El Paso is a very large, spread-out city, located on the Mexico-Texas border. El Paso is more than just an overcrowded mass of people out in the middle of the blistering Texas Heat. El Paso is a city full of culture, full of citizens, and full of crime.
El Paso got its name from Spanish explorers who named the site "El Paso del Norte- "The Pass of the North. The city has a mountain range separating the east and west sides for total area of about 248 square miles. It also has an estimated population of 653,404 legal residents, and another estimated 200,000 undocumented illegal Mexican aliens. This high number is subject for debate between many people and the Mexican and American governments.
El Paso has been found to be the poorest city in the nation with a population over 500,000. This is not coincidence though, since illegal immigrants make it a common practice to send home most of their money to their Mexican families, rather than spending it inside of the city itself. .
This decrease in wealth has spurred the government agency NAFTA into establishing large amounts of trade. While having good effects on the economic situation, this has also made drug trade easier since the amount of goods going over the border is increased. Large amounts of illegal substances are carried over the border every day. In fact, as of September 2003 a 300 meter long tunnel was found that was being used to transport large amounts of marijuana, cocaine and illegal immigrants.
I think something must be done to stop this drug trafficking along the U.S. border. There are thousands killed everyday by these drugs, so it could be said that keeping this border town unchecked is killing our citizens. When we find a person with a smaller amount of drugs, we should give them the option to either go to jail, or directly help us in the fight by pointing out the man who sold to him or by act as a decoy to help find drug lords.
