By Som Lisaius,

What's going on in Mexico today isn't exactly a war, but that's only by definition. Last year, more than 6200 people died there in drug-related killings. That's more than double the previous year's total. And the trend is only growing.

Says United States Border Patrol Agent Mike Scioli, "With all the violence heading on the southside, in Mexico, in case it spills over--the Border Patrol has a plan."

And this is part of that plan. A multi-purpose, tactical armored vehicle that can be called into action in a moment's notice. There are three of them in the Tucson Sector so that agents here can be protected and prepared for anything that comes their way.

Says Agent Scioli, "It's similar to the vehicles used by the military to protect soldiers against IEDs and ambushes."

Armored vehicles like this are important because it's never been so violent along the U.S.-Mexico border. Last year, there were 261 assaults against agents in the Tucson Sector (93 so far this fiscal year). Even today, an agent in Nogales was beaten over the head with a cinder block like this.

That agent was hospitalized but is expected to be ok. Still, others face perilous situations every day--hence the need for bigger, more sophisticated equipment like the armored tactical vehicle.

Of the 316 thousands arrests agents made in the Tucson sector last year, 17 percent of the arrestees had criminal records. That's more than 53 thousand convicted criminals, 50 of them gang members, connected to some of the most dangerous drug cartels in the world today.

"Obviously they're not coming over for a job--they're coming to cause chaos," Agent Scioli says. "They're coming to cause some kind of mishaps in the communities we live in."

That's why law enforcement is fighting back. And the Border Patrol is front and center in that fight. Consider these vehicles another tool in the border security toolbelt. Because life on the border today is a lot different than it used to be.

"It's not about illegal aliens and narcotics," Agent Scioli says. "It's also about any threat that comes over so we need to be prepared and this is our way of doing it."


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