ICE will arrest drug dealers

Washington Post:

The Obama administration is preparing to give more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents authority to make drug arrests to assist Mexico's bloody battle with drug cartels, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told senators today.

The decision would end a years-long dispute between the Justice and Homeland Security departments, significantly increasing the number of federal drug agents, particularly in border areas.

Holder said that he discussed the question with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano last night and that they were ready to announce an agreement.

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By law, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have authority to investigate federal drug crimes, with the FBI concentrating on organized crime. Under an agreement that has not been updated since 1994, DEA also gave arrest authority to U.S. customs agents who make seizures at border crossings.

However, since ICE took over customs investigations with the creation of the Homeland Security Department in 2003, it has pushed for expanded authority to match its bigger presence at the U.S.-Mexico border and throughout the country.

ICE has about four times as many agents as DEA -- about 5,000 compared with 1,200 domestic agents. As of March, DEA had delegated about 1,300 ICE agents with drug arrest authority, ICE officials said, with a cap set at 1,475 agents.

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There is probably some overlap in their work since most of the drug dealers would also be in the country illegally. It sounds like a good use of resources and it is one that President Bush attempted to address in 2004, but inter agency turf battles make it impossible at the time.