DETTELBACH: good morning thank you all for
being here for this incredibly important meeting on southbound Firearms trafficking coordinating
our efforts across...to our success in preventing the illegal trafficking of firearms into Mexico. The importance of that coordination is made
clear by the leaders we have with us here today Deputy Attorney General of the United
States Lisa Monaco, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security John Tien, U.S ambassador to Mexico
Ken Salazar, Deputy Homeland Security adviser Josh Geltzer. Thank you so much to you and all the other
leaders who are here today you're going to hear from each of these leaders shortly but
first I want to share a bit about what ATF my agency is seeing and as importantly more
importantly what ATF is doing to prevent firearms from being illegally trafficked to Mexico
and to help our partners in Mexico when Firearms are recovered there everything we do at ATF
begins and ends with Public Safety we are deeply committed to supporting all our local
state tribal Federal and international law enforcement Partners in their efforts to prevent
violent crime our efforts to fulfill that mission are driven by two priorities one getting
the actual Shooters the trigger pullers off the streets and two cutting off their unlawful
supply of firearms whether those Firearms are obtained through illegal Firearms trafficking
through straw purchasing through theft or any other method in which Firearms are diverted
from lawful Commerce to unlawful Commerce and those priorities that strategy does not
stop at our borders they extend to our International partners like Mexico in Mexico too often when
Firearms are diverted to unlawful markets they're going to arm dangerous drug cartels
they're getting into the hands of extremely violent organizations that seek to use Firearms
to further other criminal and illicit activities and atfcs that many times these cartels are
not looking for just any firearm to fuel their criminal Enterprises they're seeking a level
of Weaponry that outguns Mexican law enforcement authorities we see machine guns like the m-134
minigun kit for instance which is used by the American Military and is capable of shooting
two thousand to four thousand rounds per minute weapons like this present an extreme Danger
when they land in the hands of criminals a danger not only to the public but to the law
enforcement agents on both sides of this border as well at ATF our actions to prevent firearms
from ending up in the hands of the cartels and other criminals in Mexico are multifaceted
we provide training and technical assistance to our law enforcement Partners including
in Mexico as well as sharing our technology and our expertise in crime gun intelligence
atf's Mexico country Office Works 0closely with Mexican authorities to increase the volume
and timeliness of firearms tracing through ATF’s e-trace system that is tracing a crime
gun back to its first known retail purchase this capability is incredibly important because
so many of the Firearms recovered from crimes in Mexico originate in the United States between
2017 and 2022 Trace submission from Mexico nearly doubled and of course we are ambitious
in our enforcement efforts as well those extend across the entire country of the United States
working with our federal prosecutor Partners to bring cases from the Pacific Northwest
to the Midwest of this country for example and that's because Firearms headed for the
cartels in Mexico do not always originate in the Southwest border state for instance
last March an atf-led investigation resulted in the arrest of two people in Cleveland Ohio
who attempted to smuggle 90 Firearms to drug cartels in Mexico that is just one example
but of course many attempts to arm cartels do occur in and around the Southwest border
that is why we are committed to operation Southbound initiated in 2020 operations southbound
integrates a whole of government approach to enhance coordination among U.S and Mexican
law enforcement agencies in Firearms trafficking investigations southbound investigations are
conducted by nine atf-led multi-agency Firearms trafficking task forces located across the
U.S Mexican border with our partners from Homeland Security investigations from Customs
and Border Protection from DEA FBI state law enforcement local law enforcement State prosecutors
U.S attorneys and doj's Criminal Division our task forces are disrupting on firearms
that are being trafficked to Mexico that is our Focus that would not be possible without
the kind of inter-agency whole of government effort you see here before you at ATF we are
deeply grateful to doj DHS state department at the leadership level for prioritizing this
level of partnership amongst the different agencies Deputy attorney general Monaco deputy
secretary Tien Ambassador Salazar and the U.S attorneys who cover the Border by the
way all six of whom are present for today's meetings have had an integral part in the
program's success this model works between fiscal year 2021 and 2022 ATF firearm seizures
with a Nexus to Mexico increased by double digits 17 percent and ATF trafficking related
investigations increased by triple digits 217 percent and by the way are also up as
