Students who are interested in careers in law enforcement may want to consider working for federal agencies that try to safeguard the nation's borders, especially in light of recent violence in the far north of Mexico.

The Houstonian newspaper of Sam Houston State University in Texas notes that recent border violence is likely to produce an upswing in demand for trained professionals at agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.

Drug violence in northern Mexico has made national headlines in recent week amid concerns that more of it could end up spilling into the U.S.

The newspaper noted that some 8,000 people died in Mexico last year alone because of the problem.

"The opportunities are excellent and the probability of being hired is quite good. However, a relatively small proportion of students choose that career path, often because they can be assigned to any of a number of different locations across the U.S., both along our borders [and] inland as well," Vincent Webb of the university's Criminal Justice Center told the college newspaper.