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A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 30 January 2023

DEA Mexico chief quietly ousted over ties to drug lawyers

flow of cocaine, heroin and eign operations, and when ternal review ordered by
fentanyl across the border. something like this hap- DEA Administrator Anne
Nicholas Palmeri’s social- pens, it’s disruptive,” said Milgram.
izing and vacationing with Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former That review came in re-
Miami drug lawyers, de- chief of international op- sponse to the case of Jose
tailed in confidential re- erations. Irizarry, a disgraced former
cords viewed by The As- “It’s even more critical agent now serving a 12-year
sociated Press, brought his because of the deteriorat- federal prison sentence af-
ultimate downfall follow- ing situation with Mexico,” ter confessing to launder-
ing just a 14-month stint as added Phil Jordan, a for- ing money for Colombian
DEA’s powerful regional mer director of the DEA’s drug cartels and skimming
director supervising dozens El Paso Intelligence Cen- millions from seizures to
of agents across Mexico, ter. “If we don’t have a fund an international joy-
Central America and Can- strong regional director or ride of jet-setting, parties
ada. But separate internal agent in charge there, it and prostitutes. Palmeri’s is
probes raised other red works against the agen- the second case in recent
flags, including complaints cy’s overall operations be- months to shine a light on
of lax handling of the coro- cause everything transits the often-cozy interactions
navirus pandemic that through Mexico, whether between DEA officials and
resulted in two sickened it’s coming from Colombia Miami attorneys represent-
agents having to be airlift- or the fentanyl that flows ing some of Latin America’s
ed out of the country. And in through China. It cannot biggest narcotraffickers
This portion of a photo posted on Twitter by the DEA's New York another disclosed this past be taken lightly.” and money launderers.
division on Aug 30, 2019 shows Nicholas Palmeri. week found Palmeri ap- Palmeri’s case adds to a Last year, federal prosecu-
proved use of drug-fighting growing litany of miscon- tors charged a DEA agent
By JOSHUA GOODMAN last year over improper funds for inappropriate pur- duct roiling the nation’s and a former supervisor
and JIM MUSTIAN contact with lawyers for poses and sought to be re- premier narcotics law en- with leaking confidential
Associated Press narcotraffickers, an embar- imbursed to pay for his own forcement agency at a law enforcement informa-
MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Drug rassing end to a brief ten- birthday party. time when its sprawling tion to two unnamed Mi-
Enforcement Administra- ure marked by deteriorat- “The post of regional di- foreign operations — span- ami defense attorneys in
tion quietly ousted its for- ing cooperation between rector in Mexico is the most ning 69 countries — are exchange for $70,000 in
mer top official in Mexico the countries and a record important one in DEA’s for- under scrutiny from an ex- cash.q

Should federal grants favor highway repair over expansion?

By JEFF McMURRAY said of his reaction when against damage caused
Associated Press he learned the project by climate change.
Arizona officials refer to won’t receive one of the Some of the money, how-
a notoriously congested law’s first Mega Grants the ever, has gone to new high-
stretch of desert highway U.S. Department of Trans- way construction — much
through tribal land as the portation will announce this of it from the nearly 30%
Wild Horse Pass Corridor, a week. “We thought we had increases Arizona and most
label that’s less about hors- done a good job putting other states are receiving
es than the bustling casino the proposal together. We over the next five years in
by the same name located thought we had checked the formula funding they
just north of where the in- all the boxes.” can use to prioritize their
terstate constricts to four The historic federal invest- own transportation needs.
lanes. ment in infrastructure has For specific projects, many
With the Gila River Indian reenergized dormant trans- of the biggest awards
Community’s backing, the portation projects, but the available under the law
state allocated or raised debate over how to priori- are through various highly Traffic moves along the notoriously congested stretch of
about $600 million of a tize them has only intensi- competitive grants. The I-10 through tribal land called the Wild Horse Pass Corridor,
nearly $1 billion plan that fied in the 14 months since Department of Transporta- Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023 in Chandler, Ariz.
would widen the most bot- President Joe Biden signed tion received around $30 ministration plans to direct Mississippi project due to
tleneck-inducing, 26-mile the measure. billion worth of applications a greater share of its dis- its significantly lower price
section of I-10 on the route The law follows decades for just the first $1 billion in cretionary transportation tag.
between Phoenix and Tuc- of neglect in maintaining Mega Grants being award- funding to “non-highway This year’s Mega Grants
son. the nation’s roads, bridges, ed, spokesperson Dani Si- projects” than the Trump combine three different
But its bid for federal grant water systems and airports. mons said. administration did. How- award types into a single
money under the new in- Research by Yale Univer- Another $1 billion will be ever, with so much more application, one of which
frastructure law to finish sity economist Ray Fair es- available each of the next total infrastructure money caters specifically to rural
the job fell short, leaving timates a sharp decline in four years before the fund- to work with, Davis said, “a and impoverished commu-
some advocates for road U.S. infrastructure invest- ing runs out. Still, the first rising tide lifts all boats.” nities.
construction accusing the ment has caused a $5.2 batch has been closely For example, one of the Some of the winning grants
Biden administration of de- trillion shortfall. The entire watched for signals about projects that the adminis- are for bridges, while oth-
valuing those projects to law totals $1 trillion, and it the administration’s prefer- tration told Congress it had ers are for mass transit —
focus on repairs and mass seeks to not only remedy ences. chosen for a Mega Grant including improvements to
transit. that dangerous backlog Jeff Davis, senior fellow at will widen Interstate 10 — Chicago’s commuter train
“Upset would be the right of projects but also build the Eno Center for Trans- but in Mississippi, not Arizo- system and concrete cas-
terminology,” Casa Grande out broadband internet portation, said it’s already na. Davis said the depart- ing for a rail tunnel in Mid-
Mayor Craig McFarland nationwide and protect clear that the Biden ad- ment likely preferred the town Manhattan.q