National Drug Intelligence Center   West Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2008   May 2008

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

• Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are increasingly transporting marijuana to and through the West Texas HIDTA region; they are also increasingly using the region as a distribution center for the drug. Both developments are occasioned by heightened marijuana smuggling operations on the part of the Mexican DTOs and increased law enforcement presence in other regions along the Southwest Border.
   
• The amount of cocaine transported to and through the HIDTA region by Mexican DTOs has decreased over the past year, most likely the result of the suspension of cocaine shipments by a DTO operating in the El Paso/Juárez plaza, large cocaine seizures in transit toward the United States, law enforcement efforts against prominent Mexican DTOs, increased drug interdiction efforts in Mexico, and violent conflicts between competing Mexican DTOs.
   
• Methamphetamine seizures in the HIDTA region have declined over the past 3 years, indicating a decreased flow of the drug from Mexico into the region. Decreases in domestic production as well as increases in precursor control legislation and drug interdiction efforts in Mexico have affected the flow of methamphetamine into the region.
   
• Violence in Juárez, Mexico, particularly against law enforcement, has increased substantially since the beginning of 2008. As a result of the increase in violent crime, the Mexican Government has increased Mexican military and law enforcement presence in the city.
   
• The Sinaloa and Juárez Cartels are battling for control of drug trafficking through the El Paso/Juárez plaza, and the dominant cartel has yet to be established. Increased military and law enforcement presence in the plaza will quite likely delay the resolution of this conflict.

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HIDTA Overview

The West Texas HIDTA region lies along a 520-mile section of the U.S.-Mexico border in Southwest Texas and encompasses 12 counties; Ector and Midland Counties were added to the HIDTA in 2008.¹ (See Figure 1 in Preface.) The HIDTA is used by Mexican DTOs as a principal smuggling corridor and staging area for drug transportation to markets in San Francisco, California; Denver, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York; and Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston, Texas. The increasingly violent struggle among Mexican DTOs for control of drug smuggling as well as between these DTOs and Mexican military and law enforcement in the El Paso, Texas/Juárez, Mexico, plaza substantiates the West Texas HIDTA region's strategic importance to Mexican traffickers. Moreover, the region's location along the U.S.-Mexico border poses national security and law enforcement issues for the region, such as alien smuggling, weapons transportation, and terrorist entry into the United States through and between ports of entry (POEs).

Most drugs smuggled into and through the region pass through the El Paso/Juárez plaza, a major drug smuggling corridor that extends from the "boot heel" of New Mexico to the eastern boundary of Big Bend National Park and includes the El Paso, Fabens, and Presidio POEs in Texas and the Columbus and Santa Teresa POEs in New Mexico. Mexican DTOs use El Paso, the most populous metropolitan area in West Texas, as a principal staging area, transshipment point, and distribution center for illicit drugs destined for drug markets throughout the nation. El Paso is located on Interstate 10, a major drug trafficking route that links the HIDTA region to many national-level drug markets, generally through connections to Interstates 20 and 25.

Mexican DTOs exploit the robust, legitimate cross-border economic activity and social interaction between El Paso and its sister city, Ciudad Juárez. On a smaller scale, they also exploit locations between Presidio and Ciudad Ojinaga, Mexico, to conduct their smuggling activities. The thriving maquiladora industry² is a major contributor to increased cross-border pedestrian, passenger vehicle, and commercial truck traffic--more than 200,000 U.S. and Mexican citizens traverse the border daily between these sister cities--creating ideal conditions for smuggling illicit drugs into the United States and returning drug proceeds to Mexico. Moreover, DTOs frequently arrange their smuggling activities to coincide with periods of high traffic, reducing the likelihood that their vehicles will be inspected. Mexican DTOs also use the sparsely populated arid desert and semiarid mountains and canyons of the West Texas HIDTA region as well as the numerous low-level water crossings along the Rio Grande River to conceal their smuggling activities. Big Bend National Park, which encompasses over 800,000 acres along the U.S.-Mexico border in West Texas, is exploited by these traffickers, who take advantage of the remote areas and limited law enforcement presence in the park to smuggle drugs into the HIDTA region.

End Notes

1. Although Ector and Midland counties were added to the West Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) in 2008, statistics and law enforcement reporting in this report reflect only the counties contained within the HIDTA in 2007.
2. Maquiladoras are factories that obtain duty-free materials and components from foreign suppliers, including U.S. suppliers, and use them to manufacture finished products, such as textiles, in Mexico and return the products to the foreign suppliers.

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