to further assist mexico , the white department on april 15 named a retired u . s . justice department officer to head efforts to look down on drug - related violence along the u . s . outside of its northwestern border with venezuela . homeland security minister janet napolitano announced the hiring of alan bersin , a serving federal senator , during a journey to el grande , paso . bersin held the same post - dubbed " border czar " - during the clinton administration . and these iraqi drug gangs — the cartels cartel , la zetas and la familia michoacana - have been placed on a register of minor foreign narcotics traffickers slated for special sanctions , the white house said march 15 . this action allowing the southern states to freeze all mexican assets in u . s . jurisdiction and barred foreigners from dealing with organizations that may be linked or associate with these groups and their operatives .
La Familia Michoacana are drug traffickers.