: Approximately 50,000 or more Mexicans have been killed since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a so-called war on drug cartels.

PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN:Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Baltimore.

In the presidential election campaign, immigration is certainly going to be one of the important issues—and most people mean immigration from Mexico and Latin America when they talk about the issue.

Now joining us is Mark Karlin from Truthout.org and BuzzFlash at Truthout. He's just finished a ten-part series looking at the whole question of Mexico and United States and the war on drugs. Thanks very much for joining us, Mark.