Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sent a direct and very powerful message to Mexican cartels on Monday.
“Don’t even think about bringing your violence and tactics across this border. You will be met by an overwhelming response.”
At the University of Texas at El Paso —just next door to Ciudad Juarez, the most dangerous city in the world — Napolitano explained that there are deep concerns about the violence by the cartels, but emphasized that the U.S.-Mexico border is not being overrun with violence as many insist.
"Is inaccurate to state, as too many have, that the border is overrun with violence and out of control," she said.
"This statement, often made only to score political points, is just plain wrong."
Citing FBI statistics, the DHS chief explained that violent crime rates in Southwest border counties are down 30 percent over the last two decades and are "among the lowest in the nation."
Napolitano also said the U.S. has to boost efforts to stop the flow of American guns being smuggled into Mexico to empower the drug cartels.
The federal government's effort to change the public perception of danger comes after last fall’s election when candidates in border states insistently emphasized the effects of illegal immigration.
Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon deployed army troops and federal police to defeat cartels in 2006, more than 34,000 people in Mexico have been killed in drug-related violence. In 2010 alone, the number climbed to more than 15,000 killings -being the highest annual death toll recorded so far- while to a local level, Ciudad Juarez reached 3,000.
Napolitano held a 15-minute question-and-answer session with the audience, as part of a yearlong nationwide campus tour.
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