July 1, 2009

ICE Enhances Gov. Cooperation

Posted by M. Junaid Levesque-Alam at 1:11PM

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Rep. Eliot Engel

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at further reducing gun trafficking less than two weeks after a government report criticized the agencies for poor cooperation.

The agreement calls for the agencies to share information, solve computer issues, and improve communication and coordination; it will also pave the way for inter-agency investigations and a joint working group.

"We're not going to be having two independent initiatives; we're going to have one coordinated effort to go after firearms trafficking and related violence on this side of the border and the other side of the border," said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton.

David Ogden, a deputy attorney genearl with the Department of Justice (DoJ), said the agreement will allow for a more effective response to gun smuggling along the U.S.-Mexican border.

The ATF operates under the DOJ's auspices, whereas ICE falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security.

An ICE special agent in San Antonio, however, said his office has long been in cooperation with other agencies.

“What we've already been doing is consistent with the high points of the (agreement),” Robinette said in a telephone interview from New Mexico. “We've got an excellent working relationship with ATF."

The General Accountability Office (GAO) seemed to disagree, citing several examples of inefficiency, including: an ICE agent unwittingly surveilling an ATF agent; an ATF covert operation to deliver weapons across the border (in order to bait Mexican smugglers) of which ICE was unaware; and failure to share documentation.

This is not the first time ICE has come in for GAO criticism this year: in March, the congressional body issued a report saying that it had a subpar relationship with the Drug Enforcement Agency: "An outdated interagency agreement and long-standing disputes involving ICE's drug enforcement role and DEA's oversight ... have led to conflicts and potential duplicative efforts" the report said.

The broader backdrop for all this is the increased drug and gun-related violence plaguing Mexico, fueled in part by American drug consumption and weak gun control.

"It is simply unacceptable that the United States not only consumes the majority of the drugs flowing from Mexico, but also arms the very cartels that contribute to the daily violence that is devastating Mexico," Representative Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who chairs the subcommittee responsible for the report, said.

The bitter and cyclical drug war ensnares youth in particular, as Mexican gangs prey on teenagers on either side of the border to fuel the business; the New York Times offered a glimpse of this process in its June 22nd article, Mexican Cartels Lure American Teens as Killers.