well not only does this initiative keep the guns in ammunition from reaching the cartels
it leads to cases which leads to Justice I want to share just a couple recent examples
of Investigations conducted by ATF with our partners three weeks ago U.S attorney Uballez
and under that leadership and he's with us here today the District of New Mexico secured
a 115 month sentence for a man who was smuggling firearms that Mexican officials believed were
destined for the cjng cartel and in March just a couple of months ago of 2023 under
the leadership of U.S attorney uh Simonton and Leigha is also here from the Northern
District of Texas we secured a 10-year sentence for a man who attempted to smuggle a military-grade
machine gun to a cartel in Mexico I see this every single day those are just examples there
are countless times countless cases resulting from the tremendous investigative and prosecutorial
work by ATF and our partners across government at doj Homeland Security State Department
local law enforcement departments U.S attorneys communities local prosecutors there's no question
that the challenge ahead of us is immense that's why we're here we must do more but
let's not let our efforts our wins our successes go unrecognized those successes are due to
the members of law enforcement who every day risk their lives to stop these brutal cartels
from getting guns law enforcement officers who run toward the gunfire on that note there
is no greater champion of those Brave folks out there that our next speaker it is my deep
honor to introduce the deputy Attorney General of the United States of America The Honorable
Lisa Monaco [Applause] MONACO: thank you so much Steve and it's wonderful
to be with all of you this afternoon I especially want to thank the women and men of the ATF
and director dettelbach for hosting us all here today I want to thank all of you our
colleagues in law enforcement for being here and for your commitment to our shared mission
of keeping our community safe I also want to acknowledge as Steve did the members of
the U.S attorney Community here today the dedicated U.S attorneys leading so much of
this work U.S attorney Diggs, Hamdani, Restaino, Simonton, Uballez thank you for your work
and the work of your teams the work you are leading across this country to combat Firearms
trafficking it is also great to be here with my friends deputy secretary John Tien from
the Department of Homeland Security and the deputy Homeland Security adviser Josh Geltzer
and I am very grateful that Ambassador Ken Salazar has taken time out from the chief
of missions conference Happening Here in D.C today to be here for this important discussion
you know Ken Salazar is not only a wonderful representative of the president in Mexico
he also is a true partner in this work he knows what this is about he's a former Attorney
General of his wonderful home state of Colorado so we are really very very lucky to have him
as our partner in these efforts now we all represent different agencies but we share
the same commitment to fighting the epidemic of gun violence that has shattered communities
across this country disrupting illegal Firearms trafficking networks those that operate within
the United States and those that operate across our borders is Central to our efforts on both
fronts the size and the scale of the gun and drug trafficking networks that we confront
demand a United and comprehensive approach and that's why we're here today the ATF is
focused on using all of its authorities to prevent the trafficking of illegal firearms
in the United States and as you all know though the majority of firearms trafficked into Mexico
including High Caliber and assault weapons are shipped from the United States and the
rise of privately made Firearms or ghost guns has only made this problem more acute these
weapons Empower drug cartels in Mexico to intimidate local communities challenge State
Authority and expand their deadly drug trade back into the United States and tragically
some of these weapons have been used against Mexican Security Forces, Security Forces bravely
seeking to capture cartel leaders who are responsible for so Much Death and destruction
both in Mexico and in the United States that's why we at the Department of Justice have ramped
up our efforts to combat this challenge in four essential ways. first under director dettelbach's leadership
we've increased joint operations with our Mexican law enforcement Partners through operation
southbound the Department's signature initiative to disrupt trafficking of firearms into Mexico. since its creation operation southbound has
deployed nine Firearms trafficking task forces to eight cities across and along the Southwest
border. focused on trafficking of firearms to Mexico
these teams include Partners from Homeland Security investigations Customs and Border
Protection and state and local law enforcement as well as prosecutors across the U.S attorney
community and the Department's Criminal Division as a result of these combined efforts nearly
two thousand Firearms were seized from last October to just this past March that's a more
than 65 percent increase over the same period last year and over 80 000 rounds of ammunition
