Border security officials meet in San Diego
Border security officials meet in San Diego
By Leslie Berestein,
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
5:53 p.m. May 27, 2009
High-ranking federal and state officials were in San Diego Wednesday to discuss border security, including a plan to use federal stimulus funds to enhance anti-drug task forces.
Local law enforcement agencies, led by the Chula Vista Police Department, have applied for a grant of nearly $3 million to supplement multi-agency task forces investigating drug-trafficking organizations. Wednesday, following a briefing with law enforcement officials, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., expressed support for the plan and other drug-interdiction efforts.
The United States has appropriated $400 million for interdiction efforts in Mexico, she said, including money for Blackhawk helicopters to be used for surveillance. However, she stressed a need for further investigation into drug-trafficking networks north of the border, many of which she said are operating out of state and federal prisons in the United States.
Speaking at a different event, Alan Bersin, recently appointed as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for international affairs, discussed how the dynamics of the U.S.-Mexico border have changed since he last served as the nation's border czar during the Clinton administration.
In the past 15 years, the focus of border enforcement has shifted from illegal immigration to national security and drug trafficking, he said, and security efforts are vastly better funded and staffed. Most importantly, he said, there is a marked difference in cooperation between the United States and Mexico in the drug war, particularly since Mexican President Felipe Calderón began a military-based offensive against the cartels.
“This declaration of war on the mafia, on Mexican drug cartels, is unprecedented,â€
