El Paso, Texas, United States (AHN) – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is warning Mexican drug cartels that any attempts to bring their violence to the United States would meet with a forceful reprisal. Napolitano issued the warning during a speech at the University of Texas at El Paso Monday as the Obama administration confronts political pressure to beef up border security.
“So today I say to the cartels: Don’t even think about bringing your violence and tactics across this border,” Napolitano said. “You will be met by an overwhelming response. And we’re going to continue to work with our partners in Mexico to dismantle and defeat you.”
More than 34,000 people have been killed in Mexico’s war against drug cartels since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon sent troops and federal police to fight against them.
Most of the violence occurred in 2010, with 15,000 people killed.
The death rate was most intense across the border from where Napolitano spoke in El Paso. Neighboring Ciudad Juarez reported 3,000 drug-related murders last year.
The violence has prompted governors in border states to urge strong action by the Obama administration against drug cartels and illegal immigration.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has been the most outspoken. She blames drug cartels and illegal immigrants for a surge in violence in her state.
Napolitano said some of the claims about violence on the U.S. side of the border were exaggerated.
“This statement – often made only to score cheap political points – is just plain wrong,” she said.
A spokesman for Brewer responded that the raging violence across Arizona’s border in Mexico has not alleviated concerns about what could happen to the state’s residents.
Napolitano said recent arrest statistics show U.S. law officers are winning in the struggle to keep out unwanted violence.
Border patrol arrests fell 36 percent in the last two years, she said. At the same time, deportations increased nearly 70 percent, with 779,000 people being deported.
President Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexican border last year. He also signed legislation that would spend $600 million for 1,500 new Border Patrol agents, customs inspectors and other law enforcement officers.
The Homeland Security efforts include partnerships with Mexican police to share information on drug cartel activities.
Last month, Napolitano halted plans for a “virtual fence” along the nearly 2,000-mile border. The fence consisted of surveillance cameras, infrared sensors and other electronics designed to detect unauthorized movement across the border.
The $1 billion system, being built by Boeing Co., started in 2006.
“The program was consistently over budget, behind schedule and simply not delivering the return on investment needed to justify it,” Napolitano said.
A new study this week warned that the zeal by law enforcement officers to keep out illegal immigrants was resulting in large numbers of arrests of immigrants for minor offenses.
President Obama has said detentions of illegal immigrants would focus only on “dangerous criminals.”
However, the Migration Policy Institute report said about half of illegal immigrants arrested nationwide are detained for misdemeanor or traffic offenses.
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