were seized during that same period also a substantial increase from last year. today we are convening representatives from
across the law enforcement community and we've gathered here the ATF leadership and U.S attorneys
that are driving that success I want to thank you in advance for the sustained commitment
the energy and the initiative that we will need and we will carry forth to build on in
the days ahead second in partnership with the government of Mexico we've expanded access
to the atf's e-trace system to enable Mexican law enforcement to quickly track the origin
and the purchaser of crime guns in the last several months nearly 12 000 traces were submitted
to ATF by Mexican government agencies and over a third of those were successfully traced
to a purchaser. third last year the Department of Justice
established a new cartel weapons trafficking group along the Southwest border this is led
by U.S attorneys and it's already taken concerted action against Firearms trafficking Networks
and lastly we're using new Criminal authorities established by the bipartisan safer communities
act to identify and hold Firearms traffickers accountable. our agents and prosecutors have now charged
over 100 defendants with violations of these new Firearms trafficking or straw purchasing
provisions and in some cases they've charged both. the Firearms trafficking provision has proven
particularly useful at the Southwest border as more than half of all cases charging these
new offenses have been brought by border state U.S attorneys there are many important investigations
that the U.S attorneys here today will highlight including a joint ATF and HSI investigation
that resulted in the arrest of Michael Bacasegua-Barriga the alleged leader of a prolific transnational
Firearms trafficking group based in Nogales Sonora. barriga was arrested in May in partnership
with the Mexican fgr and is being prosecuted by the U.S attorney's office for the District
of Arizona and another example of your Collective efforts is the prosecution of Roberto lugardo
Moreno in the southern district of Texas this is a case that was made possible by the cooperation
with Mexican law enforcement officials. Moreno who has pleaded guilty straw purchased
an AR-15 in Texas that was transported to Mexico and linked to the notorious kidnapping
and Brazen murder of U.S citizens in Matamoros just a few months ago these are just two examples
of the outstanding work that U.S and Mexican law enforcement are performing every single
day to combat cartels trafficking organizations and violent crime but we must do more. together with our partners across government
including deputy secretary Tien and Ambassador Salazar we're committed to deepening our coordination
and enhancing our efforts to protect our communities. so I want to challenge us all who are here
today to redouble our efforts in a few different ways first we know the data-driven efforts
yield better results to successfully combat Firearms trafficking we need reliable actionable
data that can be shared in real time to help drive this effort I've designated a senior
prosecutor in my office Mike Ben’Ary who's here with us today to lead this process and
to identify new opportunities to Foster cooperation and data sharing second we've got to maintain
the momentum in disrupting southbound Firearms trafficking during the summer months this
means pooling our Collective resources to continue gaining ground on the cartels and
those who arm them and third it is absolutely critical that we continue to strengthen our
cooperation with our Mexican partners in conversations that I've had with the highest levels of Mexican
law enforcement I've confirmed that we are aligned on the Firearms Challenge and the
need to do more recently Mexican attorney general Gertz and his Deputy attorney general
Gallo established a vetted unit to work exclusively on Firearms trafficking and to focus on strategic
enforcement by working with this new unit we hope to increase information sharing and
importantly access to seized firearms that information in turn will allow us to trace
these weapons to their Source in the United States and identify the networks that are
trafficking them into Mexico in just a few months senior officials from Mexico and the
United States will gather for the U.S Mexico high-level security dialogue and there we
will focus on our shared security interests including combating Firearms trafficking so
as I close I just want to say thank you again to all of my colleagues who are here today
through the work by you and your teams we are showing our resolve in going after violent
gun trafficking networks and I'm confident with your continued leadership we will pursue
and enhance and really underscore our Vital work to keep our communities safe thank you
very much [Applause] TIEN: first I want to thank Deputy attorney
general Lisa Monaco from the Department of Justice Lisa is a longtime friend and a great
colleague especially in all the things that we are doing in partnership with the governor
of Mexico both on what we're doing around stemming the flow of Arms from north to south
and also in our work on counter synthetic opioids encounter fentanyl thanks to to the
