MEXICO BORDER SAFETY QUESTIONED

MATAMOROS, Mexico -- Smuggling has always thrived along the U.S.- Mexico
border, where money can buy passage for almost anything.

Now, as the United States beefs up security after the Sept. 11 attacks,
Mexico's endemic lawlessness has raised concerns that terrorists could use
the country's organized crime networks to stage future attacks against America.

The United States and Mexico are discussing border security, and the two
countries are expected to reach an agreement next year, following a recent
U.S.-Canada accord to fight terrorism along the U.S. northern frontier.

"Mexico will not be a place of residency for terrorists nor a place of
transit," Mexican President Vicente Fox said during a recent trip to Tijuana.

Fox has struggled to halt widespread corruption and bring down deadly
cartels. In December, five federal agents and two state police officers in
Reynosa were arrested for working for one of Mexico's most-wanted drug
lords, Osiel Cardenas.

Drug lords are "so embedded that they run things," said Louis Sadler, a
border specialist at New Mexico State University. "They know where the
creases are in the border. They know what the odds are of being able to
evade a sensory field, balloons, or whatever."

There is no evidence that terrorists have staged attacks against the United
States from Mexico. Even without corruption, government officials on both
sides of the border have expressed concerns about Mexico's lax security.

Ruben Garza, a regional supervisor for Mexico's Comptroller's office, said
there are periods when no one is watching luggage move through X- ray
machines at Tijuana's airport.

"Anyone who has the intention of introducing arms or some kind of device to
cause harm can do it with relative ease if they stop and observe the
security measures at the airport," he said.

In Ciudad Juarez, Republican congressional members said recently they
easily found people offering fake visas.

"We crossed over the border in Mexico, and when we got there we asked the
first person we found on the street whether it would be possible to
purchase a document in order to get into the United States," Rep. Tom
Tancredo, R-Colo., said. "Within about one minute, we were able to find
such a person. This makes the whole border process, to say the least,
difficult."

In November, a former immigration agent in Ciudad Juarez was sentenced to
30 months in jail for working for a million-dollar global network that had
smuggled hundreds of Iraqis and Palestinians into the United States since 1996.