The Brownsville Herald

An unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, will be flying over South Texas from Corpus Christi to Brownsville to El Paso before year’s end to help patrol the U.S.-Mexico border, a South Texas congressman said Thursday.

The aircraft, described by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, was one of several border security measures discussed at the 14th annual Border Issues Conference in Washington D.C.

"They (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) are going to put a UAV for Texas…It’s going to happen before the end of the year," said Cuellar, who serves as chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism.

While the day-long conference included panel discussions on a wide range of border issues, such as cross-border trade and commerce, immigration reform and labor mobility, a significant portion focused on border security and efforts between the United States and Mexico to combat drug violence in Mexico.

Those in attendance stressed the need for continued support of the Merida Initiative, a security cooperation program between the two neighboring nations that aims to help Mexico in its fight against illegal narcotics trafficking and organized crime. The program also focuses on boosting law enforcement agencies and judicial institutions and on promoting the rules of the law.

Since 2008, the U.S. has dedicated $1.2 billion as part of the Merida Initiative to assist Mexico in its fight to secure the country.

While the ongoing border violence has essentially remained in the streets of Mexico, "spillover" is occurring in the United States in the form of drug trafficking, Cuellar said.

"The Mexican drug cartels are already in 250 cities…they are here. The only difference is the violence has not really followed them," Cuellar said. "What we do to help them (Mexico) is going to help us over here."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be traveling to Mexico next week to see how the U.S. can assist Mexico in stopping the border violence.

Last weekend, two Americans with ties to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez were killed in Mexico. One of the Americans was four-months pregnant.

"The events in Juarez just the other day illustrate the dire situation" in Mexico, said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin.

Six-thousand people died "at the hands of the drug cartels" in 2009, which is more than the number of troops killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, McCaul said.

"This is a serious issue that is not only an issue to Mexico but to the United States of America," McCaul said.

The panel praised Mexican President Felipe Calderon for his efforts on taking on the drug cartels and trying to solve a problem that has plagued Mexico for years.

"President Calderon called it a war. He said ‘I’m in a war against the drug cartels’ and it is a number one priority issue for him," McCaul said.

The conference comes one day after U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to take action against rising violence along the southern border.

The letter was penned just days after the U.S. citizens were shot and killed in Ciudad Juarez.

"The spillover violence in Texas is real and it is escalating," a portion of the letter reads. "Our border patrol agents and local law enforcement are more regularly engaged with gunmen associated with drug cartels, but our resources and personnel are limited. Local officials also report a recent surge in people crossing the border to escape the violence, and they place additional burdens on local communities."