A group of Texas government and law enforcement officials announced Monday the results of a security assessment of the border region, which they say drug cartels are trying to bring under their control.
The results were announced by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples along with its authors retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey and retired Army Major-General Robert Scales as they were surrounded by concerned border ranchers, farmers and law enforcement.
At the press conference, officials said the bottom line was that Mexican drug cartels were seeking to create what they called a "sanitary zone" of about one county deep. They want to escape increasing confrontation with Mexican law enforcement and at the same time turn the border counties into transshipment points to the rest of the U.S.