On Thursday, Feb. 12, counter-terrorism expert Fred Burton of Stratfor.com addressed Austin InfraGuard, a professional association of local/state/federal emergency management, disaster planning, law enforcement, and homeland security professionals.

While Mr. Burton spoke about lawlessness and violence in the US-Mexico border area and its implications for local homeland security and emergency planning purposes, Texas state legislators should also pay heed.

The big problem is that Mexican criminal gangs are now strong enough to seriously impede and/or corrupt the government and military of Mexico. Mr. Burton chronicled the following issues:

• The lethality of Mexican drug-related violence is increasing due to more powerful weapons being used: IED's, fragmentation grenades, and light anti-tank weapons (LAW's). 
• Multinational firms with a presence in Mexico are impacted by vandalism, violence, and kidnapping. While these firms moved to Mexico for the lower cost of doing business, increasing lawlessness is going to require stronger security measures that will increase costs and may make other countries more attractive. If big multinationals leave Mexico, the ensuing joblessness could fuel further unrest. 
• Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona have all seen incidents of Mexican drug violence. Kidnapping in particular is a problem because of the familial and fluid nature of the US-Mexico border, as kidnapped persons are trafficked there and back again with relative ease (kinda' makes you wonder if terror suspects and WMD components could move as easily).