Mexico seeking permission to prosecute drug mules caught in U.S.

Leaked memo reveals Customs and Border Protection less than keen on proposal

Despite all the White House-generated diplomacy pushing the cooperation mantra between the U.S. and Mexican governments in the war on drugs, it seems federal law enforcers in the field aren’t embracing the rhetoric across the board.

And a major reason for that hesitation is the concern over the level of corruption within Mexican law enforcement, according to a number of law enforcers who spoke with Narco News.

A recent memo leaked to Narco News also reveals that the narrative being sold to the public by the political pushers of the bi-national drug-war effort isn’t hooking some U.S. law enforcers —who seem to recognize when reality has been cut with denial.

The leaked internal missive, issued recently by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is focused on a program called OASISS (Operation Against Smugglers Initiative on Safety and Security). The program was launched in 2005 as a joint effort between Mexico and the U.S. and is designed to coordinate each nation’s resources in targeting human smuggling.

The memo indicates that the government of Mexico is now seeking to expand OASISS to target marijuana smugglers. Mexico's Attorney General's Office (the PGR) initially approached CBP (which oversees Border Patrol agents and U.S. Customs inspectors) with the proposal, according to the memo.

“The GOM [Government of Mexico], more specific, PGR, has expressed interest in expanding OASISS to include the prosecution of Mexican nationals arrested for marijuana smuggling at a Port of Entry in the United States,” the CBP memo states.

However, the memo notes that “CBP has resisted participation in this [PGR] proposal as it's written, due to legality and operational concerns.”

After being shunned by CBP, the PGR “subsequently approached the Department of Justice Assistant United States Attorney [and] Immigration Customs and Enforcement … offices in San Diego with this proposal for a 60-day pilot program,” the CBP memo states.

Both CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The leaked CBP memo explains that OASISS was launched in August 2005 as a “bi-national prosecutorial program” to address the increasing volume of human smuggling cases along the Southwest border of the U.S.

Under the program, select alien smuggling cases that are declined by federal prosecutors “and are amenable to OASISS are subsequently turned over to the GOM for prosecution under Mexico’s legal and judicial system,” the CBP memo explains.

Since the program’s launch in 2005 through March 10 of this year, a total of 1,318 individuals apprehended in the U.S. were accepted for prosecution by the Mexican government, the memo reveals.

The Mexican government’s proposal to expand OASISS to also target Mexican nationals apprehended in the U.S. for smuggling marijuana across the border, however, is being received by CBP with a less-than-eager tone due to a set of concerns, dubbed “talking points” in the memo.

Those talking points are as follows:

• The OASISS program and database is unable to incorporate any additional crimes at the present time.

• A realistic, comprehensive and meticulous approach needs to be taken when considering the concurrence of this proposal and CBP participation in the initiative.

• The original intent of which the OASISS program was founded could possibly be jeopardized if this proposal continues forward without buy-in from all the key stake holders which have a vested interest not only in OASISS, but narcotics smuggling.

• CBP does not oppose the 60-day anti-marijuana smuggling prosecution pilot program in San Diego, with the stipulation that there is not a nexus to the OASISS program.

• It's expected CBP will propose that if and when a pilot program for prosecuting marijuana smugglers is implemented, that it be in the Tucson Border Patrol Sector and Field Office’s area of responsibility. This is due in part by the significant number of narcotic cases declined by the Assistant United States Attorney’s Office in Tucson, Arizona.

Under the Bush administration, U.S attorneys in Arizona, and other Southwest border states, often declined to prosecute smuggling cases involving 500 pounds of marijuana or less. In those cases, the drugs were seized, but the smugglers were set free unless county prosecutors decide to take up the cases. The policy was driven by staff and resource shortages — which were exasperated by the ramp-up in immigration-related prosecutions.

Recently, however, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Diane Humetewa, informed Arizona law enforcers that her office is bulking up its resources and will now begin prosecuting cases below the 500-pound threshold.

Several federal law enforcers who spoke with Narco News on background voiced concerns about the Mexican government’s proposal to expand the OASISS program to include marijuana smugglers. They did not see the proposal as a viable alternative for addressing resource issues on the U.S. side of the border.

