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."
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