Border Facts & News - from SecuretheBorder.org

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Transcribed From Governor Brewer's Website, Secure the Border.org

Arizona has become the superhighway for illegal border crossings and drug trafficking in the United States. With the rise of kidnappings, home invasions, drug seizures and human smuggling, illegal immigration in Arizona is no longer about just those looking for a better life. The consequences of Washington’s failed security policies are felt daily in Arizona – not only in crime, but in harm to our natural desert landscape. Read the Arizona/Mexico Border Update - Special Report

Consider the Facts

•In 2008, The U.S. Justice Department said recently that Mexican gangs are the "biggest organized crime threat to the United States."

•Until January of 2009, any smugglers carrying under the threshold of 500 pounds were often not prosecuted. Smugglers began purposely carrying smaller loads or coming in just below 500 pounds to try to escape prosecution.

•In 2009, Phoenix had more than 370 kidnapping cases last year, turning it into the kidnapping capital of the U.S. Most of the victims were illegal aliens or linked to the drugs trade.

•Narcotics prosecutions in Arizona have risen 202% in 16 months and that is still not handling all of the arrests that are made according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

•1,080 prosecutions will be refused this year in Tucson sector alone. This represents over one third of all unprosecuted cases in the Southwest.

•According to Phoenix Police Department, there has already been 95 home invasion robberies in 2010, following 398 in 2009 and 376 in 2008.

•An estimated 5 to 10 % of all marijuana produced in Mexico is transported by highly organized and compartmentalized Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations each year through the Tohono O’odham Reservation, which accounts for less than 4% percent of the U.S.-Mexico Border. Source: National Drug Threat Assessment 2010
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