El Paso Officials Call For Federal, State Intervention To Co
El Paso Officials Call For Federal, State Intervention To Combat Drug Violence
Peter Daut-KFOX News Reporter/Weekend Anchor
POSTED: 6:10 pm MDT June 8, 2008
UPDATED: 9:00 pm MDT June 8, 2008
EL PASO, Texas -- Over the weekend, eight people were killed in Juarez -- most gunned down on busy streets. Some of the bodies were shot more than 40 times, while others were burned beyond recognition.
The death toll in El Paso's sister city now stands at about 420 since just the start of this year -- the victims of what many consider a power struggle among the Mexican drug cartels. But the violence is having a clear impact on the American side of the border, where Thomason Hospital remains on lockdown after a Mexican police officer from Casas Grandes arrived last week to get treatment for gunshot wounds. KFOX has confirmed a Mexican woman, shot this weekend, arrived at Thomason Sunday, where she's also receiving medical care and American-paid protection."It's that added cost that the local property taxpayer is shouldering when it comes to security," El Paso County Commissioner Veronica Escobar said.
Like other elected officials, Escobar is calling for more federal and state intervention along the border -- similar to how the government effectively fought the drug trade with the Italian Mafia.
"We need someone with much greater power than we have and with much deeper pockets and with stronger political and diplomatic ties to figure out how we prevent this from impacting El Paso," Escobar said.
Taxpayers KFOX spoke with agreed, fearing for their own protection.
"The main priority for the U.S. side is to protect our own people first," West El Paso resident Sandy Hicks said.
"We need to protect our borders, so none of the stuff happening over there spills onto our side," Central El Paso resident Alfred Torres said.
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