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

This is not about Election year politics......

Bad enough he looks like a SQUIRREL,....

without acting / talking like one....

" McCain also addressed the need to put tighter controls on the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico. By some estimates, 95 percent of the weapons used in the drug wars in Mexico came from the United States."

.........Given that the Cuban Mafia, and the Russian Mobs are running Cancun,....

........Given that the same miscreants are in fairly powerful ascendance here at home ( within our Borders).....

....and extrapolating that they can freely move TONS of contraband with relative impunity,....

Doesn't "Tightening up" sound a little like another regulatory cross to bear, for the everyday stand up guy,.......

Predisposed to have no impact whatsoever on the actual problem ?

............like we have all sortsa' overwhelming proof about "95%" of the iron being outta' the US ?

Oh,.....that's right, ....the Mexican GOVERNMENT told us this was so.



Link: http://www.scsun-news.com/news/ci_10259573




McCain praises U.S.-Mexico cooperation on combating drug trade
By Jose L. Medina/Sun-News reporter
Article Launched: 08/21/2008 01:00:00 AM MDT


Click photo to enlargeSecret Service agents and local law enforcement officers... (Sun-News photo by Shari Vialpando)�1�
For more photos of U.S. Sen. John McCain's campaign stop in Las Cruces, visit our online photo gallery.

To see video clips of McCain's visit, click on the links below:

McCain part 1

McCain part 2

McCain part 3

McCain part 4

McCain part 5

McCain part 6


To hear the full interview with McCain, click here.

To hear the full interview with Sen. Barack Obama, click here.


ABOARD THE "STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS" � Arizona senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday praised efforts by Mexican officials to combat the drug trade and argued for tightening existing laws to prevent the flow of weapons into Mexico.

"This is really the first

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
time when we have significant U.S.-Mexican cooperation," sad McCain, speaking to reporters aboard his campaign bus, the "Straight Talk Express," following a town hall meeting in Las Cruces earlier in the day.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 800 people have been murdered in Ju�rez as drug cartels battle for territory and drug smuggling routes. Other border cities have also been afflicted by the violence, which has mostly stayed on the Mexican side of the border.

"This is a serious challenge to the authority of the government of Mexico," McCain said. "What happens when drug cartels take over? Drugs flow into the United States of America. It is clearly in America's interests to cooperate."

McCain said the Merida Initiative, a plan to provide the Mexican government with millions in U.S. funds to combat drug-related crime, is a good first step in the cooperative effort.

"I'm proud of (Mexican) President (Felipe) Calderon for trying," McCain said, touting himself as experienced in dealing with border security issues and criticizing his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama.

"Senator Obama has never been to Mexico. I've been dealing with these issues for many, many years. I understand them," he said.

McCain also addressed the need to put tighter controls on the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico. By some estimates, 95 percent of the weapons used in the drug wars in Mexico came from the United States.

"We have to do a better job in the form of instant background checks and making sure there's not a pattern of someone buying a bunch of these weapons. ... It is a problem, but I think we should improve, tighten, the existing laws rather than pass new ones."


Jose Medina can be reached at jmedinalcsun-news.

Gotta' earn a livin', here in the land of opportunity,..?

Link:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3412604/

Nash couple accused of trafficking cocaine


Posted: Aug. 21 1:03 p.m.
Updated: Aug. 21 1:10 p.m.

Nashville, N.C. � A Nash County couple faces numerous charges in connection with a yearlong drug trafficking investigation, which authorities say is a significant drug bust for the area.

Deputies arrested, Gavino Mendoza, 35, and his wife, Martina Hernandez Uribe, 31, both of 7549 Sarah Way in Rocky Mount.

The couple ran a large drug trafficking operation from their home and were sending drugs and money out of state and out of the country, investigators said Thursday morning.

Mendoza, who was arrested Tuesday following an undercover drug buy, faces six counts of trafficking cocaine and two counts of maintaining a place for the purpose of keeping and storing a controlled substance.

Uribe was arrested Thursday morning and charged with one count each of manufacturing marijuana, possessing drug paraphernalia, possession with intent to sell cocaine, maintaining a place for the purpose of keeping and storing a controlled substance and trafficking cocaine.

