Officials battle over safe border claims
Last week during a visit to the U.S. Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared that the border is safer than ever; according to El Paso mayor John Cook, El Paso is the safest city of its size in the United States, despite sitting across Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which has been hit hard by the bloody gang wars raging across Mexico; Napolitano’s remarks have generated sharp criticism from those who believe that the situation along the border has grown increasingly worse; in February, there were nearly 230 execution style killings in Ciudad Juarez and last December Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent, was killed in the line of duty while deployed along the border
Waiting for the border patrol to pass // Source: adnmundo.com
Last week during a visit to the U.S. Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitanodeclared that the border is safer than ever.
“There is a perception that the border is worse now than it ever has been. That is wrong. The border is better now than it ever has been,” Napolitano said.
According to El Paso mayor John Cook, El Paso is the safest city of its size in the United States, despite sitting across Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which has been hit hard by the bloody gang wars raging across Mexico. “The lie about border cities being dangerous has been told so many times that people are starting to believe it, but we as border communities have to speak out,” Cook sad.
Echoing these claims, Alan Bersin, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, said, “The border is more secure than it has ever been. We have created the conditions to make this border economically competitive and prosperous.”
Napolitano’s remarks have generated sharp criticism from those who believe that the situation along the border has grown increasingly worse.
In February, there were nearly 230 execution style killings in Ciudad Juarez and last December Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent, was killed in the line of duty while deployed along the border.
In response to Napolitano’s statement, the National Border Patrol Council issued a statement blasting the secretary’s claims. The council said, “U.S. citizens are being kidnapped and killed while our Border Patrol agents fight a war at home that no one will allow them to win.”
It added, “If the border was better now than it has ever been, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry would not have been brutally murdered by heavily armed Mexican criminals operations over thirteenmiles inside the United States.”
Following the murder of a Texas Rancher by smugglers last year, President Obama sent 1,200 National Guardsmen to help secure the border.
Senators John McCain (R – Arizona) and Jon Kyl (R – Arizona) believe that the decision is a mistake and are proposing that 3,000 National Guard troops be permanently stationed along the border.
“The work that the National Guard has been doing is vital and it needs to be increased rather than decreased. When the secretary of Homeland Security withdraws the National Guard from the border after they’ve been doing such a good job, we don’t know if they are really serious about securing our border,” Senator McCain said.
Representative Ted Poe (R – Texas) wants even more troops deployed. “I want to put 10,000 National Guard forces directly on the border, not back from it, on it,” he said.
