TOUGHER JUSTICE: TRAFFICKERS AT BRIDGES CAN NOW BE PROSECUTED IN
MEXICO

EL PASO -- Mexican drug smugglers whose cases would yield weak
sentences under U.S. law can now face trial in their own country.

U.S. and Mexico officials on Thursday unveiled a program that can
shift prosecutions from the El Paso region across the border to
Mexico. They announced the binational initiative at the Chamizal
National Memorial.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement will turn over some cases of
Mexican nationals caught trafficking drugs in El Paso to Mexico for
prosecution. Mexican prosecutors can use evidence gathered by ICE and
Customs and Border Protection to build their cases against smugglers.

Border law enforcement agencies will still investigate the cases
before transferring them to Mexico, officials said.

In sum, the change means that Mexican citizens caught trafficking
drugs at the Paso del Norte, Americas, Zaragoza, Fabens and Fort
Hancock international bridges could be prosecuted in Mexico. "This
area has seen terrible effects of the drug trade and the violence it
brings," said Alonzo Pena, deputy assistant secretary of ICE.

Customs and Border Protection sees between 15 and 25 drug-smuggling
cases a week in the El Paso region, said spokesman Roger Maier.

He said quantities range from grams to kilos and tons.

Pena said officials found that Mexican nationals often were not facing
harsh enough consequences because the amounts of drugs did not reach
the threshold, and more evidence was required in U.S. courts.

"We found that their laws can be effective as well," Pena said. "We're
trying to get two bites at the apple. If we can't get them prosecuted
in the United States, let's try to get them prosecuted in Mexico."

The two governments launched a pilot program in Nogales, Ariz., in
September.

ICE has turned 22 drug cases at that border over to the Mexican
attorney general's office. Two defendants have been sentenced to 10
years in prison.

Mexican officials in Sonora said the other 20 cases were
proceeding.

Pena said the transferring of cases was not intended to ease the
workload of the U.S. attorney's staff or reduce the number of people
in U.S. prisons.

"It is certainly not driven by economics," he said. "We will
investigate the cases fully to see who is using these
individuals."

The corridors in and around El Paso are disputed by the rival Sinaloa
and Juarez drug cartels. Juarez has become the most murderous city in
North America. More than 4,900 people have been killed since 2008.

Bernardo Espino, deputy coordinator of delegations at the Mexican
attorney general's office, said the program aims to put a stop to a
cycle of lawlessness that drug-trafficking organizations created in
Juarez.

"Drugs have a homicidal logic. They kill the consumers and those who
participate in the production, traffic and distribution," he said.
"This program is another tool to restrain this system."

Drug cartels recruit young people to work as mules to traffic small
amounts of drugs, officials said.

Espino said the changes will spread the word that the U.S. and Mexico
governments have a zero-tolerance approach to drug
trafficking.

"Even when talking about grams, they will not be freed on bond," he
said.

Officials are still pondering which cases ICE will transfer to Mexico,
Espino said.

"The important part is that the crime does not go unpunished," he
said.