Mexican crime cartels push into Arizona

What was feared is now reality; the Mexican crime cartels are pushing north across the border and are now causing havoc in Arizona. Is it any wonder why President Obama's choice of Janet Napolitano for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the former Arizona Governor?

With the headline, the New York Times published the "Wave of Drug Violence Is Creeping Into Arizona From Mexico, Officials Say", By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD; Published: February 23, 2009

"PHOENIX — The raging drug war among cartels in Mexico and their push to expand operations in the United States has led to a wave of kidnappings, shootings and home invasions in Arizona, state and federal officials said at a legislative hearing on Monday. The drug trade has long brought violence to the state, which serves as a hub as illicit drugs, like cocaine and marijuana, and illegal immigrants are smuggled to the rest of the nation. Over all, in this city and surrounding Maricopa County, homicides and violent crime decreased last year. But the authorities are sounding an alarm over what they consider changing tactics in border-related crime that bear the marks of the violence in Mexico. A home invasion here last year was carried out by attackers wielding military-style rifles and dressed in uniforms similar to a Phoenix police tactical unit. The discovery of grenades and other military-style weaponry bound for Mexico is becoming more routine, as is hostage-taking and kidnapping for ransom, law enforcement officials said. The Phoenix police regularly receive reports involving a border-related kidnapping or hostage-taking in a home. The Maricopa County attorney’s office said such cases rose to 241 last year from 48 in 2004, though investigators are not sure of the true number because they believe many crimes go unreported. The violence in Mexico — where more than 6,000 people were killed in the last year in drug-related violence, double the number of the previous year — is “reaching into Arizona, and that is what is really alarming local and state law enforcement,” said Cmdr. Dan Allen of the State Department of Public Safety. “We are finding home invasion and attacks involving people impersonating law enforcement officers,” Commander Allen told the State Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Jonathan Paton of the Tucson area, called the hearing. “They are very forceful and aggressive. They are heavily armed, and they threaten, assail, bind and sometimes kill victims.” Read the article in its entirety at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/us/24border.html?_r=1&ref=us

Another article on the topic was posted recently at USA Today; http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-22-mexicoborder_N.htm