Editorial: Texas as combat zone in the narco-wars

Jesus Alcazar/AP
Published: 30 September 2011
The Dallas Morning News

An alarming report circulated recently in Dimmit County, near the border with Mexico. Three pipeline workers, part of the oil boom in this sparsely populated area, had been killed on or near Ranch Road, not far from Catarina. One of the men had been beheaded.

It was frightening — and false.

In the open spaces on the U.S.-Mexico border, where the perception of lawlessness is real, unfounded reports like this feed the notion that murderous Mexican drug gangs are running rampant. For the ranchers who work and even police their own lands, knowing that a killing didn’t happen is no consolation. Many are rightfully convinced that being cautious, even fearful, is prudent.

There is good reason. Mexico’s narco-wars are fought just across the border. Drug gangs, who also profit from smuggling illegal aliens, use the border as a highway for their illicit activity. A man was killed in McAllen just last week in a gun battle apparently tied to a dispute within the Gulf cartel.

The extent to which Mexico’s violence is spilling over into the U.S. daily is difficult to establish, in part because the issue is mired in the debate over securing the border. You either believe that we are generally immune to narco-terror — this is the position of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, some business leaders and local elected officials in border towns — or you believe that the murderous drug war is here and that it is being lost every day in the lawless plains.

Now weighing in on the side of conspiracy and chaos is the Texas Department of Agriculture and its politically ambitious commissioner, Todd Staples. A report he commissioned to develop “a military-style strategy” for securing the border has concluded that residents there are living in a 24-hour “war zone.” One of the report’s authors, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, raised eyebrows when he said hundreds have been killed.

This is nonsense. The alarmist and overtly militaristic tone of the report, which relies on anecdotes, does a great disservice to those who are rightly worried about violence in border counties and who have no way of separating fact from rumor. The report’s flaws make it easy to dismiss it as propaganda, which is what happened. Among the losers are taxpayers, who ended up paying $80,000, and Staples, who should resist the temptation to play general.

All that said, it is naive to think that we are untouched by Mexico’s narco-terror. When Colombia went through its drug war in the 1980s, battles were fought in New York and Miami. We know Mexican cartels have established operations in some Texas cities. That’s a real threat, not a borderline anecdote meant to incite partisan passions.

A case of overreach

“Living and conducting business in a Texas border county is tantamount to living in a war zone in which civil authorities, law enforcement agencies as well as citizens are under attack around the clock.”
—“Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment”

Actual violence in Texas attributed to Mexico’s drug cartels, January 2010-May 2011

22 murders
25 assaults
15 shootings
5 kidnappings

SOURCE: Texas Department of Public Safety