Securing the U.S. Mexico Border: Case of Child Pornography
![handle is hein.journals/wolj97 and id is 33 raw text is: Securing the U.S. Mexico Border: Case of Child Pornography
By Kerri Ann McLaughlin, J.D.
Kerri Ann McLaughlin, J.D. earned a B.A. in Political Science from Fordham University in 2006 and a J.D. from
Stetson University College of Law in 2011 with a Certificate of Concentration in International Law. In her sec-
ond semester of law school, Kerri traveled to Switzerland on a directed research project studying International
Organizations. In 2009, Kerri studied abroad in Stetson's Hague, Freiburg, and London programs. Kerri worked
as Professor Luz Nagle's research assistant and interned with the World Triathlon Corporation, the Tampa Po-
lice Department, the Federal Public Defender's Office, and the U.S. Attorney's office. In February 2012, Kerri
started pursuing an M.A. in Intelligence Studies at American Public University. She is also a board member of
Breaking Out Corporation, a non-profit working to fight human trafficking. Kerri currently lives in Ochang-
eup, South Korea with her husband Jason Perez where they teach English as a Second Language.
More moves across the U.S. Mexico border than just guns,
illegal immigrants, and drugs. It is Child Pornography!
Since early this year, Mexican lawmakers acknowl-
edge Mexico's place in the sexual exploitation of chil-
dren. They rank Mexico as the world's No. 2 producer
of child pornography. Fox News Latino, Mexico No.
2 Producer of Child Porn, Lawmakers Say, January 26,
2012 [available at www.Latino.foxnews.com/latino/
news/2012/01/26/mexico-no-2-producer-child-porn-
lawmakers-say/] (accessed March 16, 2012). Accord-
ing to chairwoman of the Special Committee to Fight
People Trafficking Rosi Orozco, the child pornography
business in Mexico profits $42 million each year. Id. In
addition to transmitting child porn images on the inter-
net, Mexico's ranking in the business of producing child
pornography heightens the threat level of child pornog-
raphy along the Mexico-U.S. border.
Child Pornography is not something new along
the Mexico U.S. border. The Factbook on Global Sexual
Exploitation references two cases from the late 1990s in
which one case involved 2000 clients of a child porn
producer and another case implicated two Americans
in producing pornographic videos using children
ranging in age from newborns to 18 year olds. Donna
M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn,
Vanessa Chirgwin, Coalition Against Trafficking in
Women. The Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation,
Mexico (1999) [available at http://www.uri.edu/artscil
wms/hughes/mexico.htm] (accessed March 16, 2012).
The United States continues to fight child pornog-
raphy with 5 specific statutes: 18 U.S.C. §2251 crimi-
nalizes the production of child pornography as a form
of sexual exploitation of children; 18 U.S.C.§2251A
WLJ : Women Lawyers Journal : 2012 Vol. 97 Nos. 1 & 2
criminalizes the selling or buying of children for sexu-
al exploitation; Both 18 U.S.C. §2252 and §2252A crim-
inalize those who knowingly possess, receive, and dis-
tribute child pornography; 18 U.S.C. §2260 criminalizes
the production of child pornography for the purpose
of importing it to the United States. Office of the Law
Revision Counsel, U.S. Code [available at http://uscode.
house.gov/] (accessed March 16,2012). Considering the
extent to which child pornography is produced in Mex-
ico, U.S.C. §2260 is essential to eradicating the supply of
child pornography to the United States.
The United States joins with the International
Community in the fight against Child Pornography.
Back in 2000, the United States signed the Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child
Pornography. Office of the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Human Rights. Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Chil-
dren, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, Volume
2171, A-27531 [available at http://www2.ohchr.org/eng-
lish/law/pdf/crc-sale.pdf] (accessed March 16, 2012).
The United States and Mexico currently fight orga-
nized crime together under the Merida Initiative. While
the Merida Initiative primarily concerns drug traffick-
ing, the mission centers on securing the border from
both drugs and arms trafficking. Refer to Clare Ribando
Seelke and Kristin M. Finklea U.S.-Mexican Security
Cooperation: the Merida Initiative and Beyond. July
29, 2010 CRS R41349, [available at Homeland Security
Digital Library www.hsdl.org/?view&did=20074] (ac-
cessed March 16, 2012).
... child
pornography is a
security threat to
the United States
because of the
involvement of
organized criminals
seeking profits and
the geographical
susceptibility to the
trafficking of child
porn along the U.S.
shared border with
Mexico, a leading
producer in child
pornography.
31](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wolj97&div=12&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Securing the U.S. Mexico Border: Case of Child Pornography
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