director of alka of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Steve Dettelbach and
also to your to the deputy director we really appreciate you hosting us but much more importantly
for your partnership with our organizations and Department of Homeland Security in particular
within immigration customer enforcement Homeland Security investigations well represented here
by our acting deputy director P.J. Lechleitner and also with our U.S Customs
and Border Protection it's a great partnership with the ATF and we really appreciate it and
I think based on what you just heard from dag Monaco and what you'll hear from me and
others today that it's that that kind of partnership we will be able to really make measurable
uh in material gains against the flow of Arms from north to south finally I want to thank
Ambassador Ken Salazar I want to thank you for your friendship for your leadership and
really for making sure that we stay coordinated and aligned with our partners in Mexico to
stem the flow of Arms from north to south and as I've noted before in terms of the great
work we're doing in terms of counter synthetic opioids and counter Fentanyl foreign Partners
in Mexico please know that we in the Department of Homeland Security take seriously the government
of Mexico's request for assistance in addressing the southbound flow of arms we have heard
you and we are taking strong actions against that flow just as we in the U.S and we in
the Department of Homeland Security we take this seriously the protection of our citizens
for us it's our U.S citizens and for you it's the citizens of the government of Mexico we
know and understand that we are fully aligned with you and that's why we at the Department
of Homeland Security have been so ready and able to partner with Mexico to prevent firearms
from falling into the hands of violent groups that's why in 2020 in response to the rising
threat of cartel violence in Mexico two different Department of Homeland Security organizations
partnered with ATF again Homeland Security investigations and U.S Customs and Border
Protection partnered with ATF to create an operation and launch an operation called operation
Without a Trace operation without a trace it started in 2020 and it continues today
we have been incredibly successful but we as I think as DAG Monaco just says we need
to continue to focus on that and as I as she noted to redouble her efforts operation Without
a Trace targets the illicit purchase transport and distribution of firearms firearm components
and ammunition from the United States to Mexico operation Without a Trace utilizes a three-pronged
approach it leverages intelligence interdiction and investigative assets to identify disrupt
and dismantle tcos trafficking Firearms operations it's effectively A disruption operation since
2021 so it started in 2020 since 2021 operation Without a Trace is spearheaded a campaign
to elicit Firearms tracking information from the public through a very effective HSI Homeland
Security investigations tip line HSI and CBP jointly are pushing out messaging for this
campaign at our points of Entry obviously at the Southwest border checkpoints and private
shipping and transportation businesses now it's worked and here are the statistics to
demonstrate that since without trace's Inception we've achieved significant success preventing
trafficking of weapons along the Southwest border and into Mexico the operation has resulted
in the initiation of over 900 investigations over 700 arrests and over the seizure and
over the seizure of over 1900 firearms and 850 000 rounds of ammunition almost a million
rounds of ammunition now importantly our work is continuing this year in addition to the
steady state operations that we already do at the Southwest border through HSI through
CBP at the points of Entry we actually started to initiate specialized named operations they
included earlier this year in late February operations desert lightning and Counter Strike
to support counter weapons trafficking efforts and Target the diversion of illicit activity
during ongoing law enforcement search efforts by the tcos these and other DHS law enforcement
actions have yielded significant results at the Southwest border points of Entry including
the seizure of nearly one hundred and ten thousand gun parts and ammunition and over
600 handguns and long arms and about nine million dollars in currency in the fiscal
year 2023. capitalizing on the success of four Operation
Desert lightning surges so far just in this fiscal year alone of 2023 we're going to deploy
another one in our intent will be to execute Operation Desert lightning every single month
it will be in a different city it will be in a different area along the Southwest border
and we will get inside the decision cycles of the cartels and of the tcos who seek to
do harm to both of our Nations through the use of this illicit these illicit firearms
I'll just say in close the Department of Homeland Security and partnership with the Department
of Justice with the great teams that are led by Ambassador Salazar uh down at the country
team in Mexico City that we the American people the United States government DHS and dojr
