At a time when the agency is prosecuting as many as 60 cartels in the automotive parts industry alone, an investigation they have described as the largest in the history of anti-cartel enforcement in the US, there are fewer lawyers doing the work than there have been in decades, according to former agency lawyers who asked not to be named.

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The U.S. weapons arm the cartels' military wings and enforcers, such as the Juarez Cartel's enforcement arm, La Linea, or The Line, court documents say.

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Similarly, the increase in high visibility cartel cases does not reflect a lowering of the bar for enforcement actions.

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Even when law enforcement is legitimately fighting the cartels, firefights have broken out between cartel members and Federales in the middle of towns like Monterrey, Acapulco and Cancun.

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