Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Meanwhile, on the Border,.....

Giving Mexico and many other Central American countries money to fight drugs is a waste, cause it'll be wasted on other things. I've heard of rebuilt UH-1 Hueys with sprayers to spray herbicide on marijuana, come out of the US Army Aviation Maintenance Facility, in Corpus Christi, TX. that were to be given to the Mex. Govt. This was told to me by US Army personnel assigned to the facility.

The aircraft went to the Mex. Govt. the aircraft came up missing, they were sold by there own currupt govt. officials. This was one of the issues that the DEA agent that was kidnapped and murdered was reporting back to WA. DC.

" Apparently seeking the brighter side of the wave of violence that has rocked the state of Sinaloa, El Debate notes that the funeral business has had a rise in profits of some 35% due to the increase in murders."

...................................??!!

"Canc�n, Quintana Roo has fallen into the hands of the Russian Mafia and Cuban-Americans [sometimes described as the Miami Mafia]. The Cubans deal mainly in human smuggling and the Russians in arms and prostitution."

......Yup, ain't that just ducky

GTC

*************


Link: http://m3report.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/mexican-citizens-feeling-the-insecurities-of-crime/


Mexico - the �king� of kidnappings!Mexican citizens feeling the insecurities of crime
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.

Saturday, 8/16/08


El Universal (Mexico City) 8/16/08
Several articles focused on resolving the national feeling of insecurity and the government�s proposed measures to combat organized crime, especially the widespread kidnapping for ransom.
- C�sar Camacho Quiroz (PRI party), president of the Justice Commission, said that the problem of insecurityy in Mexico will not be resolved by stiffer penalties but by eradicating impunity, as only 2 of 10 crimes are reported.
- Editorial excerpt: The cry of �Ya basta! (Enough!) against insecurity is gaining support throughout the country. The organization, Mexico United against Crime, has received strong support to is call for authorities at all levels to coordinate efforts to confront crime.
- A shootout between police and robbers in a gambling hall in Chetumal, Quintana Roo left one dead , four arrested and a hostage wounded. One of those arrested was an ex-policeman
- The vice-president of a national employers group announced that the popular resort town of Canc�n, Quintana Roo has fallen into the hands of the Russian Mafia and Cuban-Americans [sometimes described as the Miami Mafia]. The Cubans deal mainly in human smuggling and the Russians in arms and prostitution.
�������
Prensa Libre ( Guatemala City, Guat.) 8/16/08
- A radio station in Chiquimula, Guatemala, is airing this ad: � We offer trips to the north, in quality buses, and it is only necessary to walk one hour at the border with Mexico. We take you only if you have relatives in the U.S., but we guarantee your arrival. � The people traffickers then �shamelessly� furnish their phone number; �due to the fact that in the eastern portion of the country there is great interest in emigration, people go for whatever is available.� The radio station manager said that the ads are by a well known party who also uses other radio stations. �Other small ads are placed in different printed media, many times disguised as excursions or vacations.� Donald Gonzalez, an Immigration spokesman, said �This is nothing new, but the only thing these souces haven�t yet said is �I�m a coyote� �
- A wave of violence caused ten homicides in the capital city & outlying areas, including that of two Mexicans. Most events involved gunfire.
����-
El Comercio, Correo, and RP (all in Lima, Peru 8/16/0
These sources carried a curious report about a couple of sacks being found dumped out on the street in an industrial area of Callao, the seaport of Lima. The contents : one hundred fourteen 60 mm. mortar shells, of Russian manufacture, some of them in perfect condition. No one can figure out how or why they ended up there. The finder called police; the police called the army; the army took them away. Rechecking the story later, the portion about Russian manufacture had been deleted, but was in at least one source originally. Some reports called them �war grenades� and added a comment by a military person in Peru stating that the shells have a destructive radius of 40 meters.
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Sunday, 8/17/08
El Debate (Sinaloa) 8/17/08
- As part of Joint Operation Culiac�n-Navolato, the Mexican military, searching an uninhabited house in Culiac�n, discovered and seized an arsenal consisting of 8 rifles, 18 pistols, 21 ammo clips for pistols, 9 ammo clips for AK-47s, R-15s and M-16s as well as drum cartridge loaders and 1,283 cartridges of different calibers. Five of the pistols were �encrusted� with precious stones and gold. Also seized were 150 parcels of dollar bills of different denominations. The money has not yet been counted, but estimated in the thousands of dollars.
- Mexican Army assigned to traffic checkpoints in Culiac�n, stopped and disarmed a group of municipal police for failure to have written authorization with them for being armed.
- Apparently seeking the brighter side of the wave of violence that has rocked the state of Sinaloa, El Debate notes that the funeral business has had a rise in profits of some 35% due to the increase in murders.
�������
Norte (Cd. Ju�rez, Chihuahua) 8/17/08
At least 10 people, including a 4-year-old, are reported killed in a shootout in Creel, Chihuahua, a tourist town near the Copper Canyon area. According to police accounts, a group of some 20 people were leaving a dance hall when an armed group in at least three vehicles opened fire on them with assault rifles and pistols.
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Frontera (Tijuana, Baja California) 8/17/08
The governor of the state of Veracruz, Fidel Herrera, considers this the time for Mexico to create a national police to attack organized crime. �Our proposal is to unify commands and strategies. Perhaps the moment has arrived to have only one national police like those in France, Italy, and many democratic countries of the world,� he asserted.
�������
Monday, 8/18/08


