Napolitano, Ahern address SW border strategy

Napolitano, Ahern address SW border strategy    The United States for the first time is treating the drug cartels and related violence along the Southwest border as a problem it shares with Mexico because the Obama administration believes it has 'a unique opportunity' to help break up the cartels, Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday at a border security conference in El Paso, Texas.
   Highlighting the expanded commitment to fight transnational crime, the former governor of Arizona announced $30 million in additional funds for Operation Stonegarden, a program that provides grants to help counties and border towns combat violence, illegal immigration and drug and currency smuggling. The money, made available in the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 enacted this summer, will go to states along the Southwest border. It comes on top of $60 million in program grants announced in June. The additional funding will be used for law enforcement personnel, overtime, travel and other related costs in order to further increase the law enforcement presence along the Southwest border.

Napolitano

   The Obama administration is pursuing an integrated strategy that doesn't focus on border security as an isolated issue but also tackles drug demand and counternarcotics initiatives, a process for streamlined citizenship and worksite enforcement of legal workers in the interior of the country, Napolitano said, according to a transcript of her speech.
   The cooperation between the United States and Mexico since Obama took office is unprecedented as Mexican President Felipe Calder'n's government has used law enforcement and military assets to crack down on the cartels. U.S. officials are partially motivated by a desire to prevent violence from spilling over the border as smuggling lanes become more constricted and drug lords fight each other and Mexican authorities for territory.
   The Department of Homeland Security early this year launched a major initiative to impede the flow of guns and currency heading back into Mexico to fuel ongoing cartel operations.
   Napolitano ordered to the border more investigative agents to look for violent criminal aliens, as well as more Border Patrol officers, four 25-person mobile vehicle inspection response teams and associated X-ray equipment, canine teams and other resources to ramp up southbound inspections of travelers and cargo shipments.
   In the past few months DHS agencies have seized $69 million in cash (a $34 million increase over the same time last year), 2.4 million pounds of drugs (an increase of more than 800,000 pounds), more than 95,000 rounds of ammunition (up more than 57,000 rounds), and more than 500 assault rifles and handguns, Napolitano said.
   Napolitano noted that the Mexican government is for the first time building a Customs service that can control its own border while also facilitating trade, developing police capabilities and sharing law enforcement information with the United States.

Ahern

   U.S Customs and Border Protection is providing training, techniques and technology to help Mexico conduct its own inbound inspections, Acting Commissioner Jayson Ahern said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation on July 27. Mexican Customs has installed license plate readers, weigh scales and a computer system to help identify smugglers and manage data, he reported.
   Creating a robust border management system in place eventually would relieve the United States from the responsibility of conducting persistent outbound inspections, he said.
   Ahern noted that other agencies across government have also been investing in Mexican law enforcement capabilities, and that the United States needs to create an overall strategy to guide how that money is deployed. 'What we need to make sure as we move to the next stage is what is the overall campaign plan going forward and what are the elements of that plan so we can execute collectively,' he said.
   Ahern said he would like to see much more information sharing between U.S. and Mexican Customs authorities. As part of its strategy, the U.S. government needs to determine what types of third-party information it can share with foreign governments like Mexico to help control the border. Many industry groups are wary, however, about commercial information they share with the government being turned over to Mexico because they consider it confidential business information that could help foreign competitors if it got into the wrong hands. ' Eric Kulisch