Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Goodman, Colby and Michel Marizco. 2010 ‘US Government Actions.’ US Firearms Trafficking to Mexico: New Data and Insights Illuminate Key Trends and Challenges; Working Paper Series on US-Mexico Cooperation, p. 13. San Diego, CA: Trans-Border Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, University of San Diego. 1 September
Relevant contents
US Government Actions
The U.S. government, primarily through ATF [US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms], ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement], and CBP [US Customs and Border Protection], has increasingly been engaged in combating U.S. firearms trafficking to Mexico by, for example, pursuing investigations and prosecutions of firearms traffickers in the United States, seizing firearms in the United States illegally headed for Mexico, and assisting Mexico with technology, equipment, and training.
According to ATF in March 2010, "between fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2009, ATF recommended 984 cases involving 2,034 defendants for prosecution" associated with its Project Gunrunner.(64)
Four hundred and ninety-seven (497) of the 984 cases included charges specifically related to firearms trafficking.(65) Amongst the 497 cases there were 852 defendants, of whom 811 have been indicted and 533 convicted with an average 45.5 months of incarceration.(66)
From the inception of ICE's Operation Armas Cruzadas in 2008 until October 2009 "257 individuals [have been arrested] on criminal charges, resulting in 147 criminal indictments and 96 convictions."(67)
As of May 2010, the number of individuals arrested since the Operation began rose to 749. (68)
Sources cited:
64) Statement of Kenneth E. Melson, Deputy Director of ATF, March 4, 2010.
65) Ibid.
66) Data provided to the authors on June 1, 2010 by ATF official in Washington, DC.
67) Statement of Janice Ayala, Deputy Assistant Director Office of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism, October 22, 2009, page 6, http://www.ice.gov/doclib/pi/news/testimonies/091022ayala.pdf.
68) Statement of Janice Ayala, Deputy Assistant Director Office of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, May 5, 2010, page 14, online at http://www.ice.gov/doclib/pi/news/testimonies/100505ayala.pdf.]