El Universal (Mexico City) 8/18/08
- A total of 26 homicides related to organized crime occurred over the weekend, 20 in Chihuahua, 3 in Baja California and one each in Sinaloa, Durango and Colima. This count includes the count in Creel reported yesterday, the official total in that incident is 13 dead including a 1-year-old.
- The Army has suffered 60 killed in action in the anti-drug war so far during the present administration of President Felipe Calder�n.
- In its editorial, El Universal suggests that it would be advisable for the government to take advantage of public indignation over recent crimes in order to put into effect more ambitious measures against narcotraffic. In his opinion column, Jacobo Zabludovsky laments that Mexico stays the same through every administration, always confronting problems superficially, without any depth of analysis. Demetrio Sodi, in his column, wonders if this is just another presidential term wasted in combatting public insecurity.
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El Diario de Coahuila (Saltillo, Coahuila) 8/18/08
So far this year, 62 kidnappings for ransom have been reported in the state of Mexico. This has resulted in the arrests of 68 kidnappers during the past four months, putting two criminal bands out of business. The Attorney General�s office (PGR) reports that there are an average of 64 kidnappings per month in the country.
�������
La Jornada (Mexico City) 8/18/08
Five subjects who tried to pass themselves off as federal officers in order to kidnap a businessman in Tlapanal�, Puebla were captured by the citizens of the town, beat up and were nearly lynched before authorities negotiated their release to official custody. Three of the five suffered major injuries during their custody following the �citizens arrest.� The photo relates.


- end of report -

a liitle humor to interupt such a serious topic........


This should be in The Onion....

A secret source in the military has confirmed that they are now taking advantage of our undocumented worker resource. The program is called operation "PINATA". While the enemy is under frontal attack a covert operation takes place from the rear. Using tactics gained from experience at construction sites throughout the US the undocumented patrol will rob the enemy blind.

The enemy will be left defenceless without supplies. The only limitation so far is the access to the enemy cannot be anymore than a shallow river that can be easily walked across.

Film at 11................................

Thank you , B......we should grin and goof off on this detail.

This is a good post,....

I like Jeanie's style, she's got cojones enough to state the obvious,........

Cojones,....that's the wrong metaphor,....?

certainly no offence to Jeannie expressed / implied.

