I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report requested by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., shows that between $18 billion and $39 billion in U.S. currency from drug sales travels across the border to Mexico each year, according to National Drug Intelligence Center estimates. Border agents captured just $41 million in cash at land ports of entry.
The report shows that one way the cartels are moving the money across the border is through a new way of money laundering. The cartels use “stored value cards,” also known as pre-paid debit cards, to more easily transport the illegally obtained money across the border. A more high-tech method involves making transactions with mobile phones.
The GAO report, which was released in late October, made several recommendations, including creating a cost/benefit analysis of the Outbound Enforcement Program, the program launched in March of last year which aimed to stop the flow of bulk cash crossing the border. Under the program, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents inspect travelers at all ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Regulatory gaps of cross-border reporting and other anti-money laundering requirements exist with the use of stored value,” the report stated. “For example, travelers must report transporting more than $10,000 in monetary instruments or currency at one time when leaving the country, but FinCEN [the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] does not have a similar requirement for travelers transporting stored value.”
“The Obama administration has taken important steps to ramp-up efforts to interdict bulk cash and illegal weapons being smuggled into Mexico, and seizures at ports of entry have increased significantly in recent years,” Bingaman said in a statement Tuesday. “But this report makes clear that we can’t solve this problem unless we improve our border infrastructure and technological capabilities.”
“Seizing such a tiny fraction of the bulk cash leaving the country is simply not good enough. These drug cartels don’t fund themselves. This smuggling is a major problem and it is time to stop ignoring it and start improving our efforts to cut off this illegal money supply,” said Baucus.
