FairUS.org
ABC News reported last week that "Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City." The investigation revealed that more than 370 kidnappings have occurred in Phoenix in the last year alone. Many of these kidnappings are connected to Mexico's drug cartels whose criminal activities have spilled over the U.S.-Mexico border.
The ABC News investigation came on the heels of reports of gun battles near the U.S.-Mexico border between Mexican soldiers and drug cartel hit-men that killed 21 people. News reports indicate that drug cartel members kidnapped nine people - including some police officers - and shot six of them at a ranch in northern Mexico early last Tuesday morning. Mexican soldiers raided the ranch and killed several of the hit-men and later killed more cartel members after chasing them by helicopter. (Reuters, February 10, 2009). More than 5,700 people were killed in Mexico last year as a result of drug-related violence. Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Thomas Schweich commented on the recent violence, saying, "We really underestimate the risk in the United States from drug cartel violence spilling over the border and the risk that Mexico becomes a route for anti-U.S. extremists." (Id.)
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The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national, nonprofit, public-interest, membership organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that our nation's immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest.
FAIR seeks to improve border security, to stop illegal immigration, and to promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest-more traditional rates of about 300,000 a year