Link:

http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/64893/

Anti-illegal-immigration rally held
By Tom Treweek Staff Writer // tomtnwanews.com

Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Email this story | Printer-friendly version

ROGERS - Jeannie Bulsworth, the founder and chairwoman of the antiillegal-immigration group Secure Arkansas, described Monday night the problems illegals are making in America.

Not everyone shared Bulsworth's vision. Two people at the small gathering at the Rogers Public Library left after 15 minutes without a look back, leaving 13 people in the audience.

Bulsworth did not mince words.

"I think we are being targeted by the Mexican government," she said after noting the programs for illegal immigrants that have been passed by the American government.

She targeted the elected officials she blames for inaction.

"Vote 'em out," Bulsworth said. "We the people put 'em in there. We the people can get 'em out of there."

"I don't want to leave the decisions over to the Mexican consulate," she said. "We don't want to leave the decisions up to the drug smugglers. We don't want it up to the terrorists (and gangs ).

"I'm taking it to you all - you all are the ones who can make a difference," she said. "You're good people, and you've been abused enough in here."

She gave the audience members the tools of organization, of writing letters and making calls, of putting pressure on those in government. She encouraged them to force action in Benton County and northwest Arkansas.

"If it doesn't happen locally, it doesn't happen," Bulsworth said.

Bulsworth highlighted the costs she saw, the price of accommodating the illegals she wants to expel from Arkansas.

"We can't build enough schools. We can't build enough prisons," Bulsworth said. "We've got expenditures we're not even considering."

She didn't ask for much: a few signatures, a Benton County Secure America director, a secretary-treasurer. Bulsworth asked audience members to talk to their friends and their neighbors to let them know about the effort.

"All we need is a little bit done here, � just a little bit," she said. "It's just push the door open and watch what comes through."

I don't know why anyone is bothering to discuss this issue. The Federal Gomerment which was originally charged with nothing other than "protecting" our borders could today "shive a git". That was their primary purpose way back in the 1700's, WTF happened? NOBODY in the Gomerment really cares to secure our borders, I just don't understand their reason. Much like $ 4.00 a gallon gas when we have all the oil we need HERE and yet we cannot drill and produce.
The Gomerment must know something far beyond our ability to comprehend.

" I don't know why anyone is bothering to discuss this issue."

Well, I intend to keep bombarding you with this "ISSUE"
.......and daily evolutions thereof.
If you don;'t like it, give me my money and run me off.

.....been run offa' bigger outfits than this,....bwa-ha.

Wouldn't occur to anybody that this is all just random chaotic disonensce,........no "Grand Scheme / Master Plan ",......

of course, maybe Fox has a pictire of ole' W. gettin' it on when he was younger / wilder,....and ran into Mex.

" I don't know why anyone is bothering to discuss this issue."

Guess you'll have to keep wondering,.......I KNOW why I'm putting alla' this up, and believe me,....it's no bother.

see ya' on the wall.

GTC

I work in the construction industry. First INS raid I saw was in '83. I have lost close to 20 grand in tools on the job.

I really can't wrap my mind around what our govt isn't doing.

Met an illegal Guatamalan on a job.... he stated that he is an american and has just as much right to be here as I do. There was no challenging his mindset. The propaganda runs deep that it is their "right" and our govt and employers promote it.

We need to hold our folks in congress accountable. We need to throw the bums out and replace them with those that have more than their careers and self interest at the top of ther agenda.

While I appreciate the sentiment, I do not read these long copy and paste posts. It's just too much to chew on.

Carry on.

Well, you can click on the "Links" and most time see pictures too.

Hell, livin' in SoCal, you've got a handle on what's goin' on anyhoo.

.........Correct?

GTC

Every Damn day,...on that stretch of the I-10



***********************

DPS officer injured trying to stop fleeing truck near Benson
The Associated Press

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.19.2008





An officer was injured Tuesday morning while deploying a spike strip in an effort to stop a truck that was fleeing from police on Interstate 10 near Benson.



