Many in the U.S., especially the U.S. government, were mystified with Mexico’s recent decriminalization of small quantities of narcotics for personal use. Some have even suggested that this shows that Mexico is seeking to legalize drugs to solve the pervasive drug problems the country faces both from a consumption and production standpoint. Those who can fully appreciate the differing points of view each country has, this recent action by Mexico makes perfect sense and does not signify the premise that legalizing drugs is the way to solve the drug issues.
Unless you have been living under a rock lately, you’ve probably heard that Cd. Juárez is the most dangerous city in North America. So just how dangerous is it? Our sister city is in the midst of a long and arduous war of willpower between citizens who still believe in their city and criminals who want to wrest control away from the community in order to ply their deadly concoction in an attempt to mask life’s everyday problems for those who are too lazy to deal with life head on. And regardless of what you may think the solution to the problem is, you are likely to agree that Juárez is not a safe city. But really, how dangerous is Juárez?
In 2004, the use of a document titled; “Bond Schedule Approved by the Council of Judges” came to light in the challenge to the DIMS program in place in El Paso County. The document is used to set the bonds for criminal defendants in the County. The bond schedule delineates that “undocumented aliens” and “documented aliens” are to have bonds set at “4x” and “2x” of the amount set for a diverse set of criminal prosecutions. The use of this bond schedule to set bond for criminal defendants based on their immigration status raises several questions about the treatment of foreign nationals by the County of El Paso in opposition to the Constitutions of the United States and Texas, as well as International Treaties and accords to which the US government and the State of Texas are a party to.
