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Column 061515 Brewer

Monday, June 15, 2015

The U.S. and Mexico Must
Focus on Cooperative
Security Benefits
By Jerry Brewer
Starting with the potential for
greater harmony and
cooperation between the U.S.
and Mexican governments,
Mexicos midterm elections of
last week are being described as
a marked breath of fresh air.
To Mexicos credit, a reported 48
percent of voter turnout strongly
depicts a nation seeking a greater
voice in government. The biggest
loser was the Party of the
Democratic Revolution, which
has been Mexico's leading leftist
party for a quarter century that
was virtually rejected by voters.
It won less than 11 percent of the
vote.
Even with concerns about violent
crime, Mexicos lengthy drug
war, corruption and scandal, an
apparent favorable nod has been
given to President Enrique Pea
Nietos nearly two and a half
years in office.
So, what might these midterm
elections mean to the southern
U.S. border in the months and
years remaining of the Pea

Nieto presidency?
A strong case can be made that a
northern disregard and myopic
view, by the Obama
administration, is in store
regarding the trials and
tribulations to be faced in days
ahead for Mexico's 122 million
citizens.
With this in mind, how can
anyone in U.S. government
oversight of homeland security,
and some leaders and policy
makers, tell an astute American
citizenry with straight faces that
the U.S. border with Mexico "is
as secure as it has ever been?"
That statement could be
ironically true, within the context
that a little less than 2,000 miles
of border were never secure to
begin with. Hence, the dust still
remains from the criminal drug
gangs alone that traversed the
border many years ago to align
with gangs and dealers in
hundreds of U.S. cities near and
far from the border.
Nearly ten years of security
strategies falling short on both
sides of the border have
resulted due to, in part at least,
the failures to engage and curtail
the staggering numbers of
heavily armed drug cartel
members and transnational
organized crime mobsters.
In the U.S., much of the overt
concerns with Mexico appear to
be focused on undocumented
Mexicans crossing the northern

border and Mexicos refusal to

stop the flow. Yet Texas
Congressman John Carter was
quick to say that many illegal
immigrants did not come to the
U.S. by crossing the Rio
Grande. "The reality is that
about 40 percent of the people
came in on an airplane, with a
legal visa, and just overstayed
their visa and have never gone
home."
Many U.S. officials accuse the
Mexican government of only selfserving demands when seeking
immigration accords with the
U.S. However, Mexico has
critical problems and has
admitted weakness with its own
unsecured southern border of
514 miles with Guatemala. The
border with Belize is another 156
miles of concern. Both the U.S.
and Mexico must find a
coordinated regional strategic
plan in the areas of border
security, control and
development to prevent their
borders from sliding further out
of control.
Effective border strategies must
be comprehensive, flexible and
adaptable. Estimates are that
over 500,000 undocumented
aliens illegally cross the border
every year into Mexico from
Central America.
Prior to former Mexican
President Felipe Calderon taking
office on December 1, 2006,
considerable deniability existed
by the U.S. and Mexico as to the
asymmetric threats facing both
nations. In the border city of

Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, more

than 200 people were murdered
in 2005, and additional unknown
victims simply vanished. As well,
the statistics for 2006 were
already mounting.
Both the U.S. and Mexico had
consistent trouble in identifying
and interpreting the violence and
brutal gun battles that were
occurring, often describing them
as merely "armed criminal
groups using unusually advanced
weapons" against each
other. Tony Garza, the U.S.
Ambassador to Mexico at the
time, described the gun battles as
simply "between armed criminal
groups."
Calderon was astute to
emphatically understand that the
true problem was the lack of a
capable police cadre to even
remotely undertake an
enforcement posture against
these well-armed and trained
paramilitary enemies of the state.
Many thought that the drug
gangs were better left alone.
President Obama speaks of close
cooperation with Mexico, while
moving "to a more humanistic
counternarcotics policy, and
plans to strengthen communities
in the border region with
resources to be dedicated to
tackling substance abuse and
violence through health and
education programs."
Mexico knows that the massive
and superior weaponry and
tactics being utilized by the
organized criminal insurgents

and narcoterrorists far exceed

the skills, knowledge, abilities
and equipment of their police
cadre (Mexico has lost more than
60,000 lives). Yet implied
conventional and sanctioned
police procedures and authority,
on both sides of the border, are
now questioned and being
redefined at state, county and
local levels, oblivious to previous
and/or current threats.
The ornate and usual dialogue of
securing the U.S. border with
Mexico continues to be rife with
wild guesses, empty words and
complete irresolution. Indecision
and a lack of proactive strategies,
that cannot be effectively
articulated to a nation
demanding solutions and
answers, is an abomination and
reflects badly on both leaders
who are tasked to provide
oversight and factually report.
Mexico and the U.S. must
immediately come together in
agreement and engagement by
both sides in stopping the crossborders flood of undocumented
migrants, contraband, and
criminal insurgents.

Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of

Criminal Justice International
Associates, a global threat
mitigation firm headquartered
in northern Virginia. His
website is located at
www.cjiausa.org. TWITTER:
CJIAUSA
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