Why doesn't the US help with the border violence?

[torinsmom]

With the jet-ski incident in Texas bringing the problems to light, I am wondering why the US is not more concerned with the violence that is reportedly affecting border states. I had no idea that there was a lake that is half in one country and half in the other. I had heard on tv that bullets fly from the Mexico side and hit buildings on the US side. Why does the US not get more involved when our residents are at risk? We send troops to other countries to deal with perceived threats, but this a real threat to our people. I am wondering if it is b/c Mexico does not have oil? I just don't think we should turn a blind eye to it.

Oh, and a question for someone who knows.....how do they keep people from illegally coming into the US from Mexico by using that lake?

 

[anniemae]

I think it's all about manpower, or lack of it. The boarder patrol simply cannot keep up with all the activity by the boarder.

As for the lake, I'm sure it is patroled by u.s. boarder patrol, but they can't patrol it 24/7. The boarder is huge and we only have so many agents. Not only do they have to deal with drugs coming into the country, but also human smuggling.

 

[adkkev]

OP - Mexico does indeed have oil.

Your question about the border protection might be better directed towards your legislative representatives.

 

[EMom]

With the jet-ski incident in Texas bringing the problems to light, I am wondering why the US is not more concerned with the violence that is reportedly affecting border states. I had no idea that there was a lake that is half in one country and half in the other. I had heard on tv that bullets fly from the Mexico side and hit buildings on the US side. Why does the US not get more involved when our residents are at risk? We send troops to other countries to deal with perceived threats, but this a real threat to our people. I am wondering if it is b/c Mexico does not have oil? I just don't think we should turn a blind eye to it.

Oh, and a question for someone who knows.....how do they keep people from illegally coming into the US from Mexico by using that lake?

Texans ask ourselves those questions daily......make that hourly. The short answer is, IMHO, the US is beyond hesitant to admit publicly how bad things are in Mexico because we're too concerned about being their friend. Don't get me wrong, I want to be their friend....But sometimes you have to look out for yourself and this is one of those times. The US is crippled by our, "We can't say THAT about our neighbor" complex. (Although in fairness, the Mexican president bashes the US any time he pleases.)

If what is happening in Mexico was happening in any other country, the travel advisories/warnings would have come sooner and would have been worded more seriously. But we will continue to tiptoe around Mexico no matter what the cost. By the time the rest of the US wakes up to the danger, it will have become so great there will be no putting the genie back in the bottle. The border states are the canaries in the coal mine but no one seems to notice that we're toppling over.

The danger is most acute in the border regions, but it is NOT limited to that. At this point, I'd say Mexico is as bad as other terrorist nations......They just have a different sort of terrorist. Their terrorists have no religious agenda, no wish to be martyrs, etc., but are every bit as dangerous. The drug cartels have Mexico by the throat and for the most part, law enforcement there is either helpless against them or on thier payroll. They are "bad" in a way that makes our US gangs look like grannies at Sunday tea.

As to what keeps them from using that lake to cross over......NOTHING. That's the point. The headless body of the Mexican investigator was a message to stop searching for the body of David Hartley and that the lake was theirs to use as they wish. And the message was received loud and clear. When cartels in Mexico speak, law enforcment listens...or they die.

I think we are naive and foolish to believe that this will forever stay on their side of the border. It's already crossed over. As the cartels gain power and fight over who is top dog, I am convinced the border states will be their next battle ground. If I sound as if I'm at my limit, I am. Until the cartels are shooting at the White House, this won't be taken seriously. We're out of luck.

 

[LuvOrlando]

The whole subject makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. I can't imagine another country on earth where the citizens are not safe from foreign aggressors on their own land and it goes ignored. There have been kidnappings, murders and all other manners of crime yet a big fat nothing happens.

 

[lovin diz]

THis subject gets my blood boiling I wish politicians would truly care about our country more than the money in their bank accounts...They are the most arrogant people i have ever seen. All will say in campaign promises oh, i have a plan to fix the border, i have a plan for this...And nothing ever gets done, but pork projects...It truly is sickening

 

[malibuconlee]

The US/Mexico border is simply too large and in many places unpopulated to patrol.

Living in El Paso directly across from Juarez where so much violence occurs, well, it really doesn't come across the border to any great extent. There were the stray bullets that hit a building downtown (I want to say it was city hall, but I could be wrong), however for the most part El Paso is considered a safe city.

Apparently even just 4 years ago Juarez was the place to go for fine dining and the nightlife here. Sadly no longer is it safe. Many locals with family still living in Juarez no longer feel comfortable to cross. We have been here for a year and a half and haven't gone over, and will not.

IMO until the people of Mexico have some sort of grass roots uprising against the cartels the violence will continue. The government has just not been able to do anything about it. I've given up on keeping track, however Juarez has had over 5500 murders since January 2008. This is a city that in recent years had a population of about 1.5 million. Sources I have read state that number has dropped significantly.

