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Monday, December 5, 2011

Pierluisi Proposes that Federal Government Establish “Caribbean Border Initiative” to Combat Drug-Related Violence in Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON, DC - In a letter to U.S. drug “czar” Gil Kerlikowske, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi urged the federal government to establish a “Caribbean Border Initiative,” which would be designed to increase the resources and personnel that the federal government devotes to fighting drug-related violence in Puerto Rico and other U.S. jurisdictions in the Caribbean region.

As envisioned by the Resident Commissioner, the Caribbean Border Initiative would
resemble the successful “Southwest Border Initiative,” which was established by the Obama Administration in 2009 and which has resulted in the doubling—and even tripling—of personnel in certain federal law enforcement offices along the U.S. border with Mexico and in Mexico.

“I respectfully propose that the federal government establish a ‘Caribbean Border Initiative,’ modeled after the successful Southwest Border Initiative that was created by the Administration in March 2009. The announcement of such an Initiative would demonstrate the federal government’s commitment to doing everything in its power to address this urgent problem,” Pierluisi wrote in his letter to Kerlikowske, the Director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The Resident Commissioner wrote his letter as a follow up to the meeting he held with Director Kerlikowske on November 30th. During that meeting, Kerlikowske expressed a willingness to coordinate the efforts of the various federal agencies involved in the fight against drug-related violence on the Island.

“A Caribbean Border Initiative will only be successful if the rhetoric is matched by concrete action. When Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the Southwest Border Initiative, she redeployed a total of 360 officers and agents to the U.S.-Mexican border and to Mexico. . . . The federal government should make a similar commitment of resources to Puerto Rico,” the Resident Commissioner wrote in his letter.

As part of the Southwest Border Initiative, the federal government has strengthened security along the U.S.-Mexico border by substantially increasing the number of Border Patrol agents (from approximately 10,000 in 2004 to 20,700 in 2010), doubling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents assigned to Border Enforcement Security Task Forces operating along the border, increasing the number of intelligence analysts working along the border, increasing fivefold the number of Border Liaison officers, and initiating the inspection of vehicles headed from the U.S. to Mexico in an effort to interdict illegal weapons and money that have contributed to a spike in cartel violence in Mexico.

The Resident Commissioner has waged an intense battle with the federal government in an effort to increase the amount of resources allocated to the Island to address the problem of drug trafficking and associated violence in Puerto Rico.

“I will not rest until the federal government devotes the personnel, assets, and other resources that are needed to lower drug-related violence in Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi said in his letter. Last month, the Resident Commissioner achieved the inclusion of language in legislation approved by the House of Representatives that directs the U.S. Coast Guard to submit a report on on the adequacy of its drug interdiction efforts in Puerto Rico. The report must contain, among other things, information on the Coast Guard’s mission requirements for drug interdiction in the Caribbean, a description of the amount of time spent and the number of assets used between 2009 and 2011 for drug interdiction in the Caribbean, and an evaluation of whether those resources are sufficient to combat the drug trade in the Caribbean.

This is the third bill in the last two years in which the Resident Commissioner has achieved the inclusion of language that is designed to highlight the problem of drug-related violence in Puerto Rico and, ultimately, to increase the resources that the federal government allocates to combat that problem.

Earlier this year, because of Pierluisi’s efforts, the House Appropriations Committee directed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to prioritize resources for law enforcement activities in the Caribbean. In a separate bill, the Committee directed ICE to brief the Committee on its efforts to counter the illicit trafficking of drugs in the Caribbean and on how ICE is devoting sufficient resources to satisfy its mission requirements in this region. Also in that legislation, the Committee expressed its expectation that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will appropriately position assets and resources in the Caribbean and noted that concerns have been raised about whether the agency is fulfilling its mission in that respect.

Moreover, upon being questioned by the Resident Commissioner at an October hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated that the Department is examining whether its component agencies have deployed sufficient personnel, resources and assets in Puerto Rico to help combat drug-related violence on the Island.

Finally, in April, Pierluisi introduced legislation that would require the Department of Justice to establish a program to recruit, assign, and retain law enforcement officers in high-crime jurisdictions like Puerto Rico. This bill was unanimously approved by the House Judiciary Committee in July.

“Stated simply, I believe the Administration must significantly strengthen its approach to fighting violence in Puerto Rico that is associated with the trafficking of drugs through the Caribbean,” said Pierluisi in his letter to Director Kerlikowske. Noting that the level of drug-related violence in Puerto Rico is as severe as—if not more severe than—any other U.S. jurisdiction, including the U.S. states along the southwest border, the Resident Commissioner wrote: “I know you share my view that, from the perspective of the federal government, the death of an American citizen in Puerto Rico is of no less consequence than the death of an American citizen in Florida, Texas, or New York.”