and strong partnership with the government of Mexico and we intend to keep the pressure
up on all of this illicit Firearms trafficking from north to south with that I'll be followed
by my good friend the Ambassador [Applause] thank you SALAZAR: thank you very much S2 deputy secretary
Tim let me first say that on behalf of President Biden and the role that he has assigned me
to play in Mexico this is a very high priority issue yes the question why is this such a
high priority issue for us it is a high priority issue because it is at the center of achieving
what we need to have and that's our national security in the United States of America in
North America we see it in the defense perspective where we have such a relationship with Mexico
the United States and Canada in ensuring that we have security here in the North American
continent when we look at the issues relating to crime and the violence that we see on both
sides of the Border this issue of how we deal with arms trafficking becomes very very important
in the context of National Security I want to acknowledge the leadership and attention
that has been given to this issue by the department of justice under the leadership of Attorney
General Merrick Garland and Deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco they have walked the talk
in terms of their presence at Mexico in meetings with the president of Mexico and all those
security agencies multiple times I also want to acknowledge the great work of the Department
of Homeland Security and Secretary of mallorcas and deputy secretary John Tien HSI uh the
border patrol and all the different elements of DHS that are helping us on this fight and
also particularly want to say thank you to Steve dettelbach and to the ATF the tools
that the ATF has are now being used in a way where in coordination with the whole government
effort that we have underway we believe that we can make an impact on arms flowing South
into Mexico perhaps the most important thing about this Gathering today here in Washington
is that it is the first time in my history of working on these issues for a long time
but we bring everybody together if we're going to be successful as our Deputy attorney general
just said we need to have this United comprehensive approach hence the sixth United States attorneys
who do such a fabulous job and we are so proud of prioritizing this issue you know we can
make a difference because you already are doing it bringing in the interagency so yes
uh bringing in the Department of Justice Homeland Security other agencies that are involved
such as INL and the state department but also the leadership of the White House through
Liz Sherwood Randall and Homeland Security advisor who is leading much of this effort
along with Josh Geltzer who's here today that's what I call as Lisa Monaco just set a United
comprehensive approach this is the first time in the history of this issue that we have
this opportunity hence the historicity of this meeting today also I want to say that
we are this is an issue where Mexico is in the fight you know we have been involved are
involved to work with the Mexican Government closely the perception sometimes the perhaps
Mexico is not in the fight is wrong the reality of it is that they are in the fight with us
if you look at what has happened just in terms of 2022 403 police officers were killed 403
police officers were killed in Mexico in 2022. now they are being killed by weapons 60 to
70 percent the majority of them coming from the United States of America and to Mexico
so they are in the fight with us are we monitoring and always with the respect to the sovereignty
of Mexico seeing what happened in operations where we went after one of the most wanted
who had been in part or who had led the effort in the murder of one of our DEA agents well
in that particular operation 13 Marines were killed in a accident that happened after the
operation was completed in a more recent operation involving another leader of one of the most
significant cartels in Mexicovmore than 10 members of the U.S of the Mexican Army of
the National Guard were also killed when we make those calls to the Secretary of Defense
in Mexico Luis cresencio Sandoval or to the Secretary of the Navy Rafael Ojedavwe tell
them we need to honor as they are honoring the lives of their Soldiers and Sailors the
murder of the National Guard who were dying in this fight and part of the way we honor
their lives is by making sure that we're doing everything we can from a law enforcement point
of view so we're doing everything we can first of all to stop the flow of arms that come
from the United States across the border into Mexico that are causing very significant violence
in many communities in different places in Mexico we need to make sure that we do everything
we can to stop that flow to the South secondly we need to do the right investigations with
the right information that only we in the United States through the resources you have
in partnership with the Mexican Government can identify those who are committing these
crimes and because of the communities the the safe communities bipartisan act which
was signed we have new tools. I say this in Mexico and we say here in the
