Mexican Border Security Intensified

The Obama administration has revealed that it is sending hundreds of federal agents and intelligence analysts to the Mexican border along with specialized technology. This is part of an ambitious plan to attack the powerful drug cartels and prevent further violence from spilling into the United States.

Additionally, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on her first diplomatic mission to Latin America, not only promised more aggressive efforts to stem drug violence but also accepted shared responsibility on behalf of the U.S.

According to The Dallas News, she stated that traffickers "are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States and are armed by the transfer of weapons from the United States."

She told reporters en route to Mexico, "our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade." Similarly, Clinton announced a new office in Mexico where U.S. and Mexican authorities "will work together side by side to fight the drug traffickers and the violence which they spread."

Clinton has largely avoided the question of any possible role of U.S. troops inside the Mexican borders, adding that the U.S. has not made any decisions regarding the placement of the National Guard along the border.

Clinton held a joint news conference with Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, who acknowledges that progress has been made as a result of the recent cooperation between the United States and Mexico.

"American initiative has really meant a quantitative change in our cooperation in terms of drug trafficking and in general against organized crime." Espinosa stated. Both Espinosa and Clinton remain optimistic that the fight can be won.

Clinton has publicly stated on several occasions that, "If the criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode the foundations of law, order, friendship, and trust between us, they will fail."

"I would like Secretary Clinton to come very often to Mexico and I would like to take her to many, many very beautiful places that we can share in our country," Espinosa said. "Of course, there are some places where I would not take her, and I believe she would not take me to some places in her country."

However, despite its large scale, the current plans are seen by many in Mexico and by state officials in California and Texas as inadequate to the scope of the crisis.

The administration is relying heavily on existing funds and personnel redeployments where critics say new money and manpower are needed.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, (CA-Rep.) hailed the plans currently in place as "a great first step." But he added, "I will continue to fight for more federal resources at our border."

"If the steps we've taken do not get the job done, we will do more," President Obama said at a news conference.

Clinton has advocated that the United States has already appropriated $700 million in aid to Mexico, and Congress wants to see how the administration is applying it before sending more.

"We are going to demonstrate that we are spending it in an accountable and effective manner that will assist the Mexicans in law enforcement and justice," she said.

Furthermore, according to CNN, Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico's ambassador to the United States, deemed the Obama administration's willingness to accept co-responsibility for the current crisis as "a very encouraging sign."

Sarukhan believes that it is a clear indication that the administration understands that "to defang the drug syndicates in Mexico, we have to eliminate two of their most powerful sources-bulk cash from the United States into Mexico and illicit weapons."

Yet another incentive to stop the violence rests in the fact that Mexico is the United States' second-largest export market, after Canada, and its third-largest total trade partner.

Also, hundreds of U.S. companies have factories in Mexico, and Mexico is a leading supplier of crude oil to the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder is due to visit Mexico soon, to be followed next month by President Obama.