Thread: More border agents sought to fight gun smuggling into Mexico

More border agents sought to fight gun smuggling into Mexico
March 12, 2009, 7:06 p.m.
ERIN KELLY
Gannett Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Violent Mexican drug cartels are relying on U.S. guns to arm themselves, and there are not enough border agents to inspect southbound vehicles for weapons, a top homeland security official told House members Thursday.

More agents, equipped with better body armor, must be put in place for routine, full-scale inspections of suspicious vehicles headed toward Mexico, said Salvador Nieto, deputy assistant commissioner of intelligence and operations coordination for the Customs and Border Protection arm of the Homeland Security Department.

"The infrastructure and personnel are not there to do sustained outbound inspections," Nieto told a subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee.

While U.S. resources have been focused on keeping illegal immigrants and drugs from crossing the border into the United States, members of Mexico's drug cartels are smuggling guns and money south with less chance of being stopped, federal officials said.

Nieto said he worries about the safety of his agents, who would face ruthless armed criminals bent on getting back across the border about a mile from where the inspection stops would be made.

He said the agency is in the process of testing better body armor to protect its agents.

Democratic House members pressed homeland security officials on whether Congress should look at strengthening U.S. gun laws to try to make it more difficult for the cartels to arm themselves.

"My personal opinion is we could tighten up our gun laws," said retired Vice Adm. Roger T. Rufe Jr., director of the office of operations coordination in the Homeland Security Department.

"We shouldn't be selling assault weapons on the streets." Phoenix is considered a hub for illegal exportation of AK-47s, SKS rifles, .50-caliber rifles and other weapons favored by narcotics gangsters.

While some border state governors are calling for National Guard troops to be deployed along the border, Rufe said there are no plans to do that. The guard, he said, is already stretched thin with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We don't want to militarize our border," he said. "It would be a last resort."

The federal officials praised Mexican President Felipe Calderón for his war against the drug cartels and sought to reassure U.S. tourists that it is still safe to visit Mexico despite State Department travel alerts warning of "imminent risks to the security of U.S. citizens."
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/brea ... 112002.php

Quote("My personal opinion is we could tighten up our gun laws," said retired Vice Adm. Roger T. Rufe Jr., director of the office of operations coordination in the Homeland Security Department. )quote

There it is, reason for tighten gun laws. How do we stop the flow of American military weapons sent to Mexico for their army being acquired by the cartel would be the better question.

"My personal opinion is we could tighten up our gun laws," said retired Vice Adm. Roger T. Rufe Jr., director of the office of operations coordination in the Homeland Security Department

We have plenty of laws.....if the majority were able to be enforced, we might not have this problem! Besides, since when did criminals care what the laws were? They aren't going to abide by them no matter how "tight" you make them and won't be discouraged if there's not enough people out there actually enforcing them!

I'm a little confused here. I thought it was the reponsibility of mexico to inspect vehicles and persons entering their country. I have been to mexico quite a number of times and have never been inspected by a US Customs inspector as I entered mexico.

I actually do not have a problem with this, but again, is mexico going to be held accountable for anything here? Everytime I have crossed the border into mexico, your lucky if you even see a mexican customs agent, let alone get searched by one. In my experience they generally do not get off their @$$ unless the traffic sign turns red at which time they might then do a cursory inspection.

It would seem that mexico has some room to tighten up it's inspection procedures at the border in an effort to combat this problem.

This simply is a way for our government to impose more laws on American citizens and it also gives the Mexican government an excuse for their corruption.

the ANSWER IS SIMPLE

inspect and check all cars, no matter how long the delay going both NORTH AND SOUTH.

Napolitano is going to take the agents who make the employment raids and the raids to arrest criminal illegal aliens
and move them down to the border to keep them from doing raids.