Drugs & The Border
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The size and numbers of people crossing the Southwestern border (SWB) of the U.S. continue to plague officials leading America’s War on Drugs when it comes to cocaine trafficking from South America into the United States. Many American officials lob blame on Mexican authorities, feeling for too many years they have turned a deaf ear and blind eye toward the problem. Corrupt border and law enforcement officials and the overwhelming size and scope of the problem also add to its severity. Further, the insatiable demand for cocaine in the U.S. coupled with the high profit margins it yields for South American drug czars continue to fuel the problem. The SWB represents one of the biggest sieves when it comes to cocaine moving into the U.S. from South America. Whoever is to blame, no one denies the scope of the situation, “By one federal estimate, 40% of all the drugs crossing South Texas move through Starr, sometimes amounting to 15 tons of marijuana and 1,000 lbs. of coke a week. Confiscations in the Rio Grande valley doubled last year; arrests this year by the Drug Enforcement Administration shot up from 230 to 570” (Woodbury, 1996, 31).The SWB is of great significance in America’s War on Drugs because it is a 2,000+ mile stretch of land that includes everything from densely populated cities to the most remote and isolated deserts. Because of this, the SWB is difficult to patrol adequately and there are many places along t
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lems stopping the flow of cocaine across the SWB, which is exacerbated by U.S. demand and the power and means of South America drug lords, is that the border is heavily trafficked for all kinds of legal and illegal enterprises. Shutting the border down completely or using invasive search procedures would likely bring the flow of commerce to a halt, something even less possible in the era of NAFAT and increasing free trade between South America and the U.S., “San Ysidro is the world busiest border crossing, where 4,500 people an hour – or about 40 million each year – test the nation’s front-line defenses against drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The challenge is opening the border to greater trade with a partner in NAFATA while closing it to the growing flood of illegal drugs. It’s a balancing act between the free flow of commerce and the ability of the government to interdict contraband – aliens or narcotics” (Anderson, 1996, 01A).
Another problem that has been rising in significance which doesn’t help the situation any is the number of border patrol officials and agents who have been convicted of some form of corruption via the border drug trade. More than 10,000 federal personnel are responsible for patrolling the
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Approximate Word count = 1306
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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