It seems over the weekend, the Mexican government decided to pull all of their border agents of their posts and relieve them of their duties. There were 700+ and they did this with little warning. They also had military personnel handy in case it got hairy.
The level of corruption and staggering evidence of drug & arms smuggling made the move that much more significant. What they didn't foresee, was the impact it would have on human trafficing. That too is seeing a decline in the 48 hours since the agents were replaced.From what I've read in limited sources, the surprise switcheroo also doubled the size of the country's customs inspection force, with more than 1,400 new inspectors dispatched to 50 customs points at airports and border crossings.
With serious background checks and extra training in import tax collection, Mexico hopes to bolster their revenue at the border. It is estimated that more than 40% of their tax collection is at the border through customs.
Here's the funny line I saw in a Mexico City publication: The new Border Agents are intent on stopping cheap goods from coming into Mexico. Goods that compete with Mexican manufacturing. What's funny, is the drastic increase of cheep Chinese products delivered to Baja Ports on their west coast and using our poorly inspected highway crossings to bring the very same products into the U.S.
I looked around for mainstream coverage of this and found very little. Some publications outside the US have covered it like it's news, but it's been quiet nationally. Wasn't there a summit in Mexico last week with Presidents Obama and Calderone and Canada's Stephan Harper? Is there a correlation here?Anyway, I'd like to see where all this new manpower is going to help with illegal immigration and better secure our borders. I'm not all that hopeful.
