SMUGGLERS: U.S.-MEXICO TEAMS LAUNCH CRACKDOWN

It's only logical that U.S. Border Patrol and Mexican federal police
have agents in each other's country to catch smugglers of drugs and
people.

It appears the two countries plan to expand an Arizona pilot program
to the El Paso-Juarez sector of the border.

Already the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has eight offices in
Mexico, including one in Juarez. The FBI has five in major Mexican
cities.

Last week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and
Mexico Secretary of Public Safety Genaro Garcia Luna agreed to copy a
pilot program that has been in effect along the Nogales, Ariz., border.

The signing came on the same day Mexico President Felipe Calderon
visited Juarez and vaguely outlined plans to curb the drug-related
violence there. Some 2,500 assassination-style murders have taken
place in Juarez since January 2008.

With allied law-enforcement, smugglers would be less likely to shed a
tail; leaving Mexico would no longer leave Mexican law-enforcement
personnel behind.

Also, it stands to reason that intelligence works faster and more
effectively if both countries have agents on the same physical team.

It's long been known that the Juarez-to-El Paso corridor is a main
pipeline of drugs coming into the U.S. The DEA confirms drug and
people traffickers have stash houses in El Paso; and some El Paso
small businesses launder large amounts of drug proceeds.

There has been no official announcement of an El Paso-Juarez program
to duplicate the Arizona pilot program. Homeland Security spokesman
Matt Chandler said the agency does not disclose details of future action.

But Chandler did say, "The U.S. and Mexico have been engaged in joint
and cooperative efforts in the border region of Sonora and Arizona.
This new declaration will allow us to build on our successful
cooperation thus far and expand it to other high-risk areas ..."

Let's hope that means there will be joint "cooperative efforts" along
this major smuggling pipeline between Juarez and El Paso.