At 9:09 a.m., an Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer attempted to stop a Chevrolet pickup truck on westbound I-10 at milepost 295 for speeding and a tint violation, according to Officer Robert Bailey, an agency spokesman.



When the driver refused to stop, a nine-minute pursuit ensued during which the truck�s tires were spiked, he said.



The spike strip slowed the vehicle down, but when officers realized that there were approximately six or seven suspected illegal immigrants in the back and another two or three in the front, the pursuit was terminated, Bailey said.



The truck went off the roadway and the DPS contacted the Border Patrol to let the agency know that the occupants may have bailed in the desert, Bailey said.

Watch this TV news outta' El Paso,........

both the "Expert" opinion,....and the need to NUMBER every cartridge case that hits the ground ( safer than chasin' shooters, I must admit,.......Hay Meng I no chase joo,.....I just count jur boolits )

Link: http://www.americanpatrol.com/MISCNEWS/2006-UP/E-MAIL/080820-JuarezMayhem.html

Crossfire: I didn't mean you shouldn't discuss it, I meant, we are just wasting our efforts if the Gooberment won't listen and perform. I lived a long time in Tucson so I am familiar with the problem that only gets worse with NO intervention by the Politicians supposedly in charge. Again, no offense to you meant.

Very true. I don't believe I've ever reviewed an application that didn't have the "United States Citizen" box checked, even though they show all education in Mexico and are about 20 years old and can't speak English.

It ain't just dope,....be REAL careful of anything outta' Sinaloa or Jalisco ( furniture, like)

Just fulla' those transluscent Amber Scorpions,...that hit like a Mack truck,....WAY worse than anything here domestic.

Link: http://www.kpho.com/news/17244659/detail.html

CBP Officers Find Pot In Furniture
Pot Has Estimated Street Value Of $2.7 Million

POSTED: 11:08 am MST August 20, 2008
UPDATED: 12:05 pm MST August 20, 2008


NACO, Ariz. -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers foiled a creative smuggling attempt at the Naco Port of Entry on Tuesday when they discovered 1,595 packages of marijuana hidden inside wooden entertainment centers coming from Mexico, authorities said.

"This type of deep, sophisticated concealment is a sign of how much effort drug trafficking organizations must go through in an attempt to smuggle illicit drugs past our officers," said Port Director Al Acuna. "Our officers have proven they are up to the challenge."

Officers screening commercial imports from Mexico entering through the Naco Port of Entry chose a shipment of wooden entertainment centers for intensive inspection based on suspicions raised during an examination of paperwork, questions asked of the driver and a quick inspection of the items.

Officers searching one of the entertainment centers discovered packages of marijuana hidden within the structure of the piece, and as they continued their inspection of the other items, discovered they were all concealing packages of marijuana.

Over a period of several hours, officers disassembled the furniture and removed 1,595 packages of marijuana, weighing almost 1,650 pounds. The estimated street value of the seized drugs is more than $2.7 million.

The driver of the vehicle was arrested and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further investigation.

The USBP can hold up truck traffic at the border for days. I was in El Paso i had dropped off a trailer full of windshields from a Ford glass plant in Nashville, going to a Ford Plant, south of the Border. I was told it was going to be a drop and hook load, the trailer i was to pick up had been held at the border for inspection, about two days later i am finally Eastbound.

Wall Street Journal goes after "Anchor" concept

Why are we not surprised at "Fraud".....?

Well, good on the State Dept. for calling Whoa

Shame to see good will and compassion abused,.....Minnesota really DOES need more Somalians..............?


Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121919647430755373.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


Refugee Program Halted
As DNA Tests Show Fraud
Thousands in Africa
Lied about Families
To Gain U.S. Entry
By MIRIAM JORDAN
August 20, 2008; Page A3

The State Department has suspended a humanitarian program to reunite thousands of African refugees with relatives in the U.S. after unprecedented DNA testing by the government revealed widespread fraud.


