Drug Bust Pokes Holes in NAFTA Superhighway Logic
By Mary Benoit
Published: 2007-04-09 20:04

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:
Police officers in Michigan seized 890 pounds of pot from a trucker traveling on I-69.

COMMENTARY:
A routine truck stop in Coldwater, Michigan, resulted in the apprehension of 890 pounds of marijuana. The drugs were not-so-cleverly hidden in stacks of frozen vegetables in the trailer of a truck traveling from Texas. Authorities have suggested that some drug smugglers are using Michigan's I-69 more and more frequently since law enforcement has been watching the already popular I-94 for illegal trafficking.

The truck drivers, Pedro Soto, 46, and Ove Soto, 27, both of Grulla, Texas, were somehow able to transport 890 pounds of drugs — with an estimated street value of roughly $1 million — nearly 1,600 miles from the Mexican border and into the northern United State before being apprehended by a cautious commercial vehicle enforcement officer. Events similar to this may become more and more common as Mexican truckers, from roughly 100 trucking companies, will soon be able to transport their cargo throughout America's heartland, compliments of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Also consider the NAFTA Superhighway. A massive interstate system that is planned to be 4,000 miles long, 1,200 feet wide and estimated to cost over $183 billion. The Superhighway is too span from Mexico to Canada, with an inland port based in Kansas City. While traveling the Superhighway, trucks — along with all their cargo — would go virtually unchecked, causing a huge security breach for the United States.

If law enforcement officers are already overwhelmed by the current amount of illegal trafficking (be it human or drug), just imagine the greater security risk a massive and multinational highway system would cause.

Sixteen states have already opposed the creation of such a highway system in the form of state resolutions. A continued effort to oppose the NAFTA Superhighway may delay construction of the plan, if not stop completely.



http://www.jbs.org/node/3381