United States if you're involved in arms trafficking in this day in 2023 we're going to find you
and you're going to pay for your crime and the USAs who are here along with the leadership
of the department the Departments who communicated the cases that are already happening there
are already a hundred defendants they're being prosecuted under that law the message should
be loud and clear the Firearms traffickers as well as to the cartels who pay for these
weapons that we are going to go after you and Justice will be served the only way you
do that is by continuing the work that you've done and to build on that work and finally
I want to say that we're doing this in the context of a framework of a relationship that's
built on a partnership with Mexico we formed the bicentennial security framework which
is attended by attorney general Garland and secretary blinken and secretary Mayorkas and
many others now about a year plus ago relating to a reaffirmation and an accountability on
what we have done in a meeting that will be a high-level security dialogue that will be
held in October we'll be able to report out on the successes that have happened since
we started this effort but because of this effort that is happening here today in Washington
DC at the offices at ATF we're going to be able to report in my view even better results
and lastly let me just say I had the honor of being the Attorney General of Colorado
for six years before I came to Washington to the Senate and during that time we were
in the midst of reflecting on Homeland Security and seeing what had happened in 9 11 and the
lessons that we had learned one of the lessons but that came out of 9 11 and the reports
that were created by the Commission to take a look at Lessons Learned From the event of
9 11 is that we needed to work together we need to share information so even though I
was a state attorney general I was not a fed like most of you who are in this room I remember
being a member of The Joint terrorism task forces I remember the sharing of information
where you had FBI and ATF and HSI and all the uh the usas that were involved in all
that bringing the whole of government effort together I just want to underscore that as
we deal with this security issue that involves cartels that are well known to everybody that
are financed with their ill proceeds more than they ever have been to be able to purchase
the kinds of weapons that they're purchasing that it calls for that kind of clear action
on behalf of the United States government and because of the direction that we have
from the president of the United States the direction that we have from the cabinet agencies
the direction that you've had from the speakers you've already heard from and you'll hear
from Josh in a minute it's very clear what we got to do we've done it in the past we'll
do it again I look forward to having all of mission Mexico all of our agencies who are
represented there on your behalf making sure that we have a lasting impact on stemming
the flow of Arms from the United States into Mexico thank you very much. now often um you know January 8th and 9th
10th I have to put myself in this context it was a historic day for us in Mexico um
the historic day because President Biden came to Mexico and spent three days in very significant
meetings that we had with President Lopez obrador and I have to remind us all that it
had been nine years since the president of the United States had gone to Mexico and there
had not been a dialogue on security until we started this in the last several years
one of the points of the spear that is leading all of this new era in terms of the relationship
we're focusing on these security issues Fentanyl and precursors North human smuggling and all
the Mayhem that's caused around that security issue and Fentanyl has been the National Security
Council in the homeland security advisor Liz Sherwood Randall and with her including a
person who is largely responsible for us coming together is Josh Geltzer. Josh [Applause]
GELTZER.:I am very grateful to the Ambassador for for those kind remarks and to all who
have spoken uh today as well as to doj and ATF for hosting this Gathering after that
series of pretty remarkable presentations I'm I'm reminded of the adage that it's possible
that all that can be said has been said but not everyone has said it and I don't want
to fall into the Trap of of that especially on a day when we have real work to do when
this session in which we open up the discussion is just a Prelude to rolling up our sleeves
and having some more operational conversations but I do want to just take a moment to emphasize
really two things from our perspective at the White House and at the National Security
Council one what a priority it is to stop Firearms trafficking and two what an effort
we have underway to bring together all the parts of our government as well as our critical
Partners in Mexico and elsewhere to tackle this issue comprehensively so let me say a
few words on that we start from a fundamental premise that you've heard from the other speakers
which is that the majority of firearms traffic into Mexico come from our country they come
