WASHINGTON — Tighter gun control and stronger law enforcement in Southwestern states were recommended Thursday by lawmakers concerned about drug violence in Mexico possibly spilling across the border.
The escalating violence — which has killed thousands, mostly south of the border — has been blamed on Mexican drug cartels which one Homeland Security official described as the biggest organized-crime threat facing the United States.
Roger Rufe, Homeland Security’s head of operations, outlined the agency’s plans for protecting the border, a response that includes — as a last resort — deploying military personnel and equipment to the region if other agencies are overwhelmed.
Echoing comments a day earlier from President Barack Obama, Rufe said there currently was no need to militarize the Southwestern border with Mexico, despite violence that threatens to migrate into the United States.
“We would take all resources short of DoD [Defense Department] and National Guard troops before we reach that tipping point,” Rufe told lawmakers on a House homeland security subcommittee. “We very much do not want to militarize our border.”
Rufe did not specify what circumstances would trigger a call for troops.
The violence is blamed on Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s crackdown on drug cartels over the past two years.
In recent weeks, his government has deployed 700 extra federal police to Ciudad Juarez, a city across from El Paso, where local police have been swamped by drug violence. This month, 3,200 federal troops were sent to the city.
Tijuana and Culiacan are also hotbeds of violence, according to Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Mexican officials say the violence killed 6,290 people last year and more than 1,000 in the first eight weeks of 2009.
“The United States and Mexico border violence can only be solved if we look at all parts of the equation,” Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., said Thursday during a House subcommittee considering changes to U.S. gun laws. “Let’s examine our gun laws, let’s cut down on U.S. drug consumption, let’s ask there to be more resources to root out drug-money laundering,” he said.
Tierney said 90 percent of the weapons seized from Mexican organized crime came from the United States. Tierney said the information was from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Gun-control expert Tom Diaz said the U.S. needs to enforce gun-importation laws already on the books to prevent weapons coming into the U.S. and ending up in Mexico.
Lawmakers also weighed increasing inspections of people and vehicles leaving the U.S. to go to Mexico to help stop the potential smuggling of weapons. The Customs and Border Protection agency currently does some inspections. But Salvador Nieto, a senior official within the agency’s intelligence division, said more resources would be needed if Congress wants to step up inspections.
Warring drug cartels are blamed for more than 560 kidnappings in Phoenix in 2007 and the first half of 2008, as well as killings in Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala., and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Rufe said that while the violence along the border in Mexico is appalling, violent crimes have not increased in U.S. border cities as a result. He said kidnappings are up, but violent crime is down.
“We’re not so concerned, at least at this point, about that violence spilling over into our cities,” he said.
Further, the Homeland Security Department’s representative in Mexico, Alonzo Pena, said the violence there is not as dangerous to U.S. tourists as has been portrayed.
Pena said the violence is in isolated areas of the country and affects only the people involved in crime. He said the violence is not affecting U.S. citizens visiting Mexico, and Americans should not cancel their vacations in the country.
This month, the ATF warned college students on spring breaks not to travel to parts of northern Mexico because it was too dangerous.
In February, the State Department advised travelers to avoid areas of prostitution and drug-dealing in Mexico.
We very much do not want to militarize our border.”
Roger Rufe,
Homeland Security’s head of operations
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