War Without Borders - Mexican Cartels Look to Turn Border Agents — With Some Success - Series - NYTimes.com

War Without Borders - Mexican Cartels Look to Turn Border Agents — With Some Success

Increasingly, customs inspectors along the U.S. / Mexican border are being corrupted by Mexican drug cartels.

Factors:

• The proceeds from enabling even a few shipments dwarf an inspector's $70,000 salary.
  
• The federal government lacks sufficient funds to conduct proper background checks on applicants for customs inspector jobs.