Mexican Narcotics Agents Prepare for a Raid (photo by author)
The cartel wars in Mexico that threaten to spill across the US Border in a far greater way than they have to date are causing some, including Texas Governor, Rick Perry, to suggest that US Military intervention may be one possible answer to the situation. Last week he spoke in San Diego, CA and said, “You have a situation on the border where American citizens are being killed. I think we have to use every aspect of law enforcement that we have, including the military. I think you have the same situation as you had in Colombia. Obviously, Mexico has to approve any type of assistance that we can give them.”
To date the only SIGNIFICANT thing that the Federal Government has done for the Border States is to sue them. I know that the Secretary of Homeland Defense crowed about sending a few hundred National Guard troops in “support”. Support consists of them monitoring video cameras. Some people say that’s simply not enough and I agree. The Federal Government has held that the border security concerns of American citizens are simply the product of racial bigotry and bias. Unfortunately they have misread the situation completely.  Department of Homeland Security’s Janet Napolitano, told Perry that if he wants border protection, it’s up to him to pay for it with Texas National Guard troops. Is she saying border protection isn’t her job? 
The Obama Administration hopes to add 20 million illegal aliens to the voter rolls and taking a national security stand on the Mexican problem would tend to throw that dream of 20 million additional Democratic Party voters off the rails
Mexico can not report the actual death toll from the cartel wars. The Mexican government puts the number at 31,000. I don’t think that they or anyone else knows what the real numbers are, but insiders suggest that it’s far more – well up to and possibly exceeding 100,000. Large areas of Mexico are under the total control of drug cartels and the Mexican government is not capable of dealing with the corruption and violence. The Mexican Army and Navy do the best they can — but it’s not enough. A new Mexican president will take office in 2012 and there are hopes that will herald a return to the old ways where the Mexican Army “managed” narcotics trafficking. That’s not going to happen. The genie is out of the bottle/the blush is off the rose.
“Broken Neighbor, Broken Border” (LINK), a House Immigration Reform Caucus document was released November 20 (2010). It paints a bleak picture of the situation in Mexico. What will the Obama Administration do about it? Don’t hold your breath. (download HERE)
Will US troops eventually be requested to eliminate narcoterrorist control of Mexican States? Only time will tell. For now these are the legislative recommendations made by Broken Neighbor, Broken Border:

  1. Let the States Secure their Borders: change “may” to “shall” in Title 32 for DOD funding for National Guard/State Guard deployments by the Governor within a state. 
  2. Community Impact Aid for Border Sheriff’s: The annual budget of Border County Sheriffs Departments shall receive 30% matching federal funds annually in advance of the fiscal year for which it will be used to compensate for additional law enforcement costs for the presence of an inadequately secured Border in or adjacent to their county. (Precedent – CID for county school systems serving military installations) 
  3. Amend 8 USC 1325 to correct change in 2007 bill, to allow illegals to be prosecuted in different sectors. 
  4. Appropriate $3 billion Annually for U.S. military/National Guard/State forces operations to secure the southern border, and to re-establish a chain of military installations from California to Brownsville. 
  5. Block dismissal of illegal immigration charges by the Obama Administration 
  6. E-Verify Mandatory Nationwide on W-2 forms – Subject to fine equal 100% of gross amount of each payroll check in violation, compliance as a positive defense for employers against all illegal employment liability 
  7. Prepaid Grants – Allow small budget rural counties to claim federal law enforcement grants before spending the funds. 
  8. Pave Old Mines Road (FM1472) as a DOT or Homeland Security project 
  9. Liability Shield for Border Patrol/USCG officers/Private Property owners 
  10. Remove foot bridges from the Rio Grande 
  11. Lower Federal Drug Prosecution Age to match States 
  12. Assure powers of detention by National Guard/State Guard on border duty 

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13 COMMENTS

  1. It seems odd to me that we would consider fighting Mexico's drug war on Mexican territory before hardening our own border. First things first.

    As for what Obama will do? He is a man of words, not actions.

  2. #13 … Invade Mexico and clean up the mess !

    We sure have mixed signals from Washington. "Pay for the national guard yourselves." What, and then get sued for doing it?

  4. I don't have a problem with the suggestions but they don't go far enough. As Opus wrote, the entire US Border must be hardened and National Guard soldiers should be issued arms and ammunition with authorization to enforce immigration laws and be instructed to return fire if fired upon.

    We need to stop pussy footing around this problem.

  5. LL: I'd love to expound on this at length; time constraints won't permit that.

    Suffice to say, I believe the root of this problem lies in our punitive drug laws. So, before I continue, understand that I am NOT in favor of people abusing mind altering drugs.
    I do however believe that our criminalization of personal substance use is driven – at least in part – by profit motives across a wide range of industry interests.

    Let me start here, the Criminal Defense Bar: even though many CDLs will profess that they believe the drug laws are too punitive, defending (mostly, pleading cases down) still brings in a lot of money to keep the office doors open, the lights on and the cell phone ringing so that they can ultimately get that call leading to a career enhancing triple homicide case. The Prosecution bar, well essentially the same reasoning applies as with the CDLs, except they're mostly praying for that call from some White Shoe firm partner, that hopefully will result in a trade-up to a quadrupled salary in the private sector.

    A few other examples of interests that would tend to favor retention of criminal drug laws: The police; an array of service industries that supply prisons from food to psych services; Federal and State Prison authorities and the Private Prison Industry. Oh, yeah, almost forgot the legal alcohol industry who have little incentive to suffer competition from some other, possibly less dangerous product. Add to all of the above, their lobbyists.

    Prohibition taught us that when a substance is criminalized, violent crime follows with increasing intensity among those who want to control the supply side of the equation. Have we forgotten that lesson? Probably not. Profits supersede sanity.

  6. Its funny (not) that when Napolitano was Governor of Arizona, he always blamed the Federal Government for border problems. What a useless idiot.

  8. Will Obama send troops to Mexico?

    Not if he wants to keep illegals and minorities voting Democrat so that he can win another hoax election.

  9. Well i think that if America stopped getting involved with all of this crap, maybe we could straiten out some problems of our own.

  11. It seems that the US cannot or don't want to do something to stop this ultra-violent killing spree in Mexico. Yet something happens in Egypt or some other country in the middle east and there they are sticking their noses, televising every bit they can on national t.v. Don't believe for one second that the US itself is not corrupted. They want whats best for them not caring that a neighboring country like Mexico is going through such problems and the civilians are the only ones paying for it.

  13. I think the us will only help if it is convenient for them they only help in other countries such as Iraq and Libya because it will get them oil. So what's in for Mexico??

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