Seeking Action to Reduce Violence on U.S.-Mexico Border

The drug trade always has been associated with violence, but recent escalation in aggressive brutality, especially along the U.S. border with Mexico, is unprecedented.  Drug traffickers are battling for control of lucrative trade routes, and stopping the bloodshed will take cooperation between the United States and Mexico.

This week, Senator Dianne Feinstein and I released a report that outlines specific recommendations to improve cooperation.  We spell out ways to improve border security, including making pre-paid gift and charge cards subject to cross-border reporting requirements designed to prevent money laundering.  We urge the Department of State to move quickly under the U.S.-Mexico Merida Initiative to implement helicopter assistance for law enforcement and monitor effectiveness.  We seek fundamental judicial reforms in Mexico, where less than two percent of suspected crimes result in convictions.  We recommend a top-to-bottom review of southbound inspections, including an assessment of the need for updated license plate readers, as well as scrutiny of any effort on the Mexican side of the border to get in the way of the southbound inspections of U.S. law enforcement.  We want a dramatic increase in the penalties for anyone involved with illegal border tunnels.  And, we identify the need for a specialized FBI unit for cross-border kidnappings of Americans.

The report was prepared as part of our work as Chairman and Co-chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.  Senator Feinstein and I also both serve on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which has jurisdiction in many of these areas.  I’m Ranking Member and she’s a senior member of the committee.  All together, we hope to prompt legislative action and administrative changes to reduce the drug-related violence that’s raging on the U.S.-Mexico border.