OPINION: Ineffective border security leads to confusion, not stopping illegal crossing

It was U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar’s comments on Nov. 13 that brought all the pieces together.

I worked with Salazar in the 90s under former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer and know him to be serious, thoughtful and always careful with his words. It was also clear that he was appointed ambassador to Mexico with the goal of building a relationship with their prickly President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). At one point he was even accused of being too close.

On Aug. 22, however he openly criticized Mexico’s constitutional change to allow judges to be elected, saying that it was “a risk to democracy” and “threatens the historic commercial relationship” with the U.S.

His concerns are well-placed. This change will make it easier for cartels to control the judicial selection process.

Then on Nov. 13, he stated that Mexico had “closed the doors” in terms of cooperation on security issues. He was specifically referring to the discovery of a pile of bodies in the state of Sinaloa and the dismissive comments of the state police chief, Gerardo Mérida.

Add to this a number of other factors and it’s clear that both President Donald Trump and Mexico’s newly elected President Claudia Sheinbaum have let themselves be distracted from the seriousness of the growing cartel threat.

The killings of two mayors: Alejandro Arcos Catalán was beheaded in Chilpancingo on Oct. 6 and Roman Ruiz stabbed to death in Oaxaca 10 days later. Catalán only took office on Oct. 1. Think of the impact this is having on other local elected officials.

As I have written earlier, for about four years my wife and I would stop on the Sunland Park side of the border wall and residents of Anapra would come running out to greet us. It was a “dollars for photos” program that always drew a lot of laughs. For the last year, however, no one has appeared even though they know my car and our names.

The answer is that a cartel has taken over this small area and the kids who used to be glad to get $2 from us have better paying work as cartel lookouts.

Sheinbaum has talked about expanding job opportunities for young people but if the Anapra area is any example, that just isn’t happening.

Both AMLO and Sheinbaum have supported the transfer of more policing power to the Mexican army but what I have observed in the Juárez area is confusion. For example, sometimes there will be troops at the Anapra-Sunland Park wall and sometimes not. Or they will leave at sundown, just when migrants are mustering for a crossing. What is obviously needed is not soldiers but police who know how to investigate crimes and prosecutors who know how to get convictions.

On Oct. 16, Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico’s former secretary of public security, received a 38-year sentence from a federal district judge in New York. Earlier in the year, July 25, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, co-founder with El Chapo of the Sinaloa cartel, was arrested in El Paso after being lured or forced across the border by one of El Chapo’s sons who is also now in U.S. custody.

What role did Mexican officials play in these events?

Guns and our thirst for drugs are two U.S. issues that haven’t been mentioned. What are we doing to control the flow of weapons to Mexico? We have improved the infrastructure at ports of entry like Santa Teresa and Palomas and there is a lot of expensive landscaping at Palomas. But what about instituting spot checks of southbound vehicles and looking for weapons?

Our thirst for drugs is a much bigger problem. According to the World Population Review, we are the world’s leader in illegal drug usage. Our death rate from illegal drugs is twice that of the No. 2 country, Estonia.

In the meantime, our president is talking about imposing tariffs on Mexico in order to force Mexico to get the cartels under control. This will damage consumers and business in both countries and destroy whatever goodwill and cooperation we can achieve with Mexico. The answer, however, is cooperation not coercion.

The U.S.-Mexico relationship is a critical one. Mexico, for example, is our biggest trading partner, accounting for about $800 billion in two-way trade in 2023. We have to preserve and improve this relationship. Salazar was right to be critical of Mexico, but the U.S. is at fault as well.

Morgan Smith has been making monthly trips to the border for the past 13 years to document conditions there and assist several humanitarian organizations. He can be reached at Morgan-smith@comcast.net