[Anyone] Securing the Border

[Thos Myers]

The NRA:  Making America proud - even when the guns cost the  taxpayer
hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Go NRA!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Senator Jeff Bingaman <jeff.bingaman at bingaman.enews.senate.gov>
Subject: Securing the Border


*Border Violence [link 26]*

New Mexicans and Mexicans alike have found the recent spike in violence along the U.S.-Mexico border disturbing.  In the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which shares a border with New Mexico, there have been over 200 murders since the beginning of 2008, an increase of about 100 percent over the previous year. 

This violence, which has been mostly perpetrated by international drug trafficking organizations, affects the well-being and safety of communities on both sides of the border.  While the violence has been confined to Mexico, New Mexicans who live along the border and travel into Mexico to shop, buy prescription drugs, or visit family are understandably concerned. 

Drug cartels smuggle narcotics into the United States, using revenue derived from the drug trade to illegally purchase the weapons that are in turn used to violently maintain control over their operations.  We must tackle both the trafficking of drugs and the trafficking of arms. The bulk of these weapons [link 27] are purchased in the United States and illegally smuggled into Mexico.

To begin addressing these serious problems, I met with Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Mexico’s Attorney General and the Mexican Ambassador.  Mexico responded by sending over 2,000 troops and federal police agents to the region to help bring the area under control.  An increased government presence in Chihuahua is good news and has helped quell the violence.

Even before the violence in Mexico spiked this year, I had been working to crack down on drug smuggling in the region.  Over the past few years I have secured more than $8 million for the New Mexico National Guard [link 28]’s counterdrug initiative, which assists US Customs and Border Protection [link 29] with anti-drug efforts.  This year, I also was able to set aside $223,250 to help several border law enforcement agencies in southern New Mexico purchase equipment necessary to address human smuggling, drug trafficking, and other border-related criminal activity.

But just as it is important to take steps to stop the northbound flow of drugs into the United States, it is also essential that the United States do everything it can to prevent the southbound shipment of illegal weapons into Mexico.  According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives [link 30] (ATF), about 90 percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico originate from sources within the United States.  Violent drug organizations use these smuggled weapons to assassinate military and police officials, murder members of rival gangs, and kill innocent civilians.

To reduce the numbers of weapons flowing into Mexico, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison joined me last week in introducing the Southwest Border Violence Reduction Act [link 31] --legislation that would expand a successful ATF initiative called Project Gunrunner [link 32], which targets arms trafficking into Mexico.  The bill would also increase the training and support of Mexican law enforcement in investigating firearms trafficking cases. 

As a result of Project Gunrunner, an Arizona man [link 33] was recently charged with running a firearms trafficking network which was smuggling guns through New Mexico to arm a Mexican drug cartel.  Many of these weapons were used in crimes and some have been linked to deaths of police and federal agents in Mexico.

To adequately address drug-related violence in the border region, it takes international cooperation and a sustained commitment to ensuring that federal, state, and local law enforcement have the resources necessary to do their jobs.  I will continue to work to ensure that these resources are made available.