AP Source: More Feds To Combat Border Violence

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration plans to send reinforcements to the Southwest border to help contain the rampant violence of the Mexican drug cartel wars.

A federal official familiar with the plan says that more than 90 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are being reassigned to the U.S.-Mexico border. Another 37 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are also being deployed.

The official requested anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced.

The deployments are part of the administration’s first moves to boost federal security personnel on the U.S. side of the border. Mexican officials say the violence spawned by warring drug cartels has killed more than 7,000 people in the past 15 months.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

By EILEEN SULLIVAN and DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writers