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Coming together to secure the border
President Obama signs the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act into law, accompanied by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, sponsor of the legislation in the House. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The flow of drugs into this country impacts every community and ever person – Democrat or Republican. We should be able to pass bipartisan solutions to a problem that affects everyone.
Tom Udall
Over the past month, we’ve seen a rare Washington phenomenon. Democrats and Republicans came together in Congress to overwhelmingly pass a commonsense bill so President Obama could quickly sign it into law.
The reason? Gabby Giffords brought us together. I was honored to work with her to pass the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act, bipartisan anti-drug trafficking legislation that I sponsored with Sen. Dean Heller in the Senate and Gabby sponsored in the House. Now it’s the law of the land.
The new law toughens the penalties for drug smugglers who use small, ultralight aircraft to quickly smuggle drugs across the border. If you’re unfamiliar with these aircraft, watch this clip from the folks at National Geographic’s “Border Wars,” who caught video of an ultralight drug drop in progress:
In August last year, a small, ultralight aircraft crashed in the New Mexico bootheel. It was carrying 134 pounds of marijuana, smuggled across the border from Mexico. Ultralights are proving to be very efficient drug smuggling tools that are used by traffickers more and more to make drug drops in New Mexico and other border states. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reported that in the 2011 fiscal year, there were 228 border incursions by ultralights smuggling drugs.
An ultralight aircraft that crashed in the New Mexico bootheel. (Courtesy New Mexico Department of Public Safety)
Closing loopholes
It’s easy to see why the smugglers are turning to ultralights. They can sweep in under the cover of night, make a drop and then disappear back across the border. But most remarkably, until now there were loopholes in the law that meant someone caught using an ultralight to smuggle drugs only faced a possession charge and didn’t face the same repercussions as a smuggler using an airplane or automobile.
That’s crazy. And it’s why we fixed it.
The new law sets the same penalties for trafficking, whether it’s by plane, automobile or ultralight – up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. It also gives law enforcement the tools they need to combat this type of drug trafficking, like adding attempt and conspiracy to the aviation smuggling law, so that the criminals who coordinate these kinds of operations can be prosecuted as well. As drug smugglers develop new techniques for getting illegal drugs into our country, we need to stay toe-to-toe with them by making sure our laws and law enforcement are equipped for the task.
A bipartisan endeavor
This is a good law and I’m proud that we passed it. But it also goes to show that securing our border can and should be a bipartisan endeavor. The flow of drugs into this country impacts every community and ever person – Democrat or Republican. We should be able to pass bipartisan solutions – like this one – to a problem that affects everyone.
Udall, a Democrat, represents New Mexico in the U.S. Senate.
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Prison and Inmate labor for profit – morally wrong – yet profitable to Pol’s and Corps. STOP IT!
“French economist Frederick Bastiat once wrote:
The foregoing quote quite clearly defines what is happening in America today. Our society is in fact being plundered – morally and financially. In this effort they have created a legal system that enables and encourages this plunder through harsh criminal justice laws, sentences and little in the form of true rehabilitation and a moral code that does indeed glorify such plunder off freedom stolen from those they exploit.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/23/1066640/-Prison-and-Inmate-labor-for-profit-morally-wrong-yet-profitable-to-Pol-s-and-Corps-STOP-IT-?via=spotlight
Qui Tam and Dr. J: I agree with your comments. While I didn’t say so, Udall’s commentary was indeed a photo op and he hasn’t been that effective as history will show. But to shy away from talking about the real issues is typical of politicians who do not want to rankle their support base, and the idea of legalizing marijuana to put a dent in the illegal drug trade is off limits to those, like Udall, who don’t have the stomach for it.
GFA – I don’t think there is any way Udall is going to legalize marijuana, that would require a backbone.
So very reminiscent of Udalls years as New Mexico attorney general…. there is a boatload of disgruntled victims when it comes to the history of Udall’s tenure there.
I think all of you are over-thinking what Tom is up to here. This isn’t about border security, drugs, national defense, or anything of the sort. This is all about Tom wanting to get a photo-op and bask in the reflected glory of Ms. Giffords notoriety and a rare, and I mean RARE (once a term maybe?), example of Tom getting anything done in a bipartisan way.
This bandaid approach touted by Sen. Udall to fighting the border war on drugs and weapons is laughable, but hardly laudable. For as much as these ultralight planes frequent the border and the amount they drop is piddly compared to the total illegal drugs business in Mexico. Sen. Udall completely missed the point and failed to talk about the bigger illegal drug issues and possible solutions.
In essence, we are fighting Mexico’s war on drugs and spending billions ineffectively (the DOD alone is increasing its budget to $50M for 2012). The US Dept. of State is giving $500M of our tax dollars to Mexico for training and equipment. It’s obvious that the Mexican government hasn’t accomplished much even though more federal troops and local law enforcement support has increased. The US has even sent its own law enforcement agents to Mexico and beefed up border security with drones, communications surveillance, etc, but not much has changed.
“In many ways, illegal drugs are the most successful Mexican multinational enterprise, employing some 450,000 Mexicans and generating about $20 billion in sales, second only behind the country’s oil industry and automotive industry exports. This year, Forbes magazine put Mexican drug lord Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman as No. 701 on the world’s list of billionaires.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574614230
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Legalizing marijuana, a long held idea supported by many officials and high-ranking politicians, may be the answer to damaging the drug cartels, and dealing with many other law enforcement issues in the U.S. like drug trafficking, penalties for possession, incarceration, legal costs, etc. And what of the jobs and revenues such businesses would produce if marijuana was legalized? Perhaps it’s time to talk about this issue seriously.
Coming from a Senator who represents a state that issues drivers licenses to those who are in the act of committing a crime during a time of war, I find this commentary hysterical! LOL! Thanks a lot Senator Udall!
What is crazy is continuing to pack our prisons long term using the the failed War on Drugs as an excuse to make money from human misery. ”corrections investment initiative” ” Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America has a plan to expand its growing empire of private prisons it owns or manages. It wants buy existing prisons. The pitch is that this will help states with their revenue problems by providing a one-time lump-sum <a title=”Powered by Text-Enhance” href=”http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/14/1064704/-Private-corrections-firm-proposes-new-rip-off-Buy-prisons-in-48-states-keep-them-full-for-20-years?via=search” rel=”nofollow”>payment</a> in exchange for a 20-year management contract and assurance that the prison will stay at 90 percent capacity during that time. A sweetheart deal. ”<a href=”http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/2614” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/2614</a> ”According to <a href=”http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/2614” rel=”nofollow”>Gaming the System: How the Political Strategies of Private Prison Companies Promote Ineffective Incarceration Policies,</a> private prisons have already done a good job of increasing their “market share” of the overall prison population. While the number of inmates over the past decade has risen 16 percent, the number in private federal facilities has risen 120 percent and the number in state facilities has risen 33 percent. Meanwhile, the two largest private prison operators, CCA and GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut), took in a combined $2.9 billion in revenue in 2010. ”<a href=”http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/14/1064704/-Private-corrections-firm-proposes-new-rip-off-Buy-prisons-in-48-states-keep-them-full-for-20-years?via=search” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/14/1064704/-Private-corrections-firm-proposes-new-rip-off-Buy-prisons-in-48-states-keep-them-full-for-20-years?via=search</a> Senator Udall, flying an ultra-light full of pot is not a violent crime. 20 years is a disproportionate punishment when 50 percent of the public thinks that pot should be legal. Coincidentally, private prisons will require staying packed for 20 years. There is something evil about the incentives here. Wrong direction towards Authoritarianism Senator Udall. I am disappointed in you.