Thread: Mexico drug violence prompts U.S. border crackdown

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Mexico gripped by rampant drug violence, the United States on Tuesday announced steps to crack down on smuggling of narcotics, guns and money by gangs that threaten security on both sides of the border.

The strategy aims to fight the growing power and violence of Mexican cartels, which ship billions of dollars worth of drugs into the United States and bring back weapons and cash.

There will be an increase in the number of agents from the U.S. departments of Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security working on border security.

The plan foresees adding 100 more agents to inspect southbound traffic, aiming for 100 percent inspections of rail lines into Mexico and adding new X-ray and other equipment at border stations.

More than 6,000 people died in drug-related killings in Mexico last year which spread fear in a large area of the country and raised U.S. concerns over the stability of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's government.

Calderon has made controlling the violence his top priority and sent 45,000 troops across the country to fight the gangs.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the new U.S. measures were partly prompted by the violence. "It is one of the ongoing threats to safety and security today," she said at a White House news conference to announce the plan.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves on a trip to Mexico to discuss border, economic and climate-change issues on Wednesday, preceding visits by other Cabinet chiefs and President Barack Obama next month.

Also on Tuesday, a U.S. official said the administration wants to complete a proposal to resolve a trucking dispute with Mexico before Obama's visit, an increasingly prickly trade issue between the neighbors.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg told the White House news conference the U.S.-Mexican link was "as important as any bilateral relationship that we have."

"It extends not only to these critical questions of counternarcotics and law enforcement but the full range of issues that engage our two countries," he said.

SMASHING THE SYNDICATES

Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said a U.S.-Mexican prosecution effort would be modeled after successful efforts to smash Mafia crime syndicates in the United States.

"If you take their money and lock up their leaders, you can loosen their grips on the vast organizations that are used to carry out their criminal activities," he said.

Calderon's government on Monday offered rewards of up to $2 million for information leading to the capture of the country's drug kingpins, including Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.

The plan also would allocate $59 million to local U.S. enforcement authorities for border efforts.

Investigators say nine out of 10 guns retrieved from crime scenes in Mexico are traced back to the United States. Napolitano said the United States intercepted 997 firearms and $4.5 million in cash bound for Mexico in the last week alone.

The U.S. Congress has already appropriated $700 million to help Mexican law enforcement and military -- including with five helicopters.

Separately, the Obama administration is still considering contingency plans to send U.S. troops, probably National Guard reserves, to the border area in case of a broad outbreak of cross-border violence, Napolitano said.

Napolitano said she first wanted to talk to Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has requested 1,000 guard troops.

Moody's rating agency said a spike in violence could scare some investors away from Mexico but it rejected the idea Mexico was beginning to look like a failed state.

VIOLENCE SPILLING OVER

An increase in drug-related kidnappings has already been noted in some southern U.S. cities, including Phoenix.

The Drug Enforcement Administration also reported this week a case of trafficking-related violence in which three illegal immigrants from Mexico pleaded guilty to holding a drug dealer hostage in suburban Atlanta for a week and regularly beating him in an attempt to collect a $300,000 debt.

Thomas G. Mangan, a senior special agent with the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix, said more U.S. law enforcement assistance on both sides of the border would be welcome.

"Certainly additional resources do help U.S. efforts and Mexico's efforts to thwart this problem of illicit firearms trafficking," he said on Monday before the measures were announced.

(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix; Editing by David Storey)

http://www.reuters.com/article/domestic ... nnel=10112

Some really bad stuff going down in Mexico and all the while Washington burns! Always talk from some of our own leaders to leagalizing millions of the ILLEGAL ALIEN POPULATION. Just utterly fantastic and scary what that would mean for the millions of legal citizens here in the USA.

And what is a thousand troops on the border going to do? Although a nice gesture but not much help for all the miles of that border.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves on a trip to Mexico to discuss border, economic and climate-change issues on Wednesday, preceding visits by other Cabinet chiefs and President Barack Obama next month.

So what will she give away this visit?