In particular, they indicated that the high level of corruption within Mexican law enforcement, including the PGR, could result in such a program being seriously compromised by narco-trafficking organizations. Last fall, Mexico’s former drug czar, Noé Ramírez Mandujano —who until last July headed SIEDO, the organized crime division of the PGR — was arrested on charges of taking bribes from narco-traffickers. In addition, at least six other officials with SIEDO have been accused of being on the payroll of narco-traffickers, according to a story published last November in the Los Angeles Times.

Narco News correspondent Kristin Bricker reported the following last December concerning the PGR’s corruption problems:

The Mexican weekly Proceso reports that Ramírez Mandujano received concrete information about moles within his agency as early as March 2008 when the DEA told him, “Your office has turned into an extension of the Beltran brothers’ cell.”  [The Beltran Leyva brothers operate a Sinaloa cartel cell.]

The DEA went on to give Ramírez Mandujano a list of SIEDO agents who worked as Sinaloa cartel informants. The list included Fernando Rivera Hernandez, then-deputy director of SEIDO’s Technical Coordination, and SIEDO commanders Roberto Garcia Garcia and Milton Celia Perez.

The U.S. law enforcers who spoke with Narco News about the CBP memo agree that narco-traffickers have their roots deep inside Mexican law enforcement agencies. So it is quite possible, they concede, that if a drug mule gets caught with a load of dope in the U.S. and is turned back over to Mexican law enforcers via an expanded OASISS initiative, then that individual might well be delivered back to a narco-trafficking organization to be employed again in future drug runs.

In the alternative, the U.S. law enforcers say, the drug mule could well face a gruesome death for losing the drug load or, in the case of a free-lancer, for running marijuana through a territory without the permission of the dominate narco-trafficking organization.

In addition, the law enforcers who spoke with Narco News contend it is likely the drug mules would be interrogated to gather intelligence on where and how drug loads are getting busted on the U.S. side of the border.

In essence, the law enforcers view the proposal to expand OASISS to marijuana smugglers as a dog and pony show that will likely only make the major drug trafficking organizations a bit more profitable and help to improve their inventory control.

Attorney Mark Conrad, a former supervisory special agent with U.S. Customs (which is now part of DHS) describes the situation this way:

I would not trust the Mexican Government with anything if there were a choice. … The southern border [is not] a law enforcement problem. It is a political problem that unfortunately the law enforcement types have to deal with because the politicians won't face up to the fact that Mexico is simply corrupt. … That said, I still don't see any real option or anything that is actually doable politically other than what CBP is doing [with respect to its position outlined in the memo].

Narco News sought comment by phone and e-mail from ICE and CBP about the proposal to expand the OASISS program to encompass marijuana smugglers. Among the questions for which Narco News sought a response were the following:

Is there any concern on the part of DHS or CBP that an expansion of the OASISS program, as proposed by the Mexican government, might be abused by the PGR, given that Mexican agency's historic, and recent, integrity problems — specifically with respect to allegations, and pending criminal cases, that indicate the PGR has been infiltrated by narco-traffickers?

If so, what are those concerns? [For example, is it possible that marijuana smugglers turned over to the PGR for prosecution might simply be transferred back to the custody of narco-traffickers — to be used again, to be interrogated to gain intelligence on U.S. law enforcement tactics and/or operations, or to be killed if deemed competitors?]

ICE did not reply to Narco News’ query. CBP spokesman Steven Cribby provided the following response:

The questions you pose would involve policy development by DHS and DOJ. Please contact their respective public affairs offices to assist you.

Narco News did contact DHS’ deputy press secretary, Amy Kudwa. She has not provided a response to date.

Laura Sweeney, a press spokesperson for the Department of Justice, however, replied as follows:

On your questions regarding the Southwest border, here's what I can say:

The Department continues to discuss with our counterparts in Mexico a full range of ideas for stemming the flow of cash and narcotics, including marijuana, across the Southwest border. We will continue to work cooperatively with colleagues at the PGR to ensure we are fighting the cartels at every possible angle on both sides of the border.

Stay tuned ….