Associated Press
The U.S. has halted refugee arrivals from East Africa, where hundreds of thousands of people have been stranded since civil war erupted in the 1990s.
The freeze affects refugees in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Guinea and Ghana, many of whom have been waiting years to emigrate. The State Department says it began DNA testing with a pilot program launched in February to verify blood ties among African refugees. Tests found some applicants lied about belonging to the same family to gain a better chance at legal entry.

The U.S. has responded by halting refugee arrivals from East Africa, where hundreds of thousands of people have been stranded in precarious conditions since civil war erupted in the early 1990s. The temporary suspension has generated panic in African communities in the U.S., where thousands wait to be joined by relatives.

Typically, a refugee already living in the U.S., a so-called anchor, is entitled to apply for permission to bring a spouse, minor children, parents and siblings. The process requires interviews, medical examinations and security screening.

But suspicion has grown in recent years that unrelated Africans were posing as family members to gain entry. "This program is designed for people to reunify with family members" already in the U.S., says Barbara Strack, director of the refugee division at U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. "We wanted to have empirical data" to confirm suspected fraud, she says.

In February, the State Department launched pilot testing in Kenya to verify family relationships, mainly among Somalis. When applicants arrived for a previously scheduled appointment, a U.S. official asked them to volunteer for a DNA test.

An expert then swabbed the cheek of those who claimed biological relationships, such as a mother and her purported children.


The cell samples were sent to labs in the U.S. for analysis.

As word spread, some applicants began missing appointments, and others refused to cooperate.

Laboratory analysis of the samples indicated a large portion of applicants weren't blood relations, as they claimed. "The results were dismaying," says Ms. Strack. "This told us we had a problem with the program."

The results prompted expansion of the testing to other countries. "We had high rates of fraud everywhere, except the Ivory Coast," says a State Department official.

In late April, the government decided to temporarily halt the family reunification resettlement program for East Africans. A government official confirms that "many thousands of people" are affected by the suspension, particularly Somalis and Ethiopians.

Refugee resettlement agencies report that arrivals have slowed to a trickle.

In Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., home to the country's largest East African population, Catholic Charities hasn't handled a single family reunification case since March 19. The agency has resettled 35 East African families this year, compared with more than 450 last year and about 1,300 in 2006. "Everyone is calling or walking in here and asking what is going on," says Angela Fox, a resettlement worker at Catholic Charities.

Some refugees received a notice from U.S. authorities advising them that their case is on hold because relatives didn't show up for a scheduled interview or they refused to supply a DNA sample.

Those who agreed to take the test are also in limbo.

Abdirahman Dhunkal, who hails from Somalia, petitioned in early 2005 for his father, mother and six siblings who are in Kenya to join him in Minnesota.

Their case was approved in late 2006, but Mr. Dhunkal says that his family was asked to take a DNA test earlier this year. Since the cell samples were collected, "nothing has happened. We are still waiting," says Mr. Dhunkal, 31, who hasn't seen his family in 14 years.

The government testing has raised questions about using DNA as an immigration tool.

"No one condones people gaining entry by false means; the integrity of the program must be ensured," says Bob Carey, chair of Refugee Council USA, a coalition of U.S. agencies that work on refugee issues, and vice president of resettlement for the International Rescue Committee. However, he adds, "DNA is not the only means to assess family relationships."

Refugee advocates say the definition of family among Africans extends beyond blood relatives, especially when families fleeing persecution are scattered. "Some families are raising children who aren't their own but whom they call son or daughter," says Ms. Fox of Catholic Charities.

Refugee slots are precious. The world's uprooted people are estimated to number 37 million; only about 1% are resettled. As the largest recipient, the U.S. absorbs about half of all refugees who are resettled.

Such demand "creates an incentive to get past the system," says Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr., president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. "Desperation makes people more susceptible to abuse or bribery."

