DRUG CASH: INTERCEPT ILLEGAL FLOW AT BORDER

So check vehicles leaving the U.S., already! It's believed criminals
smuggle between $18 billion and $40 billion across our Southwest
border each year. So we should give Customs and Border Protection the
manpower and technology to intercept as much as possible.

A recent report indicates we stop only about $40 million of
that.

And it should come post-haste because CBP also faces the problem of
money transfers via technology. Illegal transfers, mainly drug money,
are being conducted on prepaid cards and over mobile phones. That also
has to be addressed, and can be addressed using our own technology.

The more cash we intercept, the more the government can use for good
purposes in this country. It can go to where it's most needed, and
there are many needs in this country today.

It also means less money for the Mexican drug cartels to purchase
weapons and political power in their country.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said the obvious: A report by the
Government Accountability Office " ... makes clear that we can't solve
this problem unless we improve our border infrastructure and
technological capabilities .."

We've seen ramped-up efforts work.

After the GAO called for more urgent action to stop cross-border
smuggling, this area of the Southwest showed a 16.1-percent increase
in seizures over the same period the previous year, according to CBP
spokesman Roger Maier.

We are doing the often overwhelming job of trying to stop illegal
smuggling into this country.

But tons and tons of drugs do make it past inspectors, and they enter
by other means such as via desert routes. Those drugs are sold
throughout the U.S. and become bundles of billions of dollars for the
cartels in Mexico.

It's only logical, then, that if we miss some drugs going out of
Mexico, we at least capture profits that are going back into Mexico.

And the first step is giving CBP the means to inspect more southbound
vehicles at our international ports.

We inspect every vehicle entering the United States. But inspections
outbound, including to Canada, are infrequent.

Too infrequent.