Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

 WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today urged the Mexican government to address a disturbing rise in violent crime along the New Mexico-Mexico border.

In a letter to Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, Bingaman expressed his concerns over the recent rise of violence in northwest Chihuahua and requested that Mexico promptly allocate additional law enforcement resources to the region to address the situation. 

"It is my understanding that since February 12, 2008, there have been approximately 10 murders and 15-20 kidnappings in the cities of Palomas, Janos, and Ascensión. This violence, which appears to be related to drug trafficking activities, is highly coordinated and began with simultaneous killings and abductions in these towns. New Mexico law enforcement agencies have expressed serious concerns that this violence may spill over across the border, particularly in cases where targets flee into the United States. Renewing a sustained effort to quell drug-related violence along the border is critical at this point, and I urge you to do everything you can towards this end,” Bingaman wrote. 

In a separate letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, Bingaman said it is essential that the United States also provide additional law enforcement resources to southern New Mexico to combat drug trafficking activities. 

Specifically, Bingaman urged that additional Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents be assigned to the Las Cruces Office and that relevant federal law enforcement agencies coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security and Mexican counterparts to address the surge in violence. 

“In order to suppress this violence in the border region it is essential that we have sufficient resources and personnel on both sides of the border to fight the underlying cause of these crimes—illegal drug trafficking. As you know, the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill contains funding to lift the DEA hiring freeze that has been in place since August 2006 and provides resources to hire an additional 200 special agents. I strongly believe that some of these agents should be assigned to the Las Cruces Office,” Bingaman wrote. 

Bingaman also said he was disappointed that President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal eliminated or cut many law enforcement initiatives that are important to the country’s border security efforts. 

Bingaman was in Las Cruces last week and meet with local law enforcement officials to talk about $223,250 he secured to help the Southwest Border Law Enforcement Alliance assist law enforcement agencies in the region with border-related criminal activity.