The Impact of Law Enforcement Tactics on Us

The problem of drugs coming over into the United States from Mexico is not new, but it is serious and in spite of many efforts by American law enforcement and border authorities, it continues day after day. This paper reviews the problem from several perspectives and brings to light attempts the U.S. has made to stop drug trafficking on our border with Mexico. The biggest issue regarding border security is the power of the drug cartels, and the majority of emphasis in this paper is directed towards the cartels.

The Mexican gun smuggling cartel business started around the year of 2003 (Grillo, par. 2). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) began to research and investigate the Mexican drug cartels (Detty, pg.3). The ATF started to use a tactic called “gunwalking”. This tactic ran a series of sting operations in order to arrest Mexican drug cartel leaders (Detty, pg.4). The citizens of Mexico were given the

Several theories seek to explain why immigrants both documented and undocumented may be less prone to crime and violent acts than the overall population (Bailey, 2014). They are considered a subgroup of the general population, may be more motivated to pursue economic advancement, have more family ties and commitments that correlate with non-violent and law abiding practices. Also, they may observe or have higher experience higher deterrence for law-breaking, including fear of

All together law enforcement has changed, but few see the drastic changes that have happened. Everyday, police and sheriffs are working to keep the people in their community safe. With improved technological advances and social changes, police and sheriffs are keeping a closer eye on things today. For example, improved weapons such as tasers have helped keep suspects safe, computers in police cruisers allow instant access of information of individuals. Other social changes, such as women allowed to join the police forces have helped law enforcement a lot with domestic violence cases because they are calmer then most men. No matter what happens police and the sheriffs will be there to protect and serve

Mexico’s violence on drugs is constantly ongoing. Its imposes a security threat to the United States and threatens the stability of the Mexican state. Drug trafficking is not the only issue of mutual interest between the United States and Mexico but Mexico is the third most largest and important source of oil which has been dropping since 2005 (New York Times, Hanson, 2008). Violence is a major problem when it comes to its drug cartels. They have tried to double their police force to make sure military forces from involving themselves in the drug movement. Consumers have become very upset at the quality of the drugs they are receiving so that increases the violence. Due to the drug violence increasing so much that kids cannot play in their neighborhood due to fear and intimidation. It’s not a safe environment for their citizens

The country’s borders make the most important part in the process of reducing drug trafficking in the U.S. Drug law enforcement agencies face enormous challenges when it comes to

Police corruption continues to exist in Mexico and largely influenced by the Mexican Cartels. (Lopez-M.G.A, 2000, P.79) contends that the militarization of Mexico City’s police force is confirmation of ‘changing and uneasy relationship between civilians and the military.’ It is apparent that anyplace the Mexican drugs cartels enclose the largest impact; they would in all likelihood own the local law enforcements, in fact, over a timeframe ‘police forces had become woven into the cartels’ (Ainslie.C.R, 2013, P.35). The president of Mexico Fox noted that police officers earn a salary of ‘$600 a month’s but are offered bribes in the thousands’, furthermore, he states that ‘1,100 police officers’ were fired from their jobs for corruption. (Congress,

By surveying police chiefs in communities with populations of over 65,000 a few things were found. City policies and police practices have significantly influenced each other. However, a little under half (46%) of the police departments were said to have no policy (Enforcement of Immigration Law,Pg.17). Because they have no policy, it is up to the departments to decide themselves how to deal with unauthorized immigrants. Decisions the departments make would later influence many of the cities policies that would later be implemented. The studies also found that if there were an actual written policy regarding racial profiling, there would be significantly less levels of immigration enforcement. Another interesting discovery was that many of the researched influences for policy making such as, the demographic change within the community and the political context in the community, don’t really influence policy making. The act of labeling a condition as a public problem is more influential in shaping policy agendas. The flow of undocumented immigrants to the U.S. has even been labeled as an “invasion” to the West, from not only Mexico but all immigrant communities. Many media sources and politicians began using this type of vocabulary and descriptions in order to target these “invaders”and make them out as a threat. This act of labeling immigrants as “members of

America is perceived the world over as the “Promised Land” where everything is possible. This lucrative perception leads many immigrants to seek diverse ways to enter this vast land of promise, with the aim of living the American dream. Illegal immigrants are considered the medium behind some of criminal activities perpetuated in America. Their participation in such criminal activity is prevalent in most criminal prosecutions and convictions, in state and federal criminal justice departments. The American criminal justice system has bared the brunt of illegal criminal activities, alleged to have been committed

