Mexican Drug Violence Seeps Into US

Cartels' reach extends to Canada
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 23, 2009 6:40 AM CDT
Mexican Drug Violence Seeps Into US
Arizona and federal officials are sworn in on Capitol Hill Tuesday, March 17, 2009, prior to testifying on law enforcement responses to the Mexican drug cartels.    (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Drug violence has killed more than 7,000 in Mexico since January 2008—and now it’s spreading into the US, the New York Times reports. Home-invasion investigators in Arizona have seen 200 cases since their squad formed last year, and violence has reached across the continent: there have been assaults in Birmingham, kidnappings in Phoenix, and shootings in Vancouver.

Mexican cartels and their allies work in some 230 cities from Anchorage to Boston, more than twice the number 3 years before, a Justice department report said in December. “The amount of violence has drastically increased in the last 6 to 12 months, especially in the area of home invasions,” said a police officer from Arizona. “The people we have arrested, a high percentage are from Mexico.”
(More drug cartel stories.)

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