Mexican drug war is now a shooting war on the border and on the streets of America

July 30, 2010 - PRLog -- The Mexican Drug War is an armed conflict taking place between rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico. This war has now evolved into a shooting war along the U.S. Mexican border and beyond into most states across the country. This war is being waged between the Mexican Drug cartels, Mexico gangs, American gangs, U.S. Law enforcement and American Militia groups. Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for a few decades, they have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the complete wholesale illicit drug market in the United States.  With more and more confrontations between the drug traffickers and the U.S. Militia groups where by at least one of those groups claim to have killed and wounded Mexican Drug Cartel smugglers trying to enter the United States. These fire fights are accruing on the border and up to 200 miles north of the border in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California. Arrests of key cartel leaders recently in the Juarez, Tijuana, Gulf, Sinaloa and Zetas cartels have led to increasing violence between the cartels and the Mexican Military as well as with each other as they fight for control of the trafficking routes into and in the United States.

It is estimated that there are over one million U.S. gang members in the United States, with over one hundred thousand transnational gang members. These gang members are the connection between the Mexican Drug Cartels and American street gangs who see to it that the drugs are distributed according to the MDC's wishes. Transnational street gangs have a significant number of foreign-born members and are frequently involved in human and contraband smuggling, immigration violations and other crimes with a nexus to the border. Like any street gang, these transnational gangs also have a propensity toward violence. Their members commit a number of crimes including robbery, extortion, assault, rape and murder, and are known to carry out assassinations for their bosses the MDC's.
 
Membership in these gangs has spread from Mexico and Central America to U.S. communities across the United States. These gangs are engaged in criminal enterprises normally associated with better organized and more sophisticated crime syndicates. The U.S. Government believes they could potentially use their skills and criminal networks to smuggle terrorists into the United States. Some Mexican authorities believe this to be already happening.
Nevertheless, some observers maintain that these gangs have developed the capacity and are now organized criminal enterprises capable of coordinating illegal activities across national borders.

These gangs constitute an emerging transnational criminal threat to the U.S.

Many of the transnational gang members have been trained in military and paramilitary tactics. Another frightful fact is many of America's gang members are former U.S. Military with the best training in the world for how to kill people.
A southland California drug law enforcement officer has told the U.S. Border Fire Report that he now believes that a great number of gang related shooting is cartel related. So when you hear of drive by and other gang related shootings it’s not just kids fighting over turf or egos.

Under Operation Community Shield, ICE partners with existing federal, state and local anti-gang efforts to share intelligence on gang organizations and their leadership, share resources and combine legal authorities to arrest, prosecute, imprison and/or deport transnational gang members. In addition to MS-13, targeted gangs included Surenos-13, 18th Street Gang, Latin Kings, Bloods, Crips, and Vatos Locos to name a few.
The latest numbers that the U.S. Border Fire Report has are, since 2005, ICE has arrested more than 11,100 members and associates from 890 different gangs and seized 388 firearms. Of those arrested, 145 were gang leaders.
Many of those arrested under Operation Community Shield are prosecuted criminally and are eventually removed from the United States. To date, 3,997 have been charged criminally, and 7,109 have been charged with immigration violations and processed for removal.
                                                                       
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.
 
"Our immigration and customs authorities are proving to be powerful weapons in this effort, and we'll continue working closely with local law enforcement to attack and dismantle the gangs that have terrorized our communities," Schoch said.
"Now, it's the gang members who have something to fear."

Mexico, the major drug producing and transit country, is the main foreign supplier of cannabis and a major supplier of methamphetamine into the United States.  Although Mexico accounts for only a small share of worldwide heroin production, it supplies a large share of the heroin distributed in the United States, much of which is believed coming from Afghanistan.  Drug cartels in Mexico control approximately 80% of the foreign narcotics that flow into the United States.
Related articles:
http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Gang-Related-News
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Sources:
ICE
U.S. State Dept.
DEA
U.S. Border Patrol
Mexican Military
Wikipedia
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