BunnyPuncher
Member
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Today, your administration presented a plan to help curb the violence in Mexico and also to control any or prevent any spillover of the violence into the United States.
Do you consider the situation now a national security threat? And do you believe that it could require sending national troops to the border? Governor Perry of Texas -- Texas has said that you still need more troops and more agents. How do you respond to that?
OBAMA: Well, first of all, let’s focus on what we did today. It’s very significant.
We are sending millions of dollars in additional equipment to provide more effective surveillance. We are providing hundreds of additional personnel that can help control the border, deal with customs issues.
We are coordinating very effectively with the Mexican government and President Calderon, who has taken on an extraordinarily difficult task of dealing with these drug cartels that have gotten completely out of hand.
And so the steps that we’ve taken are designed to make sure that the border communities in the United States are protected and you’re not seeing a spillover of violence and that we are helping the Mexican government deal with a very challenging situation.
Now, we are going to continue to monitor the situation. And if the steps that we’ve taken do not get the job done, then we will do more. One last point that I want to make about this. As I said, President Calderon has been very courageous in taking on these drug cartels. We’ve got to also take some steps, even as he is doing more to deal with the drug cartels, sending drugs into the United States, we need to do more to make sure that illegal guns and cash aren’t flowing back to these cartels.
That’s part of what’s financing their operations. That’s part of what’s arming them. That’s what makes them so dangerous. And this is something that we take very seriously and we’re going to continue to work on diligently in the months to come.
Do you consider the situation now a national security threat? And do you believe that it could require sending national troops to the border? Governor Perry of Texas -- Texas has said that you still need more troops and more agents. How do you respond to that?
OBAMA: Well, first of all, let’s focus on what we did today. It’s very significant.
We are sending millions of dollars in additional equipment to provide more effective surveillance. We are providing hundreds of additional personnel that can help control the border, deal with customs issues.
We are coordinating very effectively with the Mexican government and President Calderon, who has taken on an extraordinarily difficult task of dealing with these drug cartels that have gotten completely out of hand.
And so the steps that we’ve taken are designed to make sure that the border communities in the United States are protected and you’re not seeing a spillover of violence and that we are helping the Mexican government deal with a very challenging situation.
Now, we are going to continue to monitor the situation. And if the steps that we’ve taken do not get the job done, then we will do more. One last point that I want to make about this. As I said, President Calderon has been very courageous in taking on these drug cartels. We’ve got to also take some steps, even as he is doing more to deal with the drug cartels, sending drugs into the United States, we need to do more to make sure that illegal guns and cash aren’t flowing back to these cartels.
That’s part of what’s financing their operations. That’s part of what’s arming them. That’s what makes them so dangerous. And this is something that we take very seriously and we’re going to continue to work on diligently in the months to come.
