Meaning: extend the traveling distance into which Mexican nationals can penetrate New Mexico, so that they can bring their cash to cities like Las Cruces, Lordsburg, and Deming.

In response, Senators Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman have proposed legislation — the Southern New Mexico Economic Development Act — asking for an extension of the 25-mile zone in which Mexican citizens can travel into New Mexico to shop, to conduct business, to visit family and friends to 75 miles.

“This bill means more business for companies in border communities,” said Dan Watson of Udall’s Washington D.C. office. “With more people coming in to shop and do friendly business, the better off they are.”

Currently, holders of the Border Crossing Card (also known as a Laser Card) can only venture 25 miles from the border into New Mexico, Texas and California. New Mexico has fewer towns within that range than California and Texas, which offer shoppers cities such as El Paso and San Diego. In 1999, Arizona extended the card’s range to 75 miles, which granted Mexican nationals access to Tucson. “New Mexico should have the same opportunity as Arizona to benefit from this added commerce,” said Watson.

Momentum for the extension has been gaining. This past September, New Mexico’s legislature passed a resolution asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to extend the zone.

“This bill extends that line further to boost our border economy in a manner that is consistent with our border security needs,” added Watson.

Meaning: extend the traveling distance into which Mexican nationals can penetrate New Mexico, so that they can bring their cash to cities like Las Cruces, Lordsburg, and Deming.

In response, Senators Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman have proposed legislation — the Southern New Mexico Economic Development Act — asking for an extension of the 25-mile zone in which Mexican citizens can travel into New Mexico to shop, to conduct business, to visit family and friends to 75 miles.

“This bill means more business for companies in border communities,” said Dan Watson of Udall’s Washington D.C. office. “With more people coming in to shop and do friendly business, the better off they are.”

Currently, holders of the Border Crossing Card (also known as a Laser Card) can only venture 25 miles from the border into New Mexico, Texas and California. New Mexico has fewer towns within that range than California and Texas, which offer shoppers cities such as El Paso and San Diego. In 1999, Arizona extended the card’s range to 75 miles, which granted Mexican nationals access to Tucson. “New Mexico should have the same opportunity as Arizona to benefit from this added commerce,” said Watson.

Momentum for the extension has been gaining. This past September, New Mexico’s legislature passed a resolution asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to extend the zone.

“This bill extends that line further to boost our border economy in a manner that is consistent with our border security needs,” added Watson.

“Currently, Border Crossing Card holders can travel to cities like El Paso, but not nearby Las Cruces, Deming or Lordsburg,” said Udall in a statement. “This legislation makes a simple modification to boost commerce in important New Mexico communities with respect to our border security.”

Border Crossing Cards  are biometric cards which Mexican nationals can receive after passing a security and background check. They allow travel within the border zone for up to 30 days, although prior to August 2004 it was only 72 hours. Millions of the cards have been issued since the program first began in the late 1980s.

The Pew Hispanic Center (PDF) estimated in 2006 that the card was, at the time, a common method of entry for unauthorized immigrants, who would overstay the 30 day limit or work a job when the card does not authorize them to do so. However, many New Mexican border residents depend on temporary legal traffic from Mexico for their business.

The increase could be done either through an act of Congress or by a Department of Homeland Security rule change. In 1999, Arizona was allowed to increase the zone to 75 miles in order to benefit Tucson. Bingaman and Udall want the same change for New Mexico.

Mexican commandos have discreetly traveled to the United States, assembled at designated areas and dispatched helicopter missions back across the border aimed at suspected drug traffickers. The Drug Enforcement Administration provides logistical support on the American side of the border, officials said, arranging staging areas and sharing intelligence that helps guide Mexico’s decisions about targets and tactics.

Officials said these so-called boomerang operations were intended to evade the surveillance — and corrupting influences — of the criminal organizations that closely monitor the movements of security forces inside Mexico. And they said the efforts were meant to provide settings with tight security for American and Mexican law enforcement officers to collaborate in their pursuit of criminals who operate on both sides of the border.

The article suggests that the operations are rare, and it’s not clear where along the border the operations took place. The U.S. has sent drones far into Mexican territory to gather intelligence on suspected drug traffickers.

The rule requires gun dealers in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) if a person buys more than one semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and uses ammunition greater than .22 caliber within five days.

“These cartels — which are responsible for more than 40,000 deaths since 2006, including Americans like Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — have various ways of obtaining weapons that don’t include lawful purchases from legitimate gun sellers,” he added.

Mexico has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world — the Washington Postreported on the one gun store in Mexico City on a military base that requires a thorough background check and only allows purchasers to buy one small-caliber weapon. According to the Post, 60,000 American guns have been recovered in Mexico from 2006 to 2010. Straw purchasers without a criminal record often buy from different stores in border states to evade detection.

“Instead of arbitrarily implementing this misguided and constitutionally questionable policy, the Obama administration should target actual criminals rather than law-abiding citizens and immediately secure our southern border against the northbound and southbound illegal smuggling of drugs, humans, cash, guns, fugitives and stolen vehicles,” added Perry.

“I do not believe children should be punished for their parents’ actions,” Bingaman said in a statement. “It doesn’t make sense to deny children who grew up in our country an opportunity to earn a college degree, join the military and to contribute to our economy as productive members of society.”

Bingaman joined Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and 29 other senators in sponsoring the legislation.

To qualify for the DREAM Act, the immigrant must have come to the United States under the age of 15, graduate from high school or earn a GED, complete two years of college or military service and have good moral character to legalize their immigration status.

In a speech on immigration in El Paso Tuesday, Obama called for the DREAM Act to be passed.

“We should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents,” Obama said. “We should stop denying them the chance to earn an education or serve in the military. And that’s why we need to pass the DREAM Act.”

Obama said the lack of progress on immigration reform occurred despite work from people on both sides of the aisle.

“We’ve seen leaders of both parties who try to work on this issue, but then their efforts fell prey to the usual Washington games,” Obama said. “And all the while, we’ve seen the mounting consequences of decades of inaction.”

Obama said that Republicans have been looking to “move the goal posts” on securing the border.

“They wanted a fence,” Obama said. “Well the fence is now basically complete.”

“We’re here at the border because we also recognize that being a nation of laws goes hand in hand with being a nation of immigrants,” Obama said in his address at Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso.

Rep. Steve Pearce, the lone Republican in the New Mexico delegation, said before Obama’s speech that the president should have met with constituents in border communities in New Mexico.

“We cannot possibly address immigration without first facing our border security problems,” Pearce said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that the President missed an opportunity to hear from my constituents about the need for serious measures.”

Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat, said that he supported former President George W. Bush’s call for immigration reform and praised Obama for bringing it up again.

“Comprehensive immigration legislation is necessary to fix our broken borders and advance the educational and economic progress of the country,” Udall said in a statement. “I hope that the president’s speech is just the beginning of a bipartisan effort to pass real reform.”

Sen. Jeff Bingaman also called for immigration reform.

“Obviously, we must make security a centerpiece of comprehensive immigration reform,” Bingaman said. “But I do believe Congress needs to finally find a way to create a more thoughtful immigration system that works for our economy.”

After being “encouraged” by Obama’s speech, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights called for Obama to change its focus “on a costly, enforcement-only model.”

“Our national security, while critical, should never come at the expense of civil and human rights,” said Vicki Gaubeca, director of the ACLU-NM Regional Center for Border Rights. “At the very least, we need more transparency, accountability and oversight to prevent the border region from becoming a Constitution-free zone.”

Any sort of immigration reform seems unlikely over the next two years. The House of Representatives is controlled by a Republican majority, while the Senate has a Democratic majority. The two chambers have been unable to agree on a number of high-profile issues.

Watch the speech:

So far the exact charges on mayor Eddie Espinoza, city council member Ross Gutierrez and police chief Angelo Vega have not been released to the press. KOAT reported, “According to the US Attorney’s office, the men face firearms violations and drug trafficking charges.”

A total of eleven people were reportedly arrested.

KOAT also reported that New Mexico ICE is also conducting operations in Columbus, New Mexico.

NMPolitics.net notes that this came a day after high profile gang indictments in El Paso.

The arrests in Columbus come a day after prosecutors indicted 35 members of the Barrio Azteca gang in El Paso and Southern New Mexico. Among those indicted were 10 charged in connection with the killing of three people – including two Americans – linked to the U.S. Consulate in Juárez last year.

]]> http://washingtonindependent.com/106301/new-mexico-border-town-mayor-police-chief-arrested-on-drug-charges/feed 0 http://washingtonindependent.com/103143/report-calls-for-improvements-to-u-s-efforts-to-stop-gun-trafficking-into-mexico http://washingtonindependent.com/103143/report-calls-for-improvements-to-u-s-efforts-to-stop-gun-trafficking-into-mexico#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:30:34 +0000 Elise Foley http://washingtonindependent.com/?p=103143 United States firearms officials will likely make changes to their efforts to stop firearms from reaching Mexican drug cartels after criticism from a Justice Department report released yesterday, CNN reports. The report indicates some successes: Authorities have intercepted more than 5,400 firearms and charged almost 800 defendants with More...

]]> United States firearms officials will likely make changes to their efforts to stop firearms from reaching Mexican drug cartels after criticism from a Justice Department report released yesterday, CNN reports. The report indicates some successes: Authorities have intercepted more than 5,400 firearms and charged almost 800 defendants with firearms trafficking to Mexico since the beginning of Project Gunrunner in 2006.

Officials wouldn’t speculate on how many firearms they did not stop from reaching the cartels. But the inspector indicated a number of problems in how the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms runs its programs to prevent firearms from the United States from entering Mexico:

The report indicated there are major holes in the system, including a lack of ATF resources to fulfill Mexican requests for help.

“For example, ATF has been unable to provide key training and support requested by the government of Mexico,” the report found.

U.S. officials stationed in Mexico told investigators there is a lack of coordination among various Mexican law enforcement agencies, and ATF has no single counterpart that it can interact with in coordinating firearms trafficking investigations.

But the inspector general also found a lack of coordination and information sharing among U.S. agencies. The ATF and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have a particularly difficult time coordinating despite a formal memorandum of understanding between the two agencies, the report said.

These problems aren’t new: U.S. agents in Mexico have reported a lack of progress in the country on prosecuting for weapons trafficking, and say too few Mexican agents know how to use software the United States government shared with Mexico to trace weapons.

The Mexican government claims that 90 percent of firearms in the country came from the United States, where they are far easier to obtain than in Mexico. United States officials dispute that number, but both governments agree that curbing the flow of weapons into Mexico could weaken powerful drug cartels that have wreaked havoc on the country.

The Justice Department report recommends that U.S. firearms officials upgrade intelligence-sharing capabilities and make various improvements to the way they chase down investigative leads. In addition, the report suggested that Mexico be integrated into Southwest Border Initiatives — the collaborative border security efforts of officials in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reportedly concurred with these recommendations.

]]> http://washingtonindependent.com/103143/report-calls-for-improvements-to-u-s-efforts-to-stop-gun-trafficking-into-mexico/feed 2 http://washingtonindependent.com/101050/report-blames-dhs-and-boeing-for-delays-with-border-security-project http://washingtonindependent.com/101050/report-blames-dhs-and-boeing-for-delays-with-border-security-project#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:24:56 +0000 Elise Foley http://washingtonindependent.com/?p=101050 One of the major tenets of the Bush administration’s border security plan was the Secure Border Initiative Network, or SBInet, a system of high-tech radars, satellites and cameras to monitor the borders. The “virtual wall” is being developed by Boeing, but four years after a contract was awarded More...

]]> One of the major tenets of the Bush administration’s border security plan was the Secure Border Initiative Network, or SBInet, a system of high-tech radars, satellites and cameras to monitor the borders. The “virtual wall” is being developed by Boeing, but four years after a contract was awarded in 2006, it is still riddled with problems. Who is to blame? The Department of Homeland Security and Boeing, for failing to track progress and deliver adequate information, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.

The report faulted DHS for a lack of oversight on the program, claiming “DHS has not been able to gain meaningful and proactive insight into potential cost and schedule performance shortfalls, and thus take corrective actions to avoid shortfalls in the future.” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced in March a plan to overhaul SBInet, removing $50 million in stimulus funding from the project until the department could determine the most cost-effective way to move forward. All spending on SBInet — except money being spent on a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona — was frozen.

Boeing was also criticized in the report, which said the company provided information to DHS that was “replete with unexplained anomalies, thus rendering the data unfit for effective contractor management and oversight.”

The SBInet project has been expensive so far: DHS has received about $4.4 billion in appropriations for SBInet since 2006, according to the Government Accountability Office report. It also has not proven very effective. Previous Government Accountability Office reports have pointed out failures in the system, including its inability to differentiate well between animals and humans.

Delays over the project have also caused major concerns. In June, Rep. Henry Cuellar, (D-Texas), chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee on on border issues, said SBInet would take 323 years to deploy across the southwest border at its current pace.

The Government Accountability Office Report recommended that DHS increase its oversight over Boeing’s progress on SBInet, including by creating baseline performance measurements for major tasks and tracking spending more closely.

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