Border Security, Cooperation, and Act Now Drug War Prevention Act of 2015

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Border Security, Cooperation, and Act Now Drug War Prevention Act of 2015”.

Table of contents— The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

In 2008, the violence between Mexican drug gangs fighting for trafficking routes to the United States killed approximately 6,000 people in Mexico, including more than 500 police officers and soldiers.

In the first eight weeks of 2009, more than 1,000 people were killed as a result of the drug war.

In March 2009, Mexico sent an additional 3,200 soldiers to the border, increasing the total number of Mexican solders combating drug cartels to more than 45,000.

Over 200 United States citizens have been killed in the drug war, either because they were involved in the cartels or were innocent bystanders.

The drug trade in Mexico include marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine (meth).

Mexico is the conduit for most of the cocaine—approximately 90 percent—in the United States, the source for much of the heroin consumed in this country, and the largest foreign supplier of marijuana and meth to other markets.

Estimates indicate a vast majority of the cocaine available in the United States market is smuggled by Mexican cartels across the United States-Mexico border.

Cartels are becoming increasingly involved in the trafficking of meth because of the large profit margins they obtain from controlling the drug from manufacture to distribution.

The drug cartels have criminal earnings in excess of $25 billion per year and physically send more than $10 billion a year in bulk cash back into Mexico from the United States.

According to the 2009 National Drug Threat Assessment, Mexican drug trafficking organizations are the greatest drug trafficking threat to the United States.

Mexico’s cartels have existed for some time, but have become increasingly powerful in recent years with the demise of once powerful cartels in Colombia and the closure of trafficking routes through Florida.

The Colombian cartels still play a role in the United States drug trade.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) maintains that the Mexican cartels now command and control the drug trade and show the hallmarks of organized crime, such as organizing into distinct cells with subordinate cells, including gangs, which operate throughout the United States.

Mexican cartels control drug distribution in most United States cities, and they are gaining strength in markets that they do not yet control. The 2009 National Drug Threat Assessment indicates that Mexican cartels maintain drug distribution networks or supply drugs to distributors in at least 230 United States cities, including in Alaska and Hawaii.

The Federal Government provides States and local governments with assistance in covering the costs related to the fight against the drug cartels and the prosecution of such drug cases, local law enforcement along the border is in need of assistance in covering expenses. Local law enforcement uses its limited resources to combat drug trafficking, human smuggling, kidnappings, the destruction of private property, and other border security related crimes. The United States shares 1,989 miles along its border with Mexico. Federal assistance is required to help local law enforcement.