Ending years of lax controls, the United States is stepping up checks of vehicles heading into Mexico to stop weapons and cash fuelling a drug war south of the border. But local US officials on the border are clamoring for even more help.
At Laredo, Texas, one of the busiest points for cross-border truck traffic between the two countries, US customs agents have seized at least $5.5 million in suspected drug cash bound for Mexico and weapons in the past month alone. Large seizures have been made elsewhere along the border.
Mexico, where about 6,300 people died in drug violence last year, has long complained that Washington does little to halt the southward flow of weapons bought legally in the United States and taken into Mexico by cartels. Money from US drug sales also gets smuggled back into Mexico at border checks where Mexican authorities also have been slack.
In recent weeks, US Customs and Border Protection agents have increased the number of searches of southbound vehicles, a spokesman for the agency said. Sniffer dogs jumped into the trunks of cars that were occasionally stopped by agents on a recent day at the border. Cars heading to Mexico were also photographed. US President Barack Obama, concerned about the spillover of violence from Mexicos drug war, this week announced a $184 million plan to further increase weapons and cash seizures.
In another move by the new administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travelled to Mexico this week to say that Washington is serious about helping defeat drug gangs, which have defied attempts to crush them by President Felipe Calderons government. Despite the recent crackdown, vehicle checks are sporadic and some local US officials near the border say they need more help.
"Obamas plan is a great start but we still need more boots on the ground. The plan is still lacking," said Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas, who met White House officials in Washington this week to press for more funding for city police along the border. "Along the border, we want to be able to set up police checkpoints on international bridges," said Salinas, a former FBI agent who worked in Mexico.
Since the September 11 attacks, cars, trucks, pedestrians and even bicyclists seeking to enter the United States face checks involving dogs, license plate readers, X-ray scanners and high-tech gear that can identify hidden narcotics or people. Such checks on people and vehicles leaving the United States are rare, and going into Mexico they remain virtually non-existent.
Mexican officials make little effort to check vehicles heading into their country. At a highway border checkpoint operated by Mexicos customs service this week, there were no customs or immigration agents. A man selling peanuts was the only person visible.
The US National Drug Intelligence Center estimates Mexican and Colombian cartels generate, transfer and launder up to $39 billion in drug profits a year. Just $1 billion a year is seized in the United States by all federal agencies combined, the US Drug Enforcement Administration says. Mexican drug gangs like the Gulf cartel and the Sinaloa alliance are armed with AR-15 assault rifles and AK-47s bought legally in the United States and smuggled into Mexico.
"Ninety-five percent of the weapons (in Mexico) come from the United States," said Aldo Fasci, police chief of northern Mexicos Nuevo Leon state, where the Gulf cartel is active. "The drugs are there and the violence is here in Mexico, and it is permeating the border with the United States."
Mexican military officials and federal police say corruption is a major problem at Mexicos border posts, with officials taking bribes to wave weapons and drug cash through. In the United States, several Customs and Border Protection agents were arrested last year and accused of taking money from drug gangs to turn a blind eye to smuggling.
Drug cartels are also experts at avoiding detection of their goods and cash. "If they know there is a particular search program in place in one port, they will immediately divert their efforts to smuggle arms into Mexico to a different port," said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.