HIDALGO, Sept. 1 - U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has had talks with the FBI about the agency beefing up its surveillance of wire transfers going to drug cartels in Mexico.
According to an investigation by the Washington Post, no more than one percent of all cash going south to the cartels is captured by the U.S. and Mexican authorities.
Cornyn was asked about this investigation and the alarming statistic it revealed on his visit to the Hidalgo port of entry last Friday.
“One of the ways you can hit the cartels where it hurts most is to dry up the cash. Of course, through the human smuggling and the illegal drug trafficking that occurs across our border the cash that is paid for those commodities in the United States needs to come back,” Cornyn said.
Click here to read the Washington Post story about the cash going south.
Cornyn held a news conference at the Hidalgo port with members of the Texas Border Coalition (TBC) to highlight the need for better surveillance infrastructure and technology and customs manpower at ports along the southern border in the war against drug trafficking. They had earlier toured the port and held a private roundtable discussion on security and immigration issues.
Asked, specifically, how cash can be stopped from going south to the cartels, Cornyn said: “It is a matter of the infrastructure, again, at the ports of entry. It’s a matter of adequate personnel and technology. We also, I know, need to work with wire transfers, which can be done virtually anonymously and I have met with the FBI and other law enforcement authorities to try to provide them with the tools that they need to tackle that sort of illegal cash. So, I think it is part of the overall puzzle.”
Asked how the U.S. government can better assist Mexico in the war against the drug cartels, Cornyn pointed to the Merida Initiative, a plan that provides U.S. equipment, technology and other assets to its neighbor to the south. He said $1.6 billion had been appropriated under the initiative.
“I have talked to law enforcement personnel along the border. They say the biggest clock is ticking on the Calderon administration because they worry the next leadership in Mexico may not be as committed at President Calderon has been in fighting and dealing with cartels. So, there are additional asserts that can be provided, technology in particular that the United States can provide, intelligence gathering,” Cornyn said.
Cornyn described the war against the drug cartels as a “huge problem,” pointing out that about 28,000 drug cartel-related deaths had occurred in Mexico since 2006.
“This is a real challenge and we need to work hand in glove with our friends and partners in Mexico, in particular the Calderon government which has been really very courageous in dealing with this issue, to defeat it, because Mexico’s survival depends on it and, of course, our economic and local relationship and our proximity to Mexico makes it a matter of American self interest as well,” Cornyn said.
Monica Weisberg-Stewart chairs the TBC’s immigration and border security committee. Like Cornyn, she said more emphasis needs to be made on security operations at ports of entry. She pointed out that there is a 70 percent chance of drug and human traffickers being captured between the ports of entry but only a 30 percent chance at the ports of entry.
“When they talk about cash going into Mexico, how they are going to do it without manpower. They (the federal government) need to help us out. It is not a Republican issue; it is not a Democratic issue. It’s an American issue. It’s time the U.S. federal government worked in that manner to protect Americans,” Weisberg-Stewart said.
Congress recently appropriated $600 million for border security as part of an emergency appropriation. Cornyn welcomed the appropriation but said it is not enough. He pointed out that he has introduced legislation for the past two congressional sessions that would commit an additional $6 billion for border surveillance infrastructure and manpower. “We know that the infrastructure at the ports of entry are enormously outdated. They need more than a facelift, they need a redo,” Cornyn said.
Cornyn said he was also pleased that, finally, after a couple of years of pushing for it, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and he had persuaded the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a certificate of authorization to allow unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, as they are otherwise known, to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Now, we have the authorization for two of them. We need not only the boots on the ground, and we need more of those, we need the technology as a force multiplier to help law enforcement officials to do the job they need to do,” Cornyn said.
Like the TBC, Cornyn does not want border security to unnecessarily hamper legitimate border trade and travel, which is the lifeblood of the border region’s economy. “There’s no reason to keep people who want to come and spend money in the United States who can enter it legally and do so, from doing it as quickly as possible. As a matter of fact, that is in our self interest to facilitate that sort of trade and traffic,” he said.
Cornyn said one of the biggest challenges he faces in the Senate is persuading those from the interior to accept that paying for border security should be regarded as a national issue, not a local one.
“One of the biggest challenges that I and other border senators and members of Congress have is to explain to other congressmen and other senators that what happens here is not a local issue. The problems we confront along the border are not local problems,” Cornyn said.
“To me that was one of the reasons why the Arizona (immigration) law was so problematic to so many people; because states should not be required nor should they be allowed on a state by state basis to try to do what is the federal government’s job. I think it is a failure of leadership in the Congress and in the Administration to do what needs to be done to keep our country safe, to secure the borders and maintain legitimate commerce so people do not feel as though they basically have to go it alone.”
Six weeks ago, Cornyn said, his office canvassed all federal agencies and asked what they need to do their job. The price tag came to about $2 billion.
“I offered that by way of an amendment, with money coming from surplus stimulus funds. It would not be deficit spending. It was defeated by those who think that the border is a local problem. It’s not,” he said.
The TBC’s Weisberg-Stewart said no one cares more about border security than those who live on the border. She said it was unacceptable that Customs and Border Protection workers have to put in 16-hour shifts because they are undermanned. “The Texas Border Coalition is extremely concerned about the security of our country. We would like to secure true security. We believe our ports of entry are in need of infrastructure, manpower and technology money,” she said.
The TBC’s chair is John David Franz, mayor of Hidalgo. He echoed Weisberg-Stewart’s comments.
“We feel that our land ports of entry are understaffed. We need more manpower on the Texas-Mexico border, on the US-Mexico border for that matter. Our ports of entry are strained. There are some ports of entry, some of the older ones, such as Hidalgo and Eagle Pass, that are stretched at this point. The infrastructure is obsolete, it is outdated. We need Congress to take a serious look at this,” Franz said.
Franz said that in a private roundtable meeting with Cornyn, the TBC also discussed comprehensive immigration reform.
“We want to call on Senator Cornyn also, as a Texas senator, to help lead the charge for immigration reform. We understand the complexity of comprehensive immigration reform. However, there are areas where we can make inroads,” Franz said, referencing the possibility of Ag Jobs and the DREAM Act being passed.
Present at the roundtable were Cornyn, Franz, Weisberg-Stewart, Hidalgo County Judge Rene Ramirez, Pharr Mayor Polo Palacios, McAllen City Commissioner Marcus Barrera, former TBC chair and Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster and Edward Drusina, U.S. commissioner for the International Boundary and Water Commission.
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