By Matthew Casey

Today’s top story, written by Dallas Morning News Reporter, David McLemore covers U.S. law enforcement officials praise for Mexico’s anti-drug efforts at the fifth annual border security conference at the University of Texas El Paso.

And the band played on….. Listen, I understand the importance of solidarity and I completely support U.S. involvement in any and all efforts to stop the drug wars in Mexico, but both FBI Driector, Robert Mueller, and Michael Sullivan, director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives showering praise on Mexico for its failed attempts at marginalizing the cartels is nothing more than a political smokescreen.

McLemore quotes Mueller, “We have two cartels fighting for control. President Calderón has taken the fight to them, but serious challenges still exist to border security that must be met with a joint effort.”

Mr. Director, are you sure Mexican President Felipe Calderon (PAN) is taking the fight to the cartels? After all, it was under his predecessor, Vicente Fox (PAN) that the situation spiraled completely out of control. And in the almost two years since his inauguration, despite deploying the Mexican army to all corners of the country, not a single cartel has been eliminated, and innocent Mexican citizens continue to be murdered in the streets.

McLemore quotes Sullivan, “We have asked Mexico to assist in stopping the flow of drugs across our borders, and they have done so extraordinarily well – and at great cost to civilians and law enforcement officers targeted for execution and assassinations by the drug cartels. What Mexico asks us to do is something similar, to halt the flow of guns into Mexico.”

Really Director? They have done “so well?” Mexico is not responsible for any decrease in the amount of illegal drugs entering this country. Instead, our Border Patrol, DEA and local law enforcement agencies deserve the credit for any real decrease.

I do not understand why U.S. officials constantly insist on sugar coating Mexico’s shortcomings and failures. McLemore reports that 700 people have been murdered this year alone across the river from where the conference was held in Ciudad Juarez so I am guessing that if we were to interview a man or woman on the street there, they would have a very different perception of the effectiveness of the Mexican Government’s response to the cartel wars.

Folks, these two quotes are prime indications that the federal government does not take our demands for immigration reform seriously. After all, to decrease the number of immigrants, legal or not, entering the United States the best place to start is Mexico. Further, the best way to convince people to stay home in Mexico is to show them that where they live is safe as well as provide hope that there will be future opportunities to obtain livable wages. As long as the drug cartels are in business, no half-intelligent Mexican citizen will ever buy into this concept.

So let’s stop giving Mexico “get out of jail free” cards. Call it like it is, and truly level the power and influence of the United States to convince President Calderon (A thief who stole the 2006 election from Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (PRD)) that sending soldiers to the border is not enough. We are the United States of America, and being so we demand the very best from the people we rely on. No matter what the Directors of the FBI and ATF tell you, right now, Mr. President, you are coming up way short.