The advisory largely matched an alert the U.S. State Department released in February, with additional guidance to students traveling to Mexico to avoid becoming straw men for Mexican weapons smuggling rings — a volatile issue when it comes to border security. A straw man is a person without a criminal background who can purchase weapons on behalf of gun-smuggling rings. Mexican drug-trafficking organizations commonly use U.S. citizens to smuggle high-powered weapons into Mexico.

The ATF has a special interest in preventing weapons smuggling to Mexico as the agency has noted an increase in the number of powerful weapons crossing the border. The ATF has emphasized weapons smuggling interdictions through Project Gunrunner, which resulted in 306 defendants being referred for prosecution in 2006 and 465 defendants being referred for prosecution in 2007. The numbers for 2008 have not yet been released, but there are no indications that the number of cases involving weapons smuggling has decreased. The ATF issued its alert just prior to spring break, when many young, naive and cash-hungry students — perfect candidates for straw-man purchases — cross from the United States into Mexico. The alert from the State Department did not outline this specific threat, as it does not fall under its departmental responsibilities.

The press release containing the warning was removed from the ATF Web site March 4 due to the perception that the release was a travel warning; such warnings are politically delicate and handled only by the State Department due to their foreign relations ramifications. A turf battle can easily ensue when an agency like the ATF issues an alert for its own purposes, because the State Department — which speaks for the entire federal government — can interpret such moves as encroaching on their territory.

Weapons smuggling is an enormous issue for U.S.-Mexican cooperation; Mexican authorities often mention it as an example of how the United States is failing to assist Mexico in their fight against drug traffickers. The fact that the ATF went out of its way to issue what was essentially a travel alert to Mexico emphasizing the risk of weapons smuggling illustrates the high priority the agency has given to combating weapons smuggling between the United States and Mexico.