To be approved as a refugee, an applicant must establish that he or she has suffered persecution or has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, creed or origin.

Between Oct. 1, 2007, and Aug. 13 of this year, the U.S. admitted 45,644 refugees. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008, the Bush administration set a ceiling for African refugees at 16,000. But by Aug. 13, only 6,780 Africans had been admitted.

Family unity has long been a pillar of U.S. refugee admissions, with relatives accorded priority. U.S. officials say the government must balance a need to ensure the integrity of the program with the desire to let in vulnerable refugees.

The government hasn't decided whether to expand testing to compare the DNA of relatives in the U.S. with those abroad to verify kinship.

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordanwsj.com

ALL IMMIGRATION SHOULD BE SUSPENDED until we can find a way to do it right, if you are a felon illegal immigrant, I would be okay with dropping them off the nearest tall building, the rest, send them home. Les

I can't help but agree with Roger Plank's evaluation at the bottom of this article..........

Seems that with other "Sanctuary Cities" examining the folly of their past actions and policies,.....Tucson is just wildly trying to charge willy nilly into the gap.........and pursue their own dream of La-La land.

We will undoudtedly see more mayhem there, and ya'll bear in mind ,....this is where Enriques Co-Worker was senslessly gunned down last week.

" Relax the rules ",.......?

STUPID Decision...........

GTC





Police chief eyes new policy on entrant reports
By Eric Swedlund

arizona daily star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.16.2008



Tucson Police Chief Kermit Miller is proposing a revision to the department's policies that outlines specifically the circumstances that call for officers to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

The new policy effectively would remove the discretion the department has been giving officers to make "case-by-case" decisions about when to call immigration officials.



"Once the policy goes into effect and the officers are trained, it will be clear to them what cases they notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement and what ones they don't," said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a department spokesman.



"If there is any doubt, there are patrol supervisors who will be called out to the scene to work through the situation."



The new policy, which is a revision to the department's General Orders and does not require City Council approval, states that crime victims and witnesses who are undocumented immigrants won't be reported to federal officials and neither will those stopped for civil traffic violations.



"Here's the driving force behind this � we want to be careful that we don't create an underclass of victims who won't report crimes out of fear because they happen to be in the U.S. illegally," Pacheco said.



"We're not in the business of enforcing federal immigration laws," Pacheco said.

"We're in the business of investigating crimes, and we want victims to feel that when they're victimized, they can report those incidents to the local police and they will be aggressively investigated," he said.



Officers would be required to report all undocumented immigrants, including juveniles, arrested on suspicion of criminal activity, even for misdemeanor cite-and-release type violations.

"What prompted this was an effort within the Tucson Police Department to be in line with what other municipal law enforcement agencies across the state and across the United States are doing," Pacheco said.



"This is a progressive policy that most police departments accept. We understand that none of these law enforcement agencies, including us, really have the resources to get involved in enforcing federal immigration law."



Pacheco said the change would go into effect "soon."



Scrutiny on Tucson police's immigration policies intensified in November after a high school student and his family were deported. That sprang from Tucson police's notifying the Border Patrol while investigating marijuana found in the student's backpack at school.



Jennifer Allen, executive director of the Border Action Network, said the policy has some strong points but also has provisions the immigrant-rights group considers unacceptable.



Allen said that under Tucson police's discretionary policy, traffic stops were the majority of incidents that Border Action Network cited as abuses in a report issued to the department.



"The fact that they explicitly prohibit inquiries under those circumstances is a huge step forward in ensuring accountability and making sure people can trust law enforcement," Allen said.

The requirements to report juveniles who are arrested or those cited on field-release violations are two parts of the policy Allen said she wants changed.



Roger Plank, Tucson chapter director for the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, criticized the Police Department for not requiring officers to report all undocumented immigrants.