Why doesn't it come across the border? Who knows. El Paso is a heavily patrolled city. We have Border Patrol, ICE, Police, Sheriff departments, a large Army base. One thing I didn't realize about the fence we have here in El Paso at the border is that the fence is on the US side. Driving down the Border Highway, especially at night, we see many Border Patrol vehicles sitting on the other side of the fence just watching.

Could I go over and be safe, possibly. The violence is mostly aimed at the drug cartels... however I will never forget the story shortly after moving here of the 15 year old American who was at a family baptism/birthday party in Juarez when she was stuck and killed by a stray bullet. No thanks.

 

[SaraJayne]

OP, if you've never seen it, try to catch the TV show "Border Wars". I think it's on National Geographic channel. It's a reality show that follows border patrol agents...at both the border crossing and in border towns.

It's was an eye opener for me.

 

[jsmith]

More of our "foriegn" oil imports come from Mexico than any other nation. The size of the border-and more broadly the fact that the Mexican government has not only not asked for assistance but has asked us to stay out-largely because the cartels have pressured them too. that Combined with the size of the border-and the attitude of US citizens about how law enforcement impings on their freedoms-make it difficult. Case in point-the immigration laws in Arizona-which would have made enforcement of existing laws-and catching cartel members easier-were protested all over the country as unfair-racist-and unreasonable. We can have it both ways.

 

[NotUrsula]

Well, there is the Merida Initiative: $400 million for LE training and technology. http://www.state.gov/p/inl/merida/ Whatever we do, we have to be invited; we can't unilaterally decide to go into their territory with guns blazing. What the Mexican government likes to say is that the best way that US law enforcement can help is to crack down on US drug use. Their argument is that what makes the drug business profitable is selling to Americans; if we didn't buy so much of it, the cartels would not bother.

As to the lake, I suppose that we could mine it, but that would destroy all fishing tourism on the shoreline of the US side, which would cost a lot of jobs in an area that needs jobs. Besides that, the US military prefers not to lay down mines anywhere if we can help it; they are notoriously difficult to manage and tend to kill a lot of people who just stupidly (or through no fault of their own, such as in the case of drifting because of an engine failure) wander into them. Probably the best thing we could do would be to station a USCG unit on Falcon Reservoir; the Coasties are VERY good at what they do. (However, there is apparently some issue about USCG jurisdiction on that manmade lake, because it is somehow not legally classed as a navigable waterway.)

 

[dodukes]

I too wondered how people come and go on that lake. Like the jet skiers, do you have to have a passport to come accross?? I hate to say im glad this story came out but I think it definetely brought a lot of awareness to the non border town folks who had no idea what its like.

 

[sbell111]

I can only assuem taht the OP does not actually want our military to invade Mexico, even though that's what she is suggesting.

 

[Simba's Mom]

OP, if you've never seen it, try to catch the TV show "Border Wars". I think it's on National Geographic channel. It's a reality show that follows border patrol agents...at both the border crossing and in border towns.

It's was an eye opener for me.

That show was filmed in our area, so welcome to my world! We love to watch it to see what/where we recognize. And the agents do patrol the best they can, but there are so many miles of nothingness that it's really hard.

 

[SaraJayne]

That show was filmed in our area, so welcome to my world! We love to watch it to see what/where we recognize. And the agents do patrol the best they can, but there are so many miles of nothingness that it's really hard.

Oh, I definitely agree that the agents are doing a great job with the resources available to them, but they are fighting a losing battle.

 

[ChrisFL]

I believe the numbers were 28,000 killed in the past 4 years. A STAGGERING number

That's like having the casualties of 9/11....7 times a year for 4 years in a row.

I'm really not an expert on any of it, just watching and wondering if catching the top fugitives of these cartels will help anything, or what the true resolution is.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm almost afraid to answer this one because I'm not sure I can appropriately walk the fine line of getting my point across without violating DIS rules...

I think it has a lot to do with economics, and the influence of economic forces on leaders' ability and willingness to lead. There's a lot of money being made on the backs of our lax enforcement policies at our southern border, and so long as we're a nation where money talks we're not going to get serious about any sort of law enforcement in that regard.

I live on the Canadian border, and we've got border patrol and customs crawling all over the place, cameras trained on the (water) border, and far more resources than a sleepy ferry crossing between two low crime towns in friendly neighboring nations could possibly warrant. We could send half of them to the Mexican border and we'd still have more customs and border patrol in our town than local police. The lack of resources/manpower on the southern border is because it isn't a priority, plain and simple.

 

[anniemae]

I just saw a blurb about a 20 yr old female is now the police chief in a Mexican town plagued with drug dealers.

 

[torinsmom]

I can only assuem taht the OP does not actually want our military to invade Mexico, even though that's what she is suggesting.

I really don't want the US to invade Mexico, but I do think we need to do more to protect these areas that border our country. As someone said, it is getting worse and worse and at some point, it will be too late.

As far as us having to be invited, did we get invited into Afghanistan or Iraq?