Monday, November 1, 2010
Mexican EXPENSIVE Business Trades
According to a KVUE.com article, more cash was smuggled in to Mexico through Texas ports, than Texas paid out in lottery claims for the year 2007. That is a huge amount of money to be crossing the border! This is becoming a major problem for both Mexico and Texas. Now, Texas has another problem to control other than immigrants crossing the border. Most of the money smuggled is believed to be from drug trades. This creates a question that the Government must address: exactly how much drug activity is occurring in Texas through Mexico inhabitants? The people from Mexico are choosing to use Texans as their primary "business partners" and although some action is being taken against the trade, it has had little effect. There is patrolling of the border, but how much? The answer is... not enough. Unfortunately, if we were to patrol every single car that passes border lines looking for significant amounts of cash and drugs, traffic would be backed up past Texas. Also, not all the money is being crossed from the border, some is being transferred electronically through wiring and other similar processes. Not really, but you get the idea. What can be done about the huge profit that Mexico is making off of Texas' proud drug users? Maybe they should start paying taxes on their profits....?
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NASA Discovers Financial Black Hole in Mexico - PART 1/2
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed Jillien’s editorial “Mexican EXPENSIVE Business Trades” because it shines a light on a very serious subject that I'd never considered before. Apparently, billions of American dollars are funneled out of the U.S. via border-states like Texas, Arizona, and California each year en route to their final destination in the pockets of drug cartel members and the Mexican government officials they bribe. Exactly how much money is still unknown, but estimates range from $6 billion to $40 billion.
I have heard a lot of people try to blame a portion of our financial troubles on undocumented workers for sending their earnings back to their loved ones in Mexico, but I think that statistic is dwarfed by the amount of money that is exported by drug cartels and their accomplices.
I was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley. In my experience, when you cross the border into Mexico, vehicles are not inspected. You just pay the small toll to cross. It's only when emerging from Mexico that you are questioned about what you're carrying, whether it's liquor (legal, one bottle per adult), prescription drugs (legal with a prescription), or fruits and vegetables that have been seeded (legal). When you buy avocados, they take out the pit and replace it with half of a seeded jalapeno pepper to keep it from oxidizing, although that may just be an old wives tale. I always use the jalapeno in my guacamole. And I have never tried to stuff the center of my avocados with drugs.
However, if you look suspicious (like a car full of teenagers), you will be asked to pull over to have your vehicle searched by border patrol agents and their drug-sniffing canines. Again, this is only enforced on your way out of Mexico. It made sense to me, at first, to think that they don't care if you're a coyote (someone who smuggles illegal immigrants across the border) because they know if Mexicans want to return home they can just walk across, no questions asked. And they don’t care if you're smuggling drugs back into Mexico because they know that just doesn't happen. I never imagined that the amount of money being exported might be a huge contributing factor to our nation’s money woes. The Border Patrol doesn’t have the authority to stop every car and ask them how much cash they are carrying; but cash has a pretty distinctive smell and German Shepherds are trained to detect the scent of American dollars. You may ask: wouldn’t that alert officers to every person that walks by with a dollar bill in their pocket? No, they only sniff for very large deposits of cash hidden in tires, underbodies, and in the compartments and trailers of semi-trucks. But, again, these dogs are not employed on your way into Mexico; only on the way out. I’m as intrigued as Jillien: how is all that money getting across the border?
NASA Discovers Financial Black Hole in Mexico - PART 2/2
ReplyDeleteCNN News Anchor, Kiran Chetry, says “gift card technology is now making it easier for drug lords to move cash across the border undetected.” I might never have guessed. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard reveals in an interview with Chetry that these gift cards are being issued by offshore banks and “since they’re not considered monetary instruments, they can be taken across the border and you don't break any laws.” Goddard adds, “it is a huge loophole in our financial crimes observations.” It sounds, to me, like we need to install some new laws.
However, it seems gift cards are not the only means of illegally exporting our dollars. U.S. federal agents in California discovered a tunnel last week that connected a warehouse in San Diego to another warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico. The 180-meter tunnel was quite sophisticated as it was equipped with a rail system, lighting, and oxygen pumps. Thirty tons of marijuana was seized overall. Tunnels like these are not uncommon and are not just used to transport inanimate objects. There is, also, no doubt in my mind that Texas has their fair share of such “underground railroads”. Jillien says that US agents do patrol the border, but it’s not enough; and she’s right. US Border Patrol agents armed with drills and ground-penetrating radar search for these tunnels regularly but they prove to be extremely hard to find, even with the best equipment.
In her editorial, Jillien states that “the people from Mexico are choosing to use Texans as their primary ‘business partners’ and although some action is being taken against the trade, it has had little effect.” I completely agree; and it makes me wonder: How hard are the (uncorrupted) Mexican government officials really trying to stop American money from entering their country? I would guess “kind-a” to “not very”. Thanks go to Jillien for her stimulating editorial. It opened my eyes to a very interesting, hard-hitting topic.