"They don't have a choice to pick and choose which laws they're going to enforce," he said. "To come up with this policy of witnesses and victims and everything else is moot when you look at the overall scheme of things. It negates that argument of only separating out the criminals because they're already criminals by entering the country illegally.



"I don't understand how that helps us become more secure as a country and more secure as a community.



"These sanctuary policies that are put forth have wound up to be dismal failures and have cost communities more than they stood to gain."



● Contact reporter Eric Swedlund at 573-4115 or at eswedlundazstarnet.com.

" Crack House on our Southern Border".....good lone,....wish I'd come up with it.

Link: http://www.vdare.com/walker/080820_kidnapping.htm


Kidnapping�A Job Americans Won�t Do (But Mexicans Will)
By Brenda Walker

It's one ugly picture when the elected government of even a shabby democracy cannot put down a bunch of criminals using its army, with 40,000 troops now deployed.

Behind closed doors, elites from Mexico City to Washington must be increasingly nervous about the failure of Presidente Felipe Calderon's military offensive of more than a year's length against the drug cartels. The $1.4 billion Merida Initiative of crime-fighting goodies for Mexico was one indication of Congress' fear of a failed state next door�think Colombia with a dash of Somalia added. Americans must pay attention to the country-sized crack-house on our southern border.

Calderon had made public safety a major issue in his presidential campaign. There is widespread fear of crime among average Mexicans.

But the bodies are piling up and the crimes are becoming more brazen. The death toll in Juarez alone is over 800 this year. High-ranking police have been assassinated by the cartels. Others have fled to the US, pleading for asylum.

If there is any sign of success in Mexico's battle against the chaos of gangocracy, I don't see it. In fact, a high-ranking official in the attorney general's office resigned earlier this summer over poor performance in the efforts against the cartels.

The Mexican elite has clung to weak criminal punishment in a stubborn attempt to act more like permissive Europe and less like the despised Americans, who are seen as being too tough on crime. But there are indications that ordinary Mexicans, who face more dangerous streets, would be perfectly happy with tougher sentencing, as well as better policing. (A stunning 97 percent of crimes go unsolved.)

Any realistic crackdown on crime would include an array of punishments that might actually deter criminals�long stretches in the slammer, with the option of life in prison for the worst offenses. But Mexico is noticeably slow on the uptake about the relationship between crime and punishment.

Kidnappings are up 9.1 percent in the first five months of this year. The June kidnapping and subsequent murder of Fernando Marti, the 14-year-old son of wealthy businessman, appears to have focused Mexican public attention more than the border carnage.

It was an awful crime by any measure. The boy had been snatched when the armored vehicle in which he was riding was apparently stopped at a police checkpoint. The two bodyguards were ordered out and taken away. The driver was tortured to death, with all of his teeth pulled out, and the other guard was choked, left for dead, but survived and has provided important information. The Marti family quietly paid $2 million dollars in ransom. But when two months of waiting failed, they turned to the press and openly advertised a larger amount for Fernando's safe release.

It was not to be. The boy's body was found stuffed in a trunk August 1. He had been dead for at least a month. The traumatic crime was worsened in the public mind by the fact that some of those arrested so far are police officers. The growing distrust of police has caused kidnap victim families to turn to authorities last.

"An entire industry, much of it unregulated, has grown up around kidnapping, with consultants to negotiate the ransom, insurance policies to cover any ransom losses and an array of safety measures, available to those who can pay, from bodyguards with military backgrounds to bulletproofing on cars and clothing.

Given the involvement of some wayward officers in the kidnapping trade, it is easy to see why victims' relatives look outside police forces in trying to bring such nightmares to an end." [A Boy�s Killing Prods a City to Stand Up to Kidnappers, By Marc Lacey And Antonio Betancourt, New York Times, August 14, 2008]

A significant indicator of desperation was Calderon's suggestion that punishment be stiffened after this crime. [Mexico: President Seeks Tougher Kidnapping Penalties, Reuters, August 7, 2008].

