US Joins Mexican Drug War

The Mexican border is set to become further militarized, and just not for the reasons many anti-immigration advocates had hoped. President Obama plans to announce an initiative geared toward assisting Mexican authorities in their brutal war with powerful drug cartels. "Federal agents, equipment and other resources" are heading to the border as early as next week, The Washington Post reports. Agents at the border will begin cracking down at checkpoints by using new technology to weigh vehicles and also enter license plates into security databases. Mexican and American authorities also will be sharing intelligence as a means to contain the cartels' movements in the border region. The drug war at the border has leapfrogged to the top of the list of domestic concerns at the White House, as it becomes less and less clear whether the Mexican government can rein in narcotraffickers. Since the beginning of 2008, more than 7,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico.