Border Security Conference provides a law enforcement framework for the U.S.-Mexico line

The sixth annual Border Security Conference at UTEP this week featured top government officials, border security contractors, and an announcement by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano of more funding for Operation Stonegarden, a program that "assists local authorities with operational costs and equipment purchases that contribute to border security," according to a DHS news release.

Although some speakers -- such as UTEP professors Howard Campbell and Kathy Staudt, and U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, (D-Calif.) -- challenged the law enforcement paradigm that frames U.S. government thinking about the border, the majority of speakers were those involved in putting the frame together.

Napolitano, in her speech announcing the extra $30 million for Stonegarden, said that the U.S. and Mexico were winning the Drug War.

"We have a unique opportunity now with Mexico to really break up these cartels, and shame on us if we don't take full advantage of that opportunity and go through that window together, and that is one of the fights that we are fighting," she said. "But for the past eight years or so, the federal government???s approach to the Southwest border was to treat it as a problem set and to treat it as something to be dealt with separately from our nation???s broader challenges with immigration, security, counternarcotics enforcement and international relations."

In his opening speech, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a co-sponsor of the conference with UTEP, said that it was essential to have leaders from both the United States and Mexico engaged.

???Illegal drug consumption and trafficking has spawned unprecedented levels of violence that are directly impacting commerce and are also disrupting the cultural fabric of the region and threatening the safety of our border communities,??? Reyes said. ???The unique partnership between the United States and Mexico is designed to interdict not only the smuggling of narcotics, weapons and people at the border, but is also meant to strengthen our country???s shared national interest.???

One element of that partnership is the Merida Initiative, a program meant to send about $1.5 billion to Mexico for training and equipment, such as helicopters and surveillance gear mostly supplied by U.S. contractors.

The program is controversial for several reasons -- the money itself, the question of whether it will go to corrupt officials and actually strengthen cartels, and the concern that using the military against its own population through the Drug War is a recipe for human rights abuses. The last question caused U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vermont), to recently hold up release of funds; in Chihuahua and Juarez, reports of human rights violations have increased tremendously with the arrival of the military.

But few of the speakers touched those issues, focusing instead on promoting the Obama administration's continuation of the policies of former President George Bush with respect to the law enforcement and military approach taking place in Mexico.

"Border Czar" Alan Bersin said that "Mexico had begun its journey," and thought it would take time and patience to see the Merida Initiative through. ???We are going to see a new and revitalized Mexico and we need to find the courage and the inspiration to stand by an imperfect process."

Campbell, however, said that the U.S. must be careful to not worsen the situation with arms, equipment and money provided through the Merida Initiative.

???The initiative will reinforce the Mexican military enough in society,??? he said. ???Yet the violence caused by drug traffickers and the war against them may be more harmful than either drug use or drug abuse.???

Campbell also raised the issue of ending prohibition, turning drugs from primarily a law enforcement issue to a social and health issue while removing the major source of income -- and therefore, power -- from the cartels.

???A more fruitful approach (that) would emphasize the reduction of drug demand in the U.S. is finding ways to decriminalize and legalize the use of some drugs, especially marijuana, as suggested by California Gov. Schwarzenegger,??? he said. He added that the U.S. could work with Mexico to increase the flow of workers to the U.S. and thus combat the poverty and equality that push people to the drug trade.

Ending prohibition was scoffed at, however, by "Drug Czar" Gil Kerlikowske, although by law he cannot do anything other than oppose the idea.

City Rep. Beto O???Rourke, who received national attention earlier this year when he suggested and the council initially approved a resolution (that was then vetoed by Mayor John Cook,/a>) seeking a debate over ending prohibition, said he thought most panelists spoke about the same topics and didn???t face the real issue at hand.

O???Rourke said he hopes that during the Global Public Policy Forum on the War on Drugs Sept. 21-22 at UTEP there is more of a dialogue about public policy.

The other speaker to challenge the prevailing commentary at the conference was Filner, who essentially called out the entire gathering for pushing an increasing militarization on the border.

"We almost have an immigration industrial complex that wants to keep this stuff going because we create all this need for people and bureaucracies, he said, adding, "I don't want to step on any toes here."

While the audience was dominated by public officials and staff members, government employees and border security contractors and lobbyists, it also included many academics, members of the public and students.

Gilbert Sanchez, who will be attending UT Austin in the fall, said that he attended the conference to hear first hand the decisions being taken by political leaders.

???I don???t just want to be reading about what???s going on, especially about the borders anymore,??? Sanchez said. ???So I came to see what people really had to say, especially Napolitano.???

One of the announcements that came during the conference came from the meeting that day (Monday, Aug. 10, 2009) in Guadalajara of President Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexico President Felipa Calderon. Obama said that immigration reform was off the table for this year.

The announcement upset people who supported Obama, who pledged to renegotiate NAFTA and reform immigration.

UTEP student Mauricio Reyes, who was born and raised in Juarez, said he voted for Obama specifically because of immigration reform.

???It???s my first time voting, I made the choice because he made that promise and now his agenda is too full???? he said. ???And then we have all of these ???experts??? talking about how they need to treat the violence in Mexico. I think that either way, Mexico is getting the short end of the stick."

UTEP political science professor Staudt, who spoke on violence against women, poverty and dangerous conditions for immigrants, said the conference represented more of the same.

???This conference seemed a lot like the previous Border Security conferences, with Washington , D.C. bureaucrats and political appointees communicating similar policy practices to those of the previous administration rather than listening to or interacting with border voices,??? she said. "These distant decision-makers are using old and narrow, militarized approaches to border security, rather than a broader and more comprehensive long-term approach.???

But her colleague in the UTEP Political Science Department, Anthony Z. Zruszewski, said that the approach outlined by the conference and its speakers made sense.

???I was really impressed with this conference because for the first time, I felt like it was being stressed that there needed to be certain cooperation between the United States and Mexico,??? Kruszewski said.

He added that the other elements have to be overhauling immigration examining the United States??? dependency on narcotics and weapons.

???Fifty percent of the problem is that we consume so much,??? he said. ???We need to begin working together and I think the Merida Initiative is one of those ways because we need to actively support Mexico.???

During his speech, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security John Brennan spoke about President Obama and Felipe Calderon???s relationship.

???President Calderon also feels the same way Obama feels and when the two of them talk, it???s sort of the same vision of what the two countries need to do in order to ensure that the border is going to be clearly a secure one, but also one that is alive with trade and commerce and transportation,??? he said.

Brennan said that he thinks Obama has demonstrated his commitment strictly to the Southwest border by his selection of Janet Napolitano as the secretary of Homeland Security.

???One of the challenges of the southwest border is its multi-dimensional nature,??? he said. ???Having worked in the intelligence business for a number of years, I understand the complexities of trying to bring together all the capabilities that exist within the federal government, but I think nowhere is it more evident for that need than in the southwest border.???