Authorities say illegal drugs are flowing through the area at unprecedented rates as well.
Border Patrol agents in the El Paso Sector have seized 86,966 pounds of marijuana with three months left in the 1997 fiscal year, putting them close to the one-year record of 89,050 pounds set in 1989. Our area has become a pipeline because they're working hard to discover nontraditional routes to bring narcotics into the United States, which puts greater pressure on the ports of entry. The Border Patrol and Customs combined to seize nearly 200,000 pounds of marijuana in the El Paso area last year. The two recorded seizures of about 134,000 pounds the year before. A federal police official in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, told the El Paso Times for Wednesday's editions that he expects seizures to continue to rise as Mexican cartels engage in turf wars.