Fighting drug trade amid Trump’s tweets
Mexico is getting a break from President Donald Trump’s Twitter wrath. But state attorneys general like Mark Brnovich of Arizona haven’t let that war of words get in the way of their work with Mexico to combat drug trafficking and money laundering, the movement of cash from illicit activities. That’s a good thing. “Criminal organizations don’t recognize the international border,” Brnovich said. “We know Phoenix has become one of the hubs for heroin distribution all over the United States. So, what happens in Mexico has a ripple effect here in Arizona, and what happens in Arizona has a ripple effect across the country.”
We know America is Mexico’s most important economic trading partner, but also its biggest consumer of drugs. Cartels’ organizational structure is often like any other business conglomerate with sophisticated distribution networks, reaping millions of dollars in profits.
Laundering that money requires even more sophisticated tactics that include everything from wire transfers to prepaid cards, banking transactions and real-estate acquisitions all over the world.
This is where Brnovich and the other state attorneys general come into play. They monitor and study the financial transactions to catch the illicit ones.
Arizona is leading the way, thanks in part to the 2010 settlement with Western Union that agreed to pay $50 million to help law enforcement in border states fight money laundering. Most importantly, the deal set up procedures to stop the flow of illicit cash.
That mechanism allows law enforcement to track international money transfers and use that data, for instance, to build cases against drug and human traffickers.
But it’s up to Brnovich and other attorneys general in the Western alliance with Mexico to determine what — if any — information is to be shared with Mexican authorities.
Brnovich, the first vice chair of the Western region of the National Association of Attorneys General, said he’s unswerving in his pursuit of fighting border crime. Since taking office two years ago, he has often traveled to Mexico and has welcomed Mexican officials to Arizona.
But sharing information gets tricky. U.S. authorities often hesitate because they fear they may be tipping off the cartels.
“It’s very difficult and frustrating at times,” said Brnovich, though he wouldn’t specifically point to the deep-seated corruption within the Mexican government that makes it difficult to distinguish the bad from the good guys.
Under President Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexico is facing the level of corruption like “never seen in Mexico,” the New York Times reported this month.
The country has reached a boiling point, the newspaper reported, pointing to 42 governors suspected of corruption since 2000.
But Peña Nieto has also championed a new “adversarial” justice system and anti-corruption laws. It’s an effort to move away from the “guilty until proven innocent” system. The attorneys general in the Western alliance are advising Mexico on everything from processes and procedures to specific training in oral trials.
Brnovich views his mission as more than merely providing technical support, but building trust between Mexican and U.S. authorities.
Sandro Garcia Rojas, vice president of the anti-money-laundering and preventive measures at the National Banking and Securities Commission of Mexico, said getting information from the U.S. is crucial to combating border crime. “Crime doesn’t respect borders, and border states know that better than anyone else,” Garcia Rojas told me.
Garcia Rojas said the collaboration with Brnovich and the other attorneys general in the Western alliance allows them to analyze financial transaction trends and the mechanisms criminal groups use to move money. That often leads to concrete criminal investigations, he said, declining to point to specific ones.
“Communication and cooperation is frank,” he said. “Each country depends on each other when it comes to public safety. We face the same fate.”
Earlier this year, Trump’s incessant attacks on Mexico strained relations to their lowest point. But Garcia Rojas said the Western states’ attorneys general forged ahead because they know what’s at stake for both countries.