Were Mexican Guns Really Smuggled From U.S.?
by Dr. Tony Magana
A new report that barely any guns or cash was seized after 5 weeks of an intense program searching southbound vehicles from the U.S. to Mexico contradicts statements made by Sec.Napolitano last month of “unbelievable” quantities.President Obama and Homeland Sec. Napolitano accused Texans of facilitating the smuggling of 2000 guns per day into Mexico and severely punished our border communities trade economy with the Outbound Inspection Program (OIP).
The $95 million dollar joint OIP being done along the U.S.-Mexican border has completed the first month with little to show. Under pressure from Mexican President Felipe Calderon who claimed the majority of weapons used by the drug cartels (2000 per day said the Mexican government) and cash (up to $39 billion say U.S. drug enforcement officials) were crossing into the Mexico from the U.S., President Obama started the (OIP).
Hundreds of Border Patrol, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Custom’s agents were transferred to the border crossings to begin random checks of vehicles crossing from the U.S. into Mexico. Prior to this program southbound vehicles had only been inspected on the Mexican not the American side. The Associated Press reports that very little in the way of weapons or cash has been seized. Only 51 guns or parts of guns and $12 million in cash has been obtained. The Houston Chronicle listed these details
According to CBP, between March 12 and April 30 officers seized:
Fifty-one pieces of ammunition, weapons parts and guns, a minuscule fraction of the 2,000 weapons the Mexican government estimates are smuggled south every day.
$12 million in cash, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the $17 billion to $39 billion the U.S. Justice Department estimates is illegally sent to Mexico from the U.S. annually, but more than the $10 million seized in outbound checks in 2008.
Sixty-one people on charges involving weapons or currency offenses and on outstanding warrants were arrested
From just Texas to Mexico more than 27 million vehicles cross the bridge each year. These crossings are vital to border cities like El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen ,Texas where millions of Mexican shoppers many from the prosperous city of Monterrey come to buy things in American retail stores. Millions of tonnage of commercial traffic vital to the economies of both countries also crosses these border checkpoints.
Local businesses in Texas have reported significant drops in sales for export and in retail from Mexican customers. No official reports are known about what has been seized on the Mexican side but AP observers reported their inspections were much less rare than those on the U.S. side.
This report of a lack of success seems to contraindicate the report given by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who has officially released her comments at the Border Trade Alliance International Conference held just one month ago. At that time she was asked by a San Diego Chamber of Commerce official about the southbound inspections and had this to say about their effectiveness:
‘We’re looking for guns and bulk cash. We’ve already found in the two weeks that we’ve started this, I can’t tell you how much we have found. It’s unbelievable.”
The AP reports that they suspect smugglers may have lookouts ahead reporting if there is an inspection frenzy going on but this is a very subjective observation.
The lack of significant seizures suggests two possibilities. The announcement of the new program was a major deterrent which caused the cartels to immediately stop sending cash and weapons across the normal border crossings or that the amount of cash and guns actually smuggled directly into Mexico from the U.S. through border checkpoints was overly estimated. The statement made by Sec. Napolitano of an “unbelievable” quantity was clearly not the truth and at best a weak exaggeration. Why did she not give the truth?
This program has had major ramifications in that it has significantly damaged the local economies of the border cities by discouraging legal traffic between the nations. The Obama administration and the liberal media painted a false picture of South Texas as being an open gun supplier giving Mexican criminals 2000 guns a day. This was a misrepresentation that was clearly meant to scare the American public into accepting more stringent gun control. The accusations of the Mexican government that most of the weapons being used by gangs were being “legally” obtained in the U.S. must also now be questioned.
This unwarranted paranoia came close to shutting off the border which would have dealt more than a severe blow to one of the few areas of the country, South Texas, which has avoided severe economic hardships up to now. One wonders if in the rush to put personal , equipment, and financing on legal checkpoints, other potential routes of smuggling such as by sea, air, entry into Southern Mexico have been relatively ignored.
Our borders must be secure all agree on that but concurrently nothing is more important then that our government must always give honest information about which threats are real and which are imagined. The Obama administration owes an apology to Texas and Texans. Hence forth, the administration needs to act responsibly in protecting our border trade and 2nd Amendment rights.
Thanks for reading Contempo Magazine blog which discusses issues for McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley, and America from a conservative Hispanic point of view. Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, served as an officer in Army Reserve, and holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and also writes for the American Daily Review. Follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/contempomagazin
