HomeNewsBriefUS Investigating 2,000 Officials for Possible Drug Cartel Ties: Report
BRIEF

US Investigating 2,000 Officials for Possible Drug Cartel Ties: Report

US/MEXICO BORDER / 26 JUN 2014 BY KYRA GURNEY EN

More than 2,000 US officials have been investigated this year for ties to organized crime, particularly on the Mexican and Canadian borders, reports El Universal -- a figure which points to widespread corruption.

The officials include police officers and border patrol agents, according to Department of Homeland Security sources quoted by Mexican newspaper El Universal. Accusations against agents include protecting and escorting drug shipments, spying, and identifying informants, as well as trafficking drugs on behalf of Mexican criminal groups. 

A report commissioned by US congressmen found that the internal affairs division of US Customs and Border Protection did not have mechanisms in place to obtain and analyze information on agents such as criminal records and polygraph tests.

The internal affairs division is also under investigation for allegedly covering up employee misconduct, according to McClatchy.

InSight Crime Analysis

One driver of corruption among border agents could be the rapid increase in their numbers. The ranks of US border patrol agents doubled between 2004 and 2011 to over 21,000, and there are another 21,000 customs and border protection officers, with plans to recruit a further 2,000, making it the highest ever operational force.

In 2012, the nephew of former Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen testified that the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel had succeeded in corrupting US officials, and that he had personally given bribes to border patrol and customs agents. 

SEE ALSO: Coverage of the US-Mexico Border

US border patrol officials have been accused of abusing migrants, facilitating human smuggling and trafficking weapons for cartels, in addition to aiding in drug trafficking operations. In response to concerns about corruption, the US Government Accountability Office wrote a letter to lawmakers in 2013 (pdf) emphasizing the need for integrity training in the Customs and Border Patrol Agency.

With Customs and Border Protection agents inspecting more than 66,000 cargo containers a day and screening close to a million international travelers, corruption in the ranks represents both a serious threat to interdiction efforts and a major opportunity for drug traffickers. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

MARIJUANA / 6 DEC 2022

Today, most of the marijuana consumed in the United States is produced domestically, changing the game in the international drug…

CHAPITOS / 18 AUG 2022

Mexico saw outbreaks of violence last week in three different states. What can these events tell us about the country's…

HUMAN RIGHTS / 28 JAN 2022

A number of media workers in Mexico have been shot and killed, stabbed to death and ambushed in armed attacks…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…