New Law Blogs

Congress Approves $196M for DOJ Border Enforcement

By Channing Turner

Congress passed legislation Thursday pledging $196 million to federal law enforcement in Southwest border states ? the administration?s latest effort to keep escalating violence, drug and firearm trafficking from spilling over the border from Mexico.

The House passed the Border Security Appropriations Bill by a 247-161 vote on Tuesday, and the Senate cleared the bill for the president?s signature by a voice vote Thursday.

The bill includes about $9.2 million for U.S. Attorneys? offices. It also will add more than 400 new positions and the temporary deployment of up to 220 personnel to the Justice Department?s Southwest Border Strategy, according to a DOJ news release.

More than 30 prosecutors will be deployed to locations along the border to aid in case prosecutions, and the Criminal Division will add 26 new positions devoted to reviewing wiretap requests, extraditions, and investigation support.

Additional resources will be used to expand FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, and Immigration Judge teams in the area. Funds also are allocated to assist Mexican law enforcement operations and analysis.

Under the supervision of acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, the department has been ramping up its enforcement in the Southwest. In a statement, Grindler said the appropriations bill will be devoted primarily to monitoring and disrupting organized transnational criminal activity in the region.

?Over the past 18 months, this Administration and this Department have dedicated unprecedented personnel, technology, and resources to the border, with unprecedented results, and we will continue to focus our efforts on disrupting criminal organizations and the networks they exploit,? Grindler said. ?These assets are critical to bringing additional capabilities to crack down on transnational criminal organizations and reduce the illicit trafficking of people, drugs, currency and weapons.?

The Justice Department also announced plans to focus on the trafficking of weapons and cash to drug cartels that have fueled rampant violence in Mexico. Department officials from the DEA and ATF will partner with Mexican law enforcement to break up trafficking infrastructure, according to the statement.

While cartels have become a chief talking point for many Southwest politicians and pundits, statistics paint a slightly different picture on this side of the border. The Arizona Republic reported in May that crime in Arizona?s border region has ?remained essentially flat for the past decade,? despite the sharp increase of violence in Mexico.

Over the past year, the Justice Department has announced several initiatives aimed at combating criminal activity in the region. In 2009, the ATF seized 2,589 firearms and 265,500 rounds of ammunition as part of its ?Project Gunrunner,? and the 22-month ?Project Deliverance? resulted in the seizure of more than 74.1 tons of illegal drugs.

Extraditions also reached a record high in 2009, with 107 extraditions from Mexico to the U.S. This year, 54 fugitives have been returned to the states to stand trial, 22 of which faced drug-trafficking charges, according to the release.

Full post as published by Main Justice on August 12, 2010 (boomark / email).