Above: US Virgin Islands Governor John de Jongh

By the Caribbean Journal staff

United States Virgin Islands Governor John de Jongh signed onto a letter this week imploring federal officials to devote more resources to protecting America’s Caribbean border from narcotrafficking.

The letter comes alongside Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño’s call for President Obama to establish a Caribbean Border Initiative.

The drug trade has made the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico a major focal point of drug money and illegal firearms from criminal organizations in the US mainland, according to the letter.

That has led to an escalation in violence in the US territories.

Governor de Jongh was joined in signing the letter by Texas Governor Rick Perry, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, Kentucky’s Steven Beshear, Alabama’s Robert Bentley, Arkansas’ Mike Beebe, Oklahoma’s Mary Fallin, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and Maine Governor Paul LePage.

“We need help in fighting this battle along the Caribbean border, so that we do not have to fight these drug criminals on the streets of our states,” the letter read. “If we work together, we can win this fight.”