Published: Feb 23, 2012

Confiscated Drug Money Goes to Law Enforcement Agencies

A number of Texas law enforcement agencies are seeing a bump in their budgets after sharing nearly $30 million confiscated from the leader of a drug cartel.

The money was divvied up between 12 Texas agencies, as well as the FBI, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the Drug Enforcement Agency, according to a Washington Post report. Most of the Texas departments received between $1.14 and $1.18 million. The Cameron County Sheriff's Office received $5.9 million, while the Brownsville and McAllen police departments each received $2.9 million.

The FBI, ICE and DEA split roughly $7 million of the confiscated drug money, according to the report.

The funds came from a 2010 court order against cartel kingpin Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence for threatening to assault federal agents and Texas county sheriffs.

“With equitable asset-sharing like this, federal and local law enforcement can really turn the tables on the bad guys,” James Dinkins, executive associate director of ICE, told the Post.

Cameron County is the southernmost county in Texas, and shares a border with Mexico. Violence in other border areas has run rampant in recent years. A young mother pushing a baby stroller in El Paso, Texas, was shot from across the border February 21 after a gun fight broke out in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.