The U.S. and Mexico are grappling with daunting security crises stemming from the trafficking of hundreds of thousands of guns over the U.S. southern border every year. These weapons are empowering Mexican transnational criminal organizations and inflicting substantial suffering in both countries. This report underscores how reducing cross-border gun trafficking is crucial for achieving the goals of the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities — a bilateral security agreement announced nearly two years ago. By implementing our recommendations, the U.S. and Mexico can more effectively combat illicit gun flows, saving lives, and improving prosperity.

Mexico City and Washington set the diplomatic terms of engagement at the national level, while state, local, and non-governmental organizations undertake day-to-day cross-border cooperation. These activities, frequently referred to as subnational diplomacy or cooperation, advance key binational priorities, build core competencies for mutually beneficial collaboration, and can keep activities in motion when relations stall at the national level.

In January 2023, the Pacific Council sent a group of 18 high-level delegates and staff to the San Diego-Tijuana border region for a firsthand look at the dynamics at the U.S.-Mexico border. Delegates met with border authorities from the U.S. and Mexico, toured the busiest land border crossing in the world at San Ysidro/El Chaparral, engaged with diplomats and experts on the U.S.-Mexico relationship, visited migrant shelters providing essential services in Tijuana, and explored current and future opportunities for binational economic growth and development.

Mexico law enforcement recovers thousands of rifles from violent crime scenes every year. A staggering number of these rifles are high-powered .50-caliber firearms and assault weapons trafficked from the United States. Preferred by Mexico’s drug cartels, these weapons continue to threaten national security and public safety on both sides of the border.

Save the dates to join us on January 23 and 24, 2023 for a delegation to San Diego and Tijuana that will examine a diverse set of border-related issues, starting with a firsthand look at the dynamics at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Pacific Council’s The U.S.-Mexico Double Fix seeks to leverage our unique advantages as a California-based non-governmental organization to advance U.S.-Mexico security cooperation using the relationship between migration, armed violence, and cross-border arms trafficking as a point of entry.

Get to know the team behind the Mexico Initiative and the U.S.-Mexico Double Fix.

Dr. Richard D. Downie will continue the Mexico Initiative’s efforts to provide a West Coast perspective on U.S.-Mexico relations and to promote regional and binational collaboration.

The Pacific Council launched its First 100 Days Memo on U.S.-Mexico Policy which was distributed to the Biden administration. The memo outlines policy recommendations on trade, immigration, and diplomacy, as well as how President Joe Biden can strengthen the bilateral relationship from the outset of the next term.

In early 2021, the Pacific Council's Mexico Initiative covered the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination at the U.S.-Mexico border and related issues, including vaccine sharing with Mexico.