Border violence concerns state officials


By ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 10, 2007

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) _ New Mexico's two U.S. senators on Thursday asked federal agencies responsible for security at the border and fighting drugs to do more against growing drug-related violence around the small southern New Mexico town of Columbus.

Two men were killed and another was injured in a shooting Monday in the Mexican city of Palomas, a few miles south of Columbus. Two days later, a U.S. citizen who lives in Palomas drove his bullet-riddled truck to the Columbus port of entry and was taken to a Texas hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

Authorities have said the violence appears to be part of an escalating drug war on the Mexican side of the border.

Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., sent letters to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seeking help to assure the security of southern New Mexico and to combat drug-related warfare.


They asked Chertoff to consider increasing Border Patrol and Customs agents in the area and asked Gonzales to send in more Justice Department narcotics teams. By Thursday evening, Domenici said he was assured that immigration and customs would beef up their presence on the border.

"We do not want the Columbus-Palomas crossing to be seen as a weak spot for drug traffickers and the violence that follows them," Domenici said in the release. "These thugs are not playing with sticks and stones, and we shouldn't be either."

"While the violence is primarily a problem for the Mexican government to solve, it is important for us to ensure our federal authorities are engaged in the situation," Bingaman said in a news release.

Claudia Banuelos, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office of northern Chihuahua, said Mexican authorities have dispatched extra state and federal police to Palomas.

Palomas and Columbus, population 2,000, have many close economic and family ties.

Domenici and Bingaman sent representatives to Luna County on Wednesday to be briefed. They also asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to work with her Mexican counterparts to control violence in the Palomas area.

Domenici said Thursday the State Department is trying to determine whether the recent shootings are isolated incidents or are part of a changing pattern of violence along the border.

Gov. Bill Richardson has ordered state police officers to increase their presence in and around Columbus.

"People are very scared," said state police Capt. Eddie Flores, who is stationed in Deming, north of Columbus. "People are worried about their safety and on alert. They know that this is very unusual."

Attorney General Gary King, addressing other border violence, said Thursday his office will participate in this week's events in Santa Fe marking the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of women in the Mexican city of Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. Most of the victims of the 10 years of violence have been women between the ages of 17 and 22.

King said the attorney general's border violence division has been helping its Mexican counterparts investigate and prosecute and prevent such crimes in the future.

The Santa Fe event, called "Ni Una Mas!" or Not One More, includes a Saturday panel discussion, a vigil and a fundraiser.

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