Prior to the creation of SB1070, Arizona has had many incidents of undocumented immigrants crossing its borders. Until the early 20th century, the U.S government took over the responsibilities of immigration control (Carroll, 2011). According to Chin and Miller (2011), harboring aliens or undocumented immigrants into the United States is considered a felony crime. Originally within the federal jurisdiction to handle such immigration offenses, the shift of responsibilities has now been shared with the state of Arizona (Chin and Miller, 2011). To prevent undocumented immigrants from crossing the borders and combat many smuggling cases of undocumented immigrants, vigilantism was motivated within the state of Arizona through the criminalization of undocumented immigrants (Frassinelli, Frenkell, & Watson, [Immigration and “Operations”: The Militarization (and Medicalization) of the US-Mexico Border] 2011).

The United States border with Mexico is one of the most interesting borders in the world. Although it is not a military front like the border between the Koreas or as militarized as the border of Russia and the Ukraine, there is a lot going on that requires attention. The southern border of the United States is different from almost all of those in the world because many of its problems are based off of the economic disparity between each country. The difference between wealth and quality of life is substantial and results in people going beyond regular means to cross the border to have a better life. There is also a large difference in the legal and law enforcement system that is exploited by Mexican cartels to make money through drug and human trafficking. The differences between these two

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has an agreement with thirty-two law enforcement in sixteen states that deputizes local law enforcement officers to perform the functions of federal immigration agents. This agreement has brought a lot of controversy on whether local law enforcement should have this power. Not only that but several law enforcement agencies have opposed this on the idea that it would negatively affect local community policing. “Sheriffs, police chiefs, and law enforcement leaders sent a letter to members of the Senate Committee… In the letter, law enforcement leaders said the sweeping proposals neglect the complexity involved in their varying localities by imposing a federal, “one-size-fits-all” solution and would compel local law enforcement agencies to engage in immigration enforcement activities. Instead, the urge Congress to focus on past-due reforms to the immigration system so that local police do not lose capacity to focus on violent crimes true threats to community safety.” (Fyler, 2015). This agreement could be extremely detrimental to community policing. As well as the fact that there is a reason that immigration is in the federal jurisdiction and in my opinion shouldn’t be in the hands of local law enforcement officers who do not have the same training. They need to look into another direction on a way they handle

Cities on both sides of the Mexican-American border are continuously terrorized by drug cartels as a way to keep control over shipping routes and silence from citizens. (Wilkinson 2008) In 2010 an employee of the United States Embassy in Mexico was murdered along the Mexico-American border. This added tension to the ongoing drug trafficking problem and raised the issue of Mexico’s inability to control its own borders. Felipe Calderon, the President of Mexico, stated that he is seeking a stronger relationship with the United States. The effects of this relationship can be seen on the streets with the intensified level of violence against the drug cartels and the effectiveness of the government. (Dresser 2009)

The United States has led the fight against criminal activities from Mexican borders for many years. Criminal activities along the United States and Mexican border range from drug trafficking, human smuggling and an economy that disruptive. These are illegal activities scholars have argued could lead to the failure of Mexico as a country and the spread of violence to the United States. The illegal activities are not only a threat to the economy of Mexico and United States but also to the rest of the world due the impacts associated. The border between Mexico and US is of essential significance because it provides the link between the two countries. The border provides passageways through which either country can access the other via land or air means. Although the border is of significance to both countries, smuggling of drugs and trafficking human are main causes of violence between the countries. Drug cartels in Mexico smuggle drugs into the United States and this drives a war between them and the US government. The economy and the peace between Mexico and US is also affected significantly due to the illegal activities. To minimize the violence caused by these illegal activities, the US government need to act against the activities. The United States needs to increase the economic aid and military intervention to Mexico to fight the drug cartels, otherwise it could become a failed state; spreading more violence across the US border.

Every day the U.S. border patrol has to constantly keep an eye out for the smuggling of drugs by Mexican Cartels. There has been much violence due to this drug problem that has left many people near the border killed and is allowing more criminals to obtain these weapons. A lot of this attention goes to the U.S. because many of the weapons utilized in the “drug war” are U.S. made and is interfering with trading relations amongst both the U.S. and Mexico. With this current violent situation in Mexico this has transformed the flow of weapons to an even larger scale.