Janet Napolitano Is Wrong…Mexican Drug Cartel Violence Is Already Here

Newly installed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently paid a visit to Capitol Hill to address the horrific violence plaguing Mexico, which now threatens this country.

Incredibly, Napolitano downplayed the danger the drug cartels pose to the United States. She told legislators that the violence perpetrated by the cartels in Mexico has yet to make its way into this country.

Her testimony before the House Committee came after Texas Gov. Rick Perry requested 1,000 federal troops be sent to the border which Texas shares with Mexico. In 2008, nearly 2,000 people were killed in Juarez, which is only a short walk from El Paso.

Napolitano said: "We do not want to militarize the border. But what help is he thinking they can provide? I look forward to talking with Governor Perry about that."

Napolitano went on to say that she would "study" his request.

Speaking about the kidnappings and murders which have now become commonplace in Mexico, Homeland Security Dept. spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said: We´re not seeing that same kind of violence here in the United States."

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) does not agree with the Department´s assessment of the situation. He said in no uncertain terms: "It is a state of war."

While it is difficult to understand why Secretary Napolitano failed to even acknowledge the drug-fueled violence which has been spreading across the United States, even the most casual observer would disagree with her. One only has to pick up a newspaper to understand the wave of terror currently overwhelming Mexico, and now endangering the lives of American citizens.

The Houston Chronicle recently reported that the 2006 murder of Houston resident Jose Perez, 27 was recently solved, and was carried-out by hit men working for one of the cartels.

However, Jose Perez was not a drug trafficker, nor a rival gang member, he was simply having dinner in the same restaurant where the intended target supposedly sat. His murder was in fact, a case of mistaken identity.

It was a Friday night when the hit man sat in the parking lot of Chilos on the Gulf Expressway, where Perez, his wife and children were enjoying a late dinner.

Perez was shot twice.

His widow Norma, told reporters: "I just remember that guy coming up to us and he started shooting and shooting and shooting and never stopped. I know they will pay for what they have done, maybe in the next life," she said of the killers. "I don´t know what is going to happen to them in this life."

The actual target of the assassination was the Houston-based head of a Mexican drug cartel cell, responsible for distributing millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the city. The two spotters working with the shooter, misidentified Perez as the crime boss.

As a glaring example of just how bad the cartel violence has become in the Houston area, a few months after Perez was murdered, the hitman who killed him, was also murdered only two miles from the restaurant.

Houston police have arrested the alleged mastermind behind the murder plot, Jaime Zamora, 38, and charged him with capital murder. In addition to his alleged activities on behalf of the cartel, Zamora worked for Houston´s Parks and Recreation Department, and has lived in Houston for many years.

Houston has also been the scene of many kidnappings orchestrated by cells working for the drug cartels. One such harrowing incident too place in 2006, when used-car dealer David DeLeon was kidnapped and held for ransom.

DeLeon was tortured and beaten so severely (once even being thrown across the room), that his face actually became unrecognizable. Fortunately, DeLeon was successfully rescued by Houston police.

DeLeon told reporters: "I thought I was going to die for sure."

Speaking about the violence being waged on U.S. soil by the Mexican drug cartels, Houston homicide detective Rick Moreno recently told the Houston Chronicle: "It is here and it has been here, but people don´t want to listen. It is so far-reaching."

Of course, the number of kidnappings seen in the Houston area, pale in comparison to those occurring in Phoenix.

According to the Phoenix Police Department, there were 359 kidnappings and more than 300 home invasions during 2008. However, police estimate the actual numbers to be closer to three times as high as the reported figures. Many victims fail to report such crimes, out of fear from further retribution from the notoriously violent cartels.

In November 2008, Phoenix Police Lt. Lori Burgett told CBS News: "It wasn´t uncommon to have a new kidnapping case coming into our offices on a daily basis."

While it is not surprising that drug cartel activity is occurring in American cities close to the largely unprotected U.S-Mexican border, it may be shocking to some that Atlanta, GA area has become the site of major operations for the drug cartels.

According to the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center, more than one cartel has established Atlanta as their principal distribution center for the east coast.

During 2008, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized $70 million in cash, which surpassed every other U.S. region. So far, in 2009, over $30 million has been seized in Atlanta, as compared to $19 million in Los Angeles, and $18 million in Chicago.

Jack Killorin, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's federal task force in Atlanta, recently told USA Today: "The same folks who are rolling heads in the streets of Ciudad Juárez are operating in Atlanta."

According to the FBI, there are three Mexican cartels (Federation, Gulf Coast, Juarez)

now operating in Atlanta.

Perhaps, Secretary Napolitano should talk to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder who recently stated: "International drug trafficking organizations pose a sustained, serious threat to the safety and security of our communities. We can provide our communities the safety and the security that they deserve only by confronting these dangerous cartels head-on without reservation."

Holder´s statement was made during a press conference following a February 2009 nationwide raid, which netted 750 drug cartel operatives.

Or, maybe Napolitano should read an April 2008 Justice Department report which identified 195 U.S. cities in which the cartels now operate. The list stretches from Tucson, AZ (Federation, Juarez) to Buffalo, NY (Gulf Coast).

It is understandable why Gov. Perry asked Napolitano for 1,000 troops to guard the border around his state. That same Justice Dept. report identified 30 cities in Texas alone, where cartel operations were identified.

While she was Governor of Arizona, Napolitano was often criticized for her lack of concern for protecting her state from the crime emanating from that state´s inundation of Mexican drug and human smuggling operations. However, her lack of concern or complete ignorance of the facts now threatens the lives of all Americans.

The following statement appears on the Department of Homeland Security´s official website: "The Department of Homeland Security works to anticipate, preempt, detect and deter threats to the homeland and to safeguard our people and their freedoms, critical infrastructure, property and the economy of our nation from acts of terrorism, natural disasters and other emergencies."

Perhaps, everyone who is aware of the threat which the Mexican drug cartels pose to this country should remind Secretary Napolitano of her own agency´s mission statement.

Will Americans have to be subjected to the same kind of warfare in our streets, which is now victimizing our Mexican neighbors before our government takes action?

We raise and maintain a massive military to defend our nation. I would submit that the drug cartels pose much more of a threat to this country than does the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Please wake up Madame Secretary.