Among the items seized from the couple's home was 5.5 pounds of cocaine worth about $250,000, as well as $110,000 in cash and marijuana.

The investigation is not over, and the sheriff's office says there could be more charges and additional arrests.

Investigators also said Thursday that they are working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine if the couple is in the country illegally.

Mendoza was in the Nash County jail Thursday morning under a $2 million bond. His wife was in jail under a $1 million bond.

Reporter: Mike Charbonneau

From Lou Dobbs...................

So along comes this pompous Clown, talking about morality.

Lou Dobbs Tonight -- CNN -- August 21

Dobbs: The Catholic Church in this country is one of the strongest and the most outspoken advocates -- that is the Council of Bishops is the strongest advocate for open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens. Tonight a Catholic bishop in Rhode Island is not only calling for an end to immigration enforcement. He's calling for federal agents to have the right not to enforce the law. Now we're getting deep. Bill Tucker has our report.
Bill Tucker: In raids like this at a meat packing plant in Pottsville, Iowa, at a factory with defense contracts in Massachusetts, a manufacturer in North Carolina, across the country since the beginning of the year, more than 5,000 illegal aliens have been arrested in work site immigration enforcement raids. More than 1,000 of those face criminal charges. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has spoken out against those raids and one of its members, Bishop Thomas Tobin, of Providence has condemned the raids and says they should be stopped. In a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement he calls them quote "unjust, unnecessary and counterproductive." The bishop goes on to urge federal agents to consider the morality of their actions.
Bishop Tobin: I'm not suggesting that everybody who works for ICE is immoral in some way. I'm not suggesting that it is impossible to take a moral approach to this participation. I don't necessarily have the answer to that question. But I think it's a fair question to ask.
Watch Transcript

FLASH !..................

Functional Brain discovered at Fed ICE H.Q.

this ( expensive) stunt ranks right up there with everyone bring in their 40 Glock in raw Dumbchit practicality.

I do hope that the folks enjoy their trip home,

Really,

GTC

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080822/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/immigration_self_deportation_8


Immigration agency scraps self-deportation program By AMY TAXIN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 22, 6:23 AM ET



SANTA ANA, Calif. - A pilot program allowing illegal immigrants to surrender to authorities and have more control over their deportation has been dubbed a failure.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it is ending its "Scheduled Departure" program when the three-week trial concludes Friday. Only eight people participated in the program, officials said.

"Quite frankly, I think this proves the only method that works is enforcement," Jim Hayes, acting director of ICE's detention and removal operations, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

ICE said it hatched the plan to give illegal immigrants more control over their departure and to quell criticism by immigrant advocates that its enforcement efforts were disruptive to families.

"They want amnesty, they want open borders, and they want a more vulnerable America," Hayes said.

While immigrant rights activists ridiculed the program, they're now worried its failure will embolden enforcement.

"My hope is it isn't going to empower them or fuel their enforcement even further," immigration lawyer Lisa Ramirez said.

Immigrant advocates said the program flopped because it offered few incentives for illegal immigrants to step forward since they would be barred from returning to the country for as long as a decade. They also said it failed to consider immigrants' ties to family here.

"We do not believe they were really interested in having people turn themselves in," said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of community education for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

ICE offered the program to 457,000 illegal immigrants nationwide who have ignored judicial orders to leave the country but have no criminal record. They were promised up to 90 days to plan their exit and coordinate travel with relatives.

Applicants could sign up at ICE offices in Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego and Santa Ana. ICE estimates 30,000 eligible immigrants lived in the five cities where the program was offered.

The eight volunteers included an Estonian man in Phoenix, a Guatemalan man and Indian couple in Chicago, a Salvadoran man in Charlotte, a Mexican woman in San Diego and a Guatemalan man and Lebanese man in Santa Ana, according to ICE.

ICE spent $41,000 to advertise the program. Hayes said the government may have saved money because the cost of detaining the six immigrants who turned themselves in during the program's first week would have been $37,000.

Sure are seeing a lot of "Summary" sorta' writings,.......

Given all of the Summary Executions taking place in those dusty smoky hills of old Juarez,.......

150 in 3 weeks,......that's in Juarez town.

We'll not see numbers for the Nation as a whole,....much now goes unreported,.......safer that way for those on scene.