from the United States drug traffickers use these weapons which range from handguns to
High Caliber and assault weapons against the Mexican people and against those who are our
partners the military law enforcement who try to tackle a whole set of heart issues
with us together what's more that supply of firearms helps drug traffickers with their
Enterprises it helps them move deadly drugs including Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids
into our country where they wreak havoc on American communities just as they wreak havoc
on Mexican communities and communities elsewhere so tackling this issue is both the right thing
to do in and of itself and it helps support other high priorities of this Administration
now you've heard from the justice department the Homeland Security Department about their
critical disruptive efforts under operation southbound the justice department disrupts
trafficking of firearms from the U.S into Mexico through task forces along eight cities
across the Southwest border for DHS it's operation Without a Trace with HSI and CBP working with
Justice Department colleagues to identify Target seize and investigate financing transportation
and Communications methods among other things used by trafficking Networks what we have
tried to do at the White House in particular is add to the tool set add to the authorities
available to our operational colleagues in tackling this this problem set I'll give you
two examples one by Statute one by executive order the president was very proud to sign
into law the bipartisan safer communities act which as you heard from Lisa the deputy
attorney general has given the justice department critical tools to go after gun traffickers
that includes making it a federal crime to act as a straw purchaser of firearms intended
for unlawful use that's by Statute then by executive order and in particular executive
order 14059 which President Biden signed in December of 2021 the department of the treasury
and in particular its office of foreign assets control or ofac now has the authority and
has used the authority to impose sanctions on individuals engaged in the trafficking
of High Caliber firearms from the United States to Mexico and in particular to the powerful
drug cartels that operate there there's more work that complements all of this you've heard
about the anti-cartel weapons trafficking group that the justice department has established
along the border we're also committed to empowering and working with ATF and others to stop the
proliferation of illegal Firearms through civil actions through restraining orders all
the tools in the tool set and that includes a particular focus on so-called ghost guns
the essentially untraceable privately made firearms that are proliferating what's more
we are working as an Administration to promote safe storage of firearms which can prevent
the theft of guns that then become part of that southbound flow we are going to continue
to focus on outbound operations and enforcement that includes empowering those in DHS including
CBP to conduct outbound enforcement operations that can disrupt the flow of firearms and
currency out of the United States and then I want to emphasize a critical piece to all
this and you heard it from the Ambassador who lives this piece and works this piece
so effectively every day which is our collaboration with Mexico it is where is by working with
the government of Mexico the doj and the state department have been able to expand that access
to e-trace as you heard the deputy attorney general talk about it is in collaboration
with the Mexican Government that doj and state has been able to support the accreditation
of 25 ballistics Laboratories across 19 Mexican states and as you heard others indicate it
is a critical initiative underway to be a good partner as Mexico establishes trains
and sponsors a dedicated investigation's vetted unit to increase Firearms trafficking investigations
and prosecutions partnership like this doesn't just happen it comes because the president
United States invests time effort capital in the hard work of diplomacy and it happens
because the Mexican government hosts high-level visits from cabinet members and others and
has taken the time to come to Washington to continue these conversations on a wide range
of issues this work will continue it will continue to the country team day to day and
will continue at the cabinet level on the presidential level and as others have noted
it will continue in particular in October when the Mexicans are kind enough to host
the next session of the high level security dialogue in Mexico City on the agenda there
as it so often is as it needs to be is our partnership in combating Firearms trafficking
so I want to emphasize the Gratitude we have at the White House for the work that happens
every day within the justice department including ATF within the Department of Homeland Security
within the state department and with our Mexican Partners in tackling this high priority challenge
I believe this concludes this portion of today's events and I'm eager for the conversations
we're about to have as we dig into details about how we can do even better in forwarding
this problem thank you all thank you
