Blog Post

Drug Money, Weapons Flow Into Mexico From the U.S.—Not the Other Way Around

Posted June 4, 2010 by Leslie Josephs
Categories: Federal Immigration Policy

Billions of dollars in profits from illegal drug sales and guns flow into Mexico every year.

But as President Obama vows to send 1,200 additional National Guard troops to patrol the border, a new report shows that Mexico’s drug war is not spilling over into the U.S. at all.

Instead, U.S. states along the Mexican border have some of the lowest per capita crime rates in the country.

The report, which was published by the Associated Press and cites data from the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, found that violent crime along the border has plummeted 30 percent over the last two decades.

Some lawmakers in border states, including Arizona Sen. John McCain, say the area is a hotspot for crime and have called for 6,000 additional troops.

But some Mexicans say the U.S. has it all wrong.

“They shouldn’t send more U.S. troops,” said Yolanda Tapia Flores, selling freshly squeezed fruit juices near a bustling Mexico City business district. “They’re aggressive. You see how they killed that immigrant? Imagine if [Americans] came here and soldiers killed them?”

The death of migrant Anastasio Hernández Rojas in San Diego, after U.S. border agents allegedly used excessive force, sparked outrage in Mexico and dozens protested in the border city of Tijuana.

Tapia Flores says most Mexicans travel to the United States for work, not as drug-traffickers.

“They all go there for work,” she said. “They should respect us more.”

Luis Martinez, a 46-year-old security guard in the upscale Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, said the additional troops may be necessary to curb drug war violence, but the United States has to take responsibility too.

“Obama is well within his rights,” he said, referring to the decision to increase troop presence along the border. “But he must put more emphasis in curbing arms crossing the border [into Mexico]. Also it’s the United States that consumes that cocaine.”

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City this week said that between $19 billion and $29 billion in drug profits cross into Mexico from the United States every year, undetected by border agents.


Image by borman818 via Flickr.