Mexico's problem is not just the worsening crime; it is the public losing trust that the government is acting to protect its basic safety. This is the mechanism by which civil society fails.

The wealthy have more choices, of course:

"A business leader who survived a kidnapping and asked not to be named told TIME: 'What are we to do? Get the Israelis as bodyguards? Somebody else was mentioning using American Special Forces, as they are being demobilized and are more serious. Do we have to have our own paramilitary forces? We have to be organized, as the government obviously is not. I am sending my family to the U.S.' His sentiments are common in gatherings of the wealthy, where options under discussion range from emigration to buying a smaller house and less ostentatious car�and, of course, investing more heavily in private security." [No Help for Mexico's Kidnapping Surge, Time Magazine, August 08, 2008]

Nice that this �business leader� has faith in the United States to keep his family safe.

Of course, our police are mostly top notch�not like those crooks with badges in Mexico.

But a law-respecting society is built upon the shared responsibility of citizens, not merely a dependence on police to make law and order work. And you have to wonder at what point the Mexican Way of Crime will become fully ensconced at the same level here�simply because so many Mexicans now live in the U.S. When tens of millions of Mexicans "move" en masse to America, the whole cultural package arrives. And that includes crime. The idea that "good" Mexicans can be protected from "bad" ones has its limits.

It�s already happening. Rich Mexicans (and anyone else) living in the United States are sparkly lures to people snatchers, both expert and beginners. As noted earlier in VDARE.com, Mexican-style kidnapping has arrived. In San Diego, a Mexican businessman was grabbed and held for money by a several men. In Florida last year, 13-year-old Clay Moore was kidnapped from a school bus stop by one Mexican, but managed to escape using his ingenuity.

Here's a chilling headline:

�Mexican drug gang turns to kidnapping in U.S. �Reuters, August 12, 2008

�TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - American businesswoman Veronica was stepping out of her car in California when two men forced her into the passenger seat at gunpoint, pushed her teenage daughter into the back and drove them into Mexico.

�Taking advantage of lax Mexican security at the San Diego border, and with U.S. authorities focused mainly on those entering the United States, the kidnappers took the two women to Tijuana in January and held them for a month before their family paid a $100,000 ransom. [...]

�Several Americans have also been kidnapped in Texas this year and held for ransom in Mexico, the FBI said.�

That's right�the new cool thing for Mexi-gangsters is "transnational kidnapping" because nobody checks cars going into Mexico.

We already know that Mexican organized crime is here in America and has replaced Colombia as the major drug trafficker in the hemisphere, to the point where at least 195 American cities have Mexican cartels operating in them. There's every reason to assume that the narco-criminals are expanding their portfolios to other money-making pursuits in which they have expertise�namely, kidnapping.

"[Independent consultant Georgina] Sanchez said kidnapping in the United States could be particularly attractive to the cartels because they may be able to demand more money than they do in Mexico.

"�The US will begin to see a little of the same conflict that is happening in Mexico,� Sanchez said. �If [the cartels] already have methods, and ways of diversifying into other crimes, it's normal that they won't stop at the border.�" [Mexican drug cartels now doing business on US soil, Boston Globe, August 3, 2008]

The big question: Why isn't Washington doing something about the threat posed by Mexican anarchy?

Or perhaps a better question is: Why don't policies correspond to the real danger?

Among elite law enforcement and government policy makers, there is plenty of the "partnering" transnational philosophy of policing.

But common sense tells us to lock our own front door before cleaning out the crack house across town.

Our sovereign borders should be our first line of defense against a world of diverse criminals.

Job #1 for Washington should be: crime prevention�by keeping out the bad guys.

Brenda Walker (email her) lives in Northern California and publishes two websites, LimitsToGrowth.org and ImmigrationsHumanCost.org. Her favorite part of the Olympics has been the Great Wall of China.