Troops may yet take post

By GARY MARTIN
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Published: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 1:11 AM CDT

WASHINGTON - Border czar Alan Bersin said Tuesday that the use of the National Guard in Southwest states is still under consideration but that current efforts by the United States and Mexico to stem drug cartel violence are working.

Bersin told reporters at the Department of Homeland Security that U.S. law enforcement is cooperating with Mexican President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on the narcotics cartels.

And southbound traffic checks instituted by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano have resulted in thousands of seized weapons and millions in bulk cash headed for Mexican criminal enterprises, he said.

"This is a long-term engagement, a recognition by presidents of both countries of the national security implications to Mexico and the United States in dealing with drug trafficking organizations,"

said Bersin, DHS assistant secretary for international affairs and special representative for border affairs, or commonly referred to as the border czar.

Bersin called the new U.S.-Mexico cooperation in the battle against the drug cartels a "historic change."


'Proactive' efforts


Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other border state governors have called on the federal government to provide National Guard to prevent a spillover of violence from northern Mexican cities into U.S. communities.

Perry, up for re-election in 2010, wants a call-up of 1,000 National Guard troops as a "proactive" effort to stop smuggling of illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants into the United States through Texas.

"We are still awaiting official word from Washington on the governor's request," said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for the governor in Austin, Texas.

She said Texas is "hopeful we'll get the resources we need to secure our border."

Bersin said the request is still under consideration by Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. A recommendation by Napolitano and Gates would then be forwarded to President Obama.

While there is violence along the border, there has not been a spillover of the cartel-on-cartel type violence that has terrorized northern Mexican cities and has accounted for more than 10,000 deaths, Bersin said.

Bersin was appointed in mid-April to help coordinate the U.S. response to the violence in Mexico.

The United States has taken responsibility for the escalating violence, Bersin said, with its admission that demand for illegal substances has helped create the Mexican cartels that control shipments north.

And with the acceptance of responsibility, Bersin said, the Obama administration has pledged its help to crack down on guns and cash going south that help fuel the violence that has gripped Mexico.

"That's never happened before," Bersin said.

(To reach Gary Martin, e-mail gmartin@express-news.net)

http://www.lmtonline.com/articles/2009/ ... 273420.txt