Link: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nationworld/stories/082208dnintjuarez.40b97cd.html


As Ju�rez violence escalates, debate rages on whether Mexico's drug war is working

11:08 PM CDT on Thursday, August 21, 2008
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchadodallasnews.com

CIUDAD JU�REZ, Mexico � An explosion of violence has made this border city the central front in Mexico's war on powerful drug cartels. But officials disagree on whether the carnage is a sign of progress or a mark of failure.

Nearly five months after the government of President Felipe Calder�n sent more than 2,500 federal troops and police to the state of Chihuahua on Texas' southwestern border, the pace and scope of drug violence have reached unprecedented levels.

With two mass killings in recent days, more than 1,200 people have been killed statewide in drug-related violence this year, according to tallies kept by Mexican media.

Ju�rez is leading the country in killings, surpassing even Mexico City. More than 850 have been killed in this city of 1.5 million people right across the border from El Paso, including about 150 in the past three weeks.

The state toll makes up more than 40 percent of the nationwide total of 2,700 people killed in drug-related violence this year.

Chihuahua Gov. Jos� Reyes Baeza this week called the violence "unacceptable" and challenged federal authorities to do more, saying that "a new response is needed to the bloody expressions of organized crime."

But a U.S. law enforcement official said the level of violence was a sign of success. "We're winning. The cartels are in disarray," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Others aren't so optimistic.

"What we're witnessing today is, without question, without precedent," said Alfredo Quijano, editor of Norte de Ciudad Ju�rez newspaper. "This is the fiercest, crudest war we've ever witnessed between drug traffickers in our city's history."

The carnage raises questions about the government's ability to restore order � particularly in cities such as Ciudad Ju�rez, an important trade and immigration conduit to Texas.

"These killings clearly indicate that the Mexican state has absolutely failed in its mission to protect the public," said Howard Campbell, a border anthropologist and drug trafficking expert at the University of Texas at El Paso. "It appears that no amount of soldiers or special police agents is enough to stop the killings in Ju�rez, either because they are incompetent, badly corrupted or intimidated by the cartels."


Other targets

Officials are concerned that the violence is spreading beyond cartel and law enforcement targets. Both UTEP and New Mexico State University have warned students to stay away from Ju�rez, a traditional destination for partygoers.

U.S. and Mexican officials had predicted that 2008 would be a bloody year, partly in response to the government crackdown. But officials now say they are surprised by the ferocity and resilience shown by the warring Sinaloa and Ju�rez cartels, battling for control of smuggling routes into the U.S. And they expressed renewed concern of corruption within the government.

Last week, the federal attorney general's office put six members of its organized crime unit under house arrest on suspicion of working for drug kingpins, including Arturo Beltr�n Leyva, a reputed leader of a faction involved in the Chihuahua violence.

Law enforcement officials attribute much of the violence to the Zetas, the paramilitary group once allied with the Gulf cartel but now operating more as freelance mercenaries. Officials say the Zetas are now working for Vicente Carrillo Fuentes of the Ju�rez cartel and his ally Mr. Beltr�n Leyva, an alleged former top member of the Sinaloa cartel.

"You're talking about a lethal combination � brains and power," said a U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said he was referring to Mr. Beltr�n Leyva and his ability to co-opt Mexican authorities, and the muscle of the Zetas, a group that was founded by army deserters and had formerly served as the armed enforcers of the Gulf cartel along the Texas-Mexico border in Tamaulipas state. The Zetas have been implicated in Dallas killings as well.

Officials say the Zetas are increasingly involved in other criminal enterprises, including kidnapping and human smuggling, as well as legitimate businesses.


Nuevo Laredo

Even relatively quiet areas are sources of distress to some people along the border.

Nuevo Laredo has seen a sharp drop in violence after hundreds of soldiers and federal agents were dispatched there. But business leaders say the Zetas maintain an active presence and are pressuring their way into legitimate businesses.

"This is worse than when they were fighting it out because at least they were out in the open," said Jacob Suneson, former vice chairman of the Nuevo Laredo Chamber of Commerce. "Now they're in the fiber of the city, kidnapping people at will, and nothing's said or published anymore, nothing is reported, nothing is being done. If our federal government says it's winning the war and that it's in control, I would ask them the following: How are you measuring success? Because from our vantage point, we've lost Nuevo Laredo."

Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouri�o said Wednesday that the government remains committed to restoring order.

"The president does not elude his responsibility and, on the contrary, will continue facing the most deeply felt complaint of society, which is insecurity, until the last day of his administration," Mr. Mouri�o said. "This is a transcendent moment for the country."

Earlier this year, the Zetas and the Gulf cartel amicably broke their working relationship after dividing up areas of control in Tamaulipas, U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials say. Under their agreement, the Gulf cartel controls smuggling at key border crossings, including Matamoros, Reynosa and Tampico. The Zetas control Nuevo Laredo, the busiest transit route into the U.S. via the Interstate 35 corridor to Dallas and beyond.

One Laredo law enforcement official said it was inevitable that the Zetas would return to challenge their former employers for wider control.

"Nuevo Laredo, the entire state of Tamaulipas, is a powder keg," said the official, citing informants. "Once the Zetas complete their mission with Beltr�n Leyva, they will return and cause mayhem here. It's just a matter of time."

Staff writer Laurence Iliff in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Grim tally
Recent killings in Ciudad Ju�rez and Chihuahua state include:

Monday: Gunmen ripped off security bars and stormed a house in Ju�rez, killing a Mexican motocross champion, Rene Tercero Reyes Aguirre, and two other racers, the El Paso Times reported.

Saturday: Gunmen killed 14 people at a family gathering in the western town of Creel.

Aug. 13: Gunmen opened fire during a religious service at a drug rehabilitation center in Ju�rez, killing eight men.

Aug. 11: There were 15 killings in Ju�rez, including two quadruple homicides. In Chihuahua City, assassins killed Pedro Aragonez, the forensic science director of the state attorney general's office.

And part of the responsibility for all this violence is on the US drug user.

No buyers = no drug dealers = no drug smugglers.

Time to legalize and regulate drugs? This isn't working.

Time to legalize locally organize lynchings and hangings of purveyors of poison to kids works for me,......

I've been investigated for just that,only mistake was letting the sorry SOB down alive, his "Rights" a;; violated, Cocainew rotted Septum squirting big gouts of blood all over

...and would do it again in a bloody heartbeat.

Ya'll hang, or shoot any of these trash,.......Have some sorta' big industrial size " Lawn and Garden" size bag handy,....it's a real mess.

You raise an intriguing point ,...as regards the "Adult" sector,
and drug use,.......

....that don't free up MS 13 to run around like they own OUR turf,

....it's down to that now,.....

Turf.

GTC



http://www.svherald.com/articles/2008/08/22/news/doc48ae629146640121071717.txt

Arizona is �ground zero� for Border Patrol
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press

Published on Friday, August 22, 2008

PHOENIX � Arizona is �Ground Zero� for the Border Patrol in its quest to gain effective control of illegal immigration into the United States, and agents are making headway, the chief of the agency�s busiest sector says.

The progress is reflected in a 16 percent drop in apprehensions in the patrol�s Tucson sector through Aug. 19 for the current fiscal year, compared to the same period a year ago, and by what officials believe is an even bigger decrease in entries, Chief Patrol Agent Robert Gilbert told The Associated Press this week. The fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
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Tucson Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Robert Gilbert speaks with the Associated Press, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008 in Phoenix. Gilbert says Arizona is "Ground Zero" for the Border Patrol in its quest to gain effective control of illegal immigration into the United States, and agents are making headway. (AP Photo/Matt York)




(Use arrows above to view more photos) �We have a ways to go, but we�re a lot closer today than we have been, and we�re seeing the results,� Gilbert said. �We�re at a 10-year low right now with apprehensions.�

Federal officials frequently cite lower apprehension figures as a measure of success since Border Patrol officials believe they indicate fewer people are trying to cross illegally.

As of Aug. 19, agents in the Tucson sector had made 291,000 apprehensions versus nearly 349,000 through the same date last year.

Gilbert noted the numbers are lower than figures hit in the 2002 fiscal year, when apprehensions plummeted following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And they�re far below the highest arrest total of the decade � 557,000 during the 2000 fiscal year.

But the sector, with its 262 miles of border, is still the busiest on the Mexican frontier, registering 46 percent of all Border Patrol arrests and 50 percent of its total marijuana seizures, Gilbert said.

As a result, the sector has received the most border fencing and vehicle barriers and been the test site for high-tech pilot programs, from virtual fencing to unmanned surveillance drones.

�This is for the Border Patrol our Ground Zero,� Gilbert said.

Gilbert credits several factors for sector successes, including increases in manpower, the fences and other physical barriers, efforts to prosecute some illegal immigrants and a program to fly some illegal immigrants caught in Arizona to the Mexican interior. The aerial repatriation program is intended to separate illegal immigrants from their smugglers.

�We�ve tried a lot of different things here, but one of the mistakes that I believe we�ve made is trying to eat the whole apple at once,� Gilbert said. �So now we�re taking sections of the border back.�

His team has divided the sector into six areas and agents focus first on those that are considered a priority. Gilbert�s mantra is: �Gain control, maintain control, expand operations � gain, maintain, expand.�

Gilbert said other factors are also deterring illegal immigrants from coming to and staying in Arizona, including the passage of state immigration laws, greater enforcement by local authorities and the efforts of a Border Patrol sister agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which concentrates on enforcement away from the border.

Not good news,

............GREAT news ! ( albeit a mite overdue)

Really good news,....and this sorta' comentary,.....slogged away at, fed, watered, and nourished by folks that WRITE to their reps is contributory



Link: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/254004


Tucson Region
5 virtual fence towers on Buenos Aires get initial OK
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.22.2008
advertisementThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given Homeland Security officials the initial green light to construct five virtual fence towers on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge southwest of Tucson.
In a draft compatibility determination released today, Buenos Aires managers decided that the potential long-term benefits of the towers � reducing illegal-immigrant traffic and associated Border Patrol activity on the refuge � outweighed the expected harm, including loss of habitat at tower sites, and wildlife and habitat disturbance during construction, maintenance and operation, the report says.
"Based on the information provided by DHS (Department of Homeland Security), the refuge expects that successful operation of the towers will result in a decrease in the environmental impacts caused by illegal immigration as well as an overall reduction in DHS operations on the refuge," the report said. "These reductions will enhance the experience members of the public have when visiting the refuge."
Homeland Security wants to place five permanent towers on the Buenos Aires refuge: four surveillance towers and one communications tower. The surveillance towers would stand 80 feet and the communications tower 120 feet. All five towers would be placed on concrete foundations and be enclosed by chain-link fence.
The surveillance towers are capable of viewing a 360-degree area for 24 hours a day with a radius of about 6 miles, the report said.
The towers would be among 57 planned in a project dubbed Tucson West that would create a virtual fence targeting 81 miles of Arizona's border between Sasabe and a point south of Sierra Vista.
The reality that Homeland Security plans to put virtual fence towers around the refuge also influenced the refuge's decision, the report said.
"If no towers are constructed on the refuge, there could potentially be a greater influx of illegal immigrants through the area," the report said. "Illegal immigrants quickly learn where they are most likely to be detected and where they can hide. If towers are detecting illegal immigrants everywhere but the refuge, then illegal immigrants will be more likely to travel through the refuge."
The public will have until Sept. 2 to comment on the draft, and officials will take the feedback into account in making a final decision, said Fish and Wildlife spokesman Jose Viramontes.
Fish and Wildlife is hoping to release its final determination no later than the week of Sept. 8, Viramontes said. If the final determination remains compatible, a special-use permit for the towers will be given to Homeland Security.
It was unclear Thursday if a Fish and Wildlife decision to allow the towers would prompt Homeland Security to instruct Boeing Co., the lead contractor, to resume work on the virtual fence.
In the past week, Homeland Security officials put all virtual-fence work on an indefinite hold. The agency said it was awaiting permission from the Interior Department to use its lands.
Interior Department officials said Homeland Security submitted requests to place towers on two Arizona public borderlands July 10 � just five days before it planned to begin construction.
In addition to the Tucson West project, Homeland Security has plans for a second project, called Ajo-1, that calls for 11 towers in Southwestern Arizona, including seven in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It has been put on hold until the department can resume construction of the Tucson West towers.
The Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge is in one of the busiest corridors for illegal-immigrant and drug-smuggling traffic on the Southwest border. An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 illegal immigrants cross there annually, the report says.
Nearly a decade of this activity has left scars on the refuge and recently landed it on an undesirable Top 10 list � the most imperiled national wildlife refuges in the country, according to a report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Another one bites the dust,......

....wonderin' how the "Mass street protest went,


Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-23-police-chief-slain_N.htm

Mexican police chief slain a day after taking job
Posted 22h 30m ago | Comments3 | Recommend2 E-mail | Save | Print |




Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) � A northern Mexican town's police chief was killed Friday just 24 hours after replacing a predecessor whose slaying had prompted the rest of the force to quit out of fear of drug gangs.
Jesus Blanco Cano's bullet-ridden body was found at a ranch near the town of Villa Ahumada in Chihuahua state, about 80 miles south of El Paso, said Alejandro Pariente, a spokesman for the regional deputy attorney general's office.

He had been beaten, blindfolded and his hands were tied behind his back. Twelve bullet casings were found at the scene.

Cano, 40, had been on the job for just a day. The previous police chief, two other officers and three residents were killed in May when 70 gunmen barged into Villa Ahumada, a town virtually taken over by drug gangs.

The rest of its 20-member police force quit in fear, forcing the Mexican military to take over. The town had slowly been recruiting new police and was without a police chief until Blanco took the job. The troops eventually left.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: El Paso | President Felipe Calderon | Ciudad Juarez | Blanco | Chihuahua City | Villa Ahumada
Mayor Fidel Chavez met Friday with state police, but nobody at this office could be reached for comment. Chavez had fled after the May attack, taking refuge in the state capital of Chihuahua City, but he returned after soldiers recovered the town.

Mexico's powerful drug cartels have stepped up attacks against police in response to a military and police crackdown, beheading some officers and killing others outside their homes. Several towns and cities, particularly in the north, have struggled to hold together their police forces.

The mayor of Ciudad Juarez, a town just north of Villa Ahumada, announced a plan this week to recruit soldiers to replenish its depleting police force. Many police in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, have been killed after their names appeared on hit lists left in public. Others whose names appeared on the lists have quit.

Since taking office in 2006, President Felipe Calderon has sent more than 25,000 troops and federal police to retake drug hotspots across the country.

But homicides, kidnappings and shootouts have only increased. In Chihuahua state � home base of the powerful Juarez drug cartel � more than 800 people have been killed this year, a surge from less than 400 during the first half of 2007.

Outraged Mexicans are planning mass street protests against crime for Saturday.

Good,....tough no-nonsense operations,......

Phoenix NEEDS this

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/23/20080823departure0823.html

Feds plan more raids on fugitive migrants
Voluntary-deportation program's poor results prompt crackdown
by Daniel Gonz�lez - Aug. 23, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Federal authorities say they will step up raids on illegal immigrants' homes after only eight immigrants, including one in Phoenix, stepped forward to take an offer of planned deportation.

The lack of participation in Operation Scheduled Departure, a pilot program, showed that the only way to solve the problem of immigrants staying in the U.S. after being ordered to leave is through enforcement, Jim Hayes of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a conference call Friday with reporters.

The 3-week-old program in five cities is being canceled. The only immigrant who stepped forward for voluntary deportation in Phoenix was from Estonia.
"This program proves that the most effective way is the way we have been doing it, through fugitive operations," said Hayes, who is acting director of ICE's detention-and-removal operations.


Thousands apprehended

Over the past two years, fugitive-operation teams in Phoenix and other U.S. cities have nabbed tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, most at their homes but also at job sites. The teams work daily to identify, locate and arrest immigrants who have previously been ordered to leave the U.S. but remained.

The majority are immigrants who applied for legal residency but were denied. Others were ordered deported after committing crimes. The teams have arrested 29,000 fugitive immigrants this fiscal year and are on pace to surpass the 30,000 arrested last year, Hayes said.

Nine more teams will be operating soon, bringing to 104 the total number assigned to hunt down deportation absconders full time, Hayes said.

In Phoenix, the ICE fugitive-operation team arrested 452 people through the first nine months of this fiscal year, compared with 472 all of last year, ICE spokesman Vincent Picard said. Of the 452 arrested in the current fiