• Mexico violence destroys border cities' ties, tourism

    Narco-gang violence is killing tourism and cooperation along the U.S.-Mexico border; the violence — and a dramatic tightening of border security by the United States over fears of terrorism — have also strangled cooperative relationships among officials of many “sister cities”; in many cases, professional friendships and cross-border ties among city leaders, and police and fire departments, have fallen by the wayside

  • Feds attribute surging seizure stats to more manpower, technology

    Increased monitoring and interdiction efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border have resulted in what the administration describes as “unprecedented” seizures of illegal drugs, currency, and firearms; CBP intercepted $282 million in illegal currency, a 35 percent increase over the prior two years; authorities seized in excess of 7 million pounds of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs, up 16.5 percent; agents confiscated 6,800 weapons heading for Mexico, a 22 percent increase over the previous two-year period

  • Mexico, U.S. agree on Trusted Traveler Program

    The U.S. and Mexican governments signed agreements Tuesday designed to improve airline security as Mexico continues its war against drug cartels; a key part of the agreement is a trusted traveler program that allows airline passengers who have undergone rigorous background checks to bypass lengthy screenings at airport checkpoints. They also must provide biometric information — such as fingerprints — that can be encoded onto trusted traveler cards and run through electronic card readers

  • Border-security businessNew report assesses opportunities in the border security market

    A new report assess business opportunities presented by business security — what the research firm calls “one of the most exciting emerging markets within the global defense and security marketplace”; the report examines the commercial prospects for companies involved in supplying products ranging from integrated networks of video surveillance cameras and radar systems to unmanned platforms in the air and on the ground

  • Border-security crisis boosts Tucson's economy

    An economic boost for Arizona city from the border crisis; with the University of Arizona, and some fifty companies already involved with border security in some way, Tucson’s future could hold more high-tech, high-paying jobs; research firm MarketResearch.com concludes that worldwide spending on border security products and services will reach $15.8 billion in this year alone