Obama Ramping Up War on Drugs at Northern Border

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 03:08:46 PM EST
Tags: war on drugs (all tags)

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President Obama has a Border Czar named Alan Bersin. His official title is "special representative for border affairs." In an interview with the Associated Press , he discusses the increased number of border agents along the Canadian border to fight the war on drugs.

The U.S. Border Patrol has tripled the number of agents along the 5,500-mile border in recent years, with hundreds more soon to be deployed. Unmanned U.S. surveillance aircraft are being tested for use over the frontier, and video surveillance towers are going up around Buffalo and Detroit. Multi-agency, binational law enforcement teams operate in 15 regions from coast to coast.

...."Technology necessarily will play a more important role," he said. "You'll want more extensive use of surveillance systems, coupled with communications channels. And partnerships become a very important part of the strategy - federal, state, local and cross-border."

[More...]

ICE agents are working hand in glove with the DEA:

Last month, the DEA and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reached an agreement that will enable ICE to assign more of its agents to drug investigations along both borders. "I have no intention of focusing simply on the southern border," said ICE's director, John Morton.

The agents are getting some cool new toys:

For the Border Patrol, recent initiatives have brought not only hundreds more agents to its northern front, but also new offices and transport, ranging from aircraft and boats to snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. "We patrol mountains, forests, fields - we need those ATVs," said Mark Henry of the Border Patrol's Swanton Sector, which monitors a 295-mile stretch of the border from Alexandria, N.Y., across the tops of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Is this courtesy of that law enforcement pork in the stimulus bill? Too bad it didn't go to health care.

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Obama Ramping Up War on Drugs at Northern Border | 13 comments (13 topical)

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Oy (none / 0) (#1)
by squeaky on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 03:32:49 PM EST

Stupid.

Aw cmon (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Steve M on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 03:34:29 PM EST

It's not like it's the longest border in the world or anything.


: lol (none / 0) (#5)
by squeaky on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 04:23:39 PM EST

I Second That. (none / 0) (#3)
by WillieB on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 03:46:03 PM EST

Stupid

Canada? (none / 0) (#4)
by Saul on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 04:22:48 PM EST

I thought the main flow of drugs was through Mexico

Admittedly, it can be difficult (none / 0) (#7)
by Cream City on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 05:26:36 PM EST

to discern a Canadian on drugs. They just get friendlier and even more laid-back.


Alotta high end reefer.... (none / 0) (#13)
by kdog on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 03:05:41 PM EST

coming down from the fine growers up north...I hope the border czars efforts are as futile as usual:)


: They'll get a couple of (none / 0) (#14)
by jondee on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 04:02:48 PM EST

people to roll over so they can do a couple of token, high-profile, big busts of people luridly described in the media as members of a drug (no, not Ritalin!) syndicate, and the funding will automatically increase for next year.

The frontier? (none / 0) (#6)
by Cream City on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 05:25:39 PM EST

Unmanned U.S. surveillance aircraft are being tested for use over the frontier

Friend saw one yesterday flying over a suburb of Milwaukee.

Little did we know we still lived on the frontier.

Really? Where, Cream City? (none / 0) (#9)
by jawbone on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 10:56:13 PM EST

What would it be doing over Milwaukee? Some kind of tests?

Creepy.


Yep, really. Canada is our border (none / 0) (#10)
by Cream City on Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 09:43:08 AM EST

in this state, after all -- although Milwaukee is hundreds of miles from the border, but we are on the Great Lakes and are told that it always has meant smuggling (see Detroit, Chicago, etc., during Prohibition). And between us and Canada, there are not military bases or big airports, so that may be why they're here.

But we also have an air show this weekend in the city and another one nearby to the north of us this week, so your taxes are at work, subjecting us to many displays of military might and all sorts of terrifying sights and sounds in the air over us. Thunderbirds keep buzzing my backyard. They are so loud that they make pets howl and babies cry and houses shake and windows crack. And adults have sudden spikes of high blood pressure, believe me.


: Oh, I'd trade places (none / 0) (#11)
by Inspector Gadget on Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 01:43:31 PM EST

I love the sound of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. When I moved to the Phoenix area, I bought a house near Luke AFB and loved hearing those jets fly over day and night.
The Blue Angels will be in Seattle soon for the Seafair hydroplane races...I can't wait :)

Alan Bersin, former U.S. Attorney for (none / 0) (#8)
by oculus on Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 05:33:31 PM EST

Southern District of California, then San Diego Unified's Superintendent (universally despised by teachers), and then the education head of State of California.