Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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In the sometimes tense relationship between the United States and Mexico, security is often a wild card.
That could spell trouble for many people living in this country, including North Texas residents with ties to Mexico.
The recent kidnapping of a Dallas-area couple in the northeastern Mexico state of Tamaulipas illustrates the violent vulnerabilities along the U. S.- Mexico border.
All Mexican border states are under some type of security advisory from the U.S. government. But the strongest alerts are for the states of Tamaulipas and Coahuila, where the U.S. State Department warns against all non-essential travel.
The Dallas-area family was taken in April as they traveled to a funeral in the Mexico state of San Luis Potosí. Three hours from the Texas border, near the Tamaulipas capital of Ciudad Victoria, they became victims of a highway assault that led to 19 days in captivity.
News of a kidnapping is not a surprise to government officials on either side of the border.
“Over the last two years, Tamaulipas has deteriorated horribly,” said U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Vela said the emphasis on low homicide rates in border cities such as El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville is misplaced. Instead, the focus should be on the cartel war across the river in Tamaulipas, a state with a long history of smuggling.
A third of the Texas population of 26 million has Mexican ancestry, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Many Texans of Mexican ancestry still travel to northern Mexico, Vela said. But he said his own relatives no longer visit a family grave in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, because of safety concerns.
Disappearances
Exclusive: Highway kidnappings in northern Mexico prompt calls for U.S. review of security
And this time..........they really will deal with it. Yep. They mean it. Really, really, really.
That could spell trouble for many people living in this country, including North Texas residents with ties to Mexico.
The recent kidnapping of a Dallas-area couple in the northeastern Mexico state of Tamaulipas illustrates the violent vulnerabilities along the U. S.- Mexico border.
All Mexican border states are under some type of security advisory from the U.S. government. But the strongest alerts are for the states of Tamaulipas and Coahuila, where the U.S. State Department warns against all non-essential travel.
The Dallas-area family was taken in April as they traveled to a funeral in the Mexico state of San Luis Potosí. Three hours from the Texas border, near the Tamaulipas capital of Ciudad Victoria, they became victims of a highway assault that led to 19 days in captivity.
News of a kidnapping is not a surprise to government officials on either side of the border.
“Over the last two years, Tamaulipas has deteriorated horribly,” said U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Vela said the emphasis on low homicide rates in border cities such as El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville is misplaced. Instead, the focus should be on the cartel war across the river in Tamaulipas, a state with a long history of smuggling.
A third of the Texas population of 26 million has Mexican ancestry, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Many Texans of Mexican ancestry still travel to northern Mexico, Vela said. But he said his own relatives no longer visit a family grave in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, because of safety concerns.
Disappearances
Exclusive: Highway kidnappings in northern Mexico prompt calls for U.S. review of security
And this time..........they really will deal with it. Yep. They mean it. Really, really, really.
