People wait next to a fence to visit their imprisoned family members at the Apodaca prison on the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico, Feb. 20, 2012. Members of the Zetas drug cartel plotted with prison guards to orchestrate an elaborate escape and kill 44 of their rivals in one of the worst episodes of prison violence in Mexico. Daniel Becerril/Reuters
Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, the leader of the Zetas drug cartel, was captured by Mexican Marines who intercepted a pickup truck with $2 million in cash on a dirt road in the countryside outside the border city of Nuevo Laredo, which has long served as Zetas' base of operations, officials announced. Mexico's Interior Ministry/AP
Alleged members of the Zetas cartel are escorted by members of the military as they are presented to the press after their arrests in Mexico City, Oct. 7, 2011. Eduardo Verdugo/AP
A hooded police officer is seen from inside a bus at a crime scene in Juarez, on the outskirts of Monterrey July 24, 2012. Gunmen shot dead seven people almost at the same time but in different areas of the city, according to local media. Daniel Becerril/Reuters
A photo by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows a tunnel discovered by authorities, under a bathroom sink inside a warehouse, that is designed to smuggle drugs into the United States. The approximately 220-yard passage from Tijuana, Mexico was lit and ventilated according to officials. ICE/AP
Eric Acosta, a migrant from Honduras, recovers from a fall he suffered while trying to climb a north bound train, at a migrant shelter in Lecheria, on the outskirts of Mexico City, May 12, 2012. A surge of Central American migrants is making the 1,000-mile northbound journey this year, fueled in large part by Mexican drug-related violence. Marco Ugarte/AP
People stand near a burning vehicle outside the town hall following an explosion in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, June 29, 2012. An explosive device blew up inside a truck parked outside the town hall injuring seven people but causing no casualties, officials said. Reuters
Soldiers put final touches on a giant 'No More Weapons' billboard made with crushed firearms placed near the US border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Feb. 17, 2012. Killings by criminal gangs in the drug violence-wracked border city of Ciudad Juarez fell by 42 percent in the first six months of 2012 Mexico's army reported. Raymundo Ruiz/AP
People walk past a police officer who is patrolling the neighborhood with fellow officers in Guadalupe April 12, 2012. Daniel Becerrill/Reuters
A police officer wears a ring showing Saint Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes in the Roman Catholic church, while patrolling a neighborhood with fellow officers in Guadalupe April 13, 2012. Daniel Becerrill/Reuters
Shoes with signs that read in Spanish: 'Where are they?' are displayed outside the Senate building during a demonstration to protest against violence in Mexico City on Aug. 14. Arnulfo Franco/AP/File
A forensic technician kneels near the body of a man at a crime scene in the municipality of Guadalupe in Monterrey April 10, 2012. Daniel Becerrill/Reuters
Army personnel burn marijuana plants at a plantation discovered near San Quintin, Baja California state, Mexico, on July 15. Soldiers have found the largest marijuana plantation ever detected in Mexico, a huge field covering almost 300 acres. The plantation is four times larger than the previous record discovery by authorities at a ranch in northern Chihuahua state in 1984. Alexandre Meneghini/AP/File
In this photo from March 17, Mexican soldiers patrol the streets of Reynosa, on Mexico's northeastern border with the United States. Mexico has deployed thousands of soldiers and federal agents to drug strongholds as part of a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006. Most of the task of combatting organized crime in Mexico is done by the military and the federal police. Alexandre Meneghini/AP
A vendor sells the weekly Zeta magazine in the streets of Tijuana, Mexico, on April 1. Zeta magazine has set a standard for aggressive coverage of Mexican drug traffickers and complicit government officials. Mexico's news organizations are increasingly under assault for covering a drug war that has claimed more than 35,000 lives, including at least 22 journalists, since 2006. Alejandro Cossio/AP
The Tucson sector of the US-Mexico border has seen an alarming rise in the number of juveniles facing drug-smuggling charges. Teens are also carrying harder drugs into the US.
On a balmy Monday afternoon, authorities at a highway checkpoint a few miles north of the US-Mexico border pull over a commercial shuttle for inspection. A teenage girl sitting inside appears rattled and, as it turns out, with good reason. Several bundles of heroin are weighing down her bag.
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