New Mexico’s political leaders praised President Barack Obama’s plan, announced today, to redirect resources to the U.S.-Mexico border to help combat drug-related crime and strengthen border security.
Obama announced that he’s moving more than 450 law enforcement agents and additional equipment to the border to help combat cartel violence that has led to the deaths of more than 7,200 people in Mexico since 2008 and resulted in the deploying of the Mexican Army to the border city of Ciudad Juárez, which has become a battle zone.
The violence has the American government on edge. According to the Washington Times, The U.S. Defense Department believes “Mexico’s two most deadly drug cartels together have fielded more than 100,000 foot soldiers — an army that rivals Mexico’s armed forces and threatens to turn the country into a narco-state.”
The violence has also spilled over, to some degree, into the United States. Phoenix’s police department, according to its mayor, is overwhelmed by drug-related kidnappings and torturing, CNN is reporting.
With that as the backdrop, New Mexico’s congressional delegation praised Obama’s move to dispatch two “Border Enforcement Security Task Force” (BEST) teams to New Mexico as part of the move the White House announced today.
“That New Mexico didn’t already have a BEST team was a major oversight,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman said in a news release. “I’m very pleased the Obama administration is actively addressing violence along the border by assigning two teams to our state.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall also welcomed the teams, saying they “will help us more effectively combat the increasing levels of violence and drug trafficking affecting our state and nation.”
The state’s three House members — Martin Heinrich, Ben Ray Luján and Harry Teague — also released statements of support for the president’s move.
And Gov. Bill Richardson praised Obama’s move, saying he is “pleased and gratified that Washington is turning its full attention to the problems of criminal law enforcement along the New Mexico-Mexico border.”
“The reallocation of federal personnel and funding… will turn up the heat both in Mexico and the United States,” Richardson said.
Though many fear that Mexico may be on the verge of collapse, not all share that concern. Here’s an alternative view.