Mexico demands answers amid flood of US military-grade weapons to drug cartels

Mexican officials have pursued a lawsuit against American gun manufacturers for their role in helping arm the various cartels and empower them in their war against authorities.

Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news. 

"Operation Southbound is ATF’s primary operational initiative to disrupt the trafficking of firearms from the United States to Mexico," Mastropasqua explained. "Operation Southbound is focused on the four southwest border states, as the majority of the firearms being trafficked to Mexico originate from there, but it is not exclusive to just those states."

"Cross-border firearms trafficking is diffuse, does not only occur on the border, and does not always include dozens of firearms being illegally transported at once; often only a few are trafficked, and they originate in states far from the southwest border," she added.