In case you haven't noticed, the violence and mayhem along the Mexican border is spilling into the United States. Years of lackadaisical enforcement and a booming drug trade has spiraled the murder rate in what used to be a bucolically quiet region. Now south Texas is starting to look more and more like north Mexico... the highway in Brownsville was closed the other day because of a shootout.
Senator Cornyn sent this letter to Obama today, asking him to please enforce the borders. Fat chance, really... especially after Bush left it wide open after 9/11. Democrats probably love it... new Democrats streaming across the border every day. Cornyn should hope Obama doesn't send in the UN to police the area. You know that's coming soon.
WASHINGTON—Having recently returned from a security briefing by U.S. and Mexican officials in Laredo, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Subcommittee, today sent a letter to President Barack Obama expressing grave concern over escalating drug-related violence occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border, where there have been more than 7,000 drug-related deaths since the beginning of 2008. The violence is threatening to spread well beyond our nation’s southern border and threatening the security of our entire nation. Just last week, federal agents announced they have arrested nearly 750 people in several states, including Maryland, Minnesota and California, with Mexican cartel connections.
In the letter, Sen. Cornyn urges the President to dedicate immediate attention to the situation and provide full resources to support our law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal level. With kidnappings and arms smuggling already occurring in states along the southern border, Sen. Cornyn makes the case for immediate action to prevent further violence from spilling over into Texas and other border states.
“We must ensure that our local, state, and federal law enforcement officials have what they need to combat narcoterrorism and prevent this violence from spilling over into the United States. The seriousness of this situation warrants your personal attention, and I urge you to make it a top priority,” Sen. Cornyn wrote in the letter.
“To ensure our national security, the situation in Mexico demands that we dedicate sufficient attention to this problem and provide the tools needed to address it. No resource should remain unexpended to protect American citizens and prevent this cartel-induced violence from bleeding over into the border towns of Texas and our neighboring states,” he continued.
Sen. Cornyn also encouraged President Obama to visit Texas’ border and see the situation firsthand. Sen. Cornyn was in Laredo last month where he met with U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials and received a briefing on several issues concerning security along Texas’ southern border with Mexico, including the rising drug cartel and gang violence in the region.
--Below is a full text of Sen. Cornyn’s letter--
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
I write today to voice serious concern over the escalating level of drug-related violence occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border. We must ensure that our local, state, and federal law enforcement officials have what they need to combat narcoterrorism and prevent this violence from spilling over into the United States.
The seriousness of this situation warrants your personal attention, and I urge you to make it a top priority. With our ongoing military campaigns overseas, it is easy to overlook the significance of the alarming violence occurring on our southern border. To ensure our national security, the situation in Mexico demands that we dedicate sufficient attention to this problem and provide the tools needed to address it. No resource should remain unexpended to protect American citizens and prevent this cartel-induced violence from bleeding over into the border towns of Texas and our neighboring states.
According to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, about 1,000 lives have been lost so far this year as a result of drug-related violence in Mexico. In 2008, the number of drug-related casualties topped 6,000, nearly doubling the number from 2007. In Ciudad Juarez alone, more than 1,800 people have been killed since January 2008, according to the U.S. State Department and Mexican authorities. The unspeakable brutality occurring at the hands of rival drug cartels in Juarez and the level of kidnappings occurring in Nuevo Laredo are alarming to say the least, especially given their proximity to U.S. soil.
I was recently in Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border, meeting with several U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials, who represent the front lines in the fight against narcoterrorism. I came away from that meeting with renewed resolve to help protect those who live, travel, and trade throughout the entire southern border region, while at the same time maintaining favorable relations with Mexico. I believe that doing so will take broad cooperation among leaders from the local, state, and federal levels, on both sides of the border, to ensure that law enforcement agencies are equipped to handle the unique challenges they face.
I encourage you to come to Texas to visit the border and see the situation firsthand. It is clearly in our national interest to dedicate every available resource to preventing the violence in Mexico from reaching American soil. Thank you for your prompt attention to this critical national security issue.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Finance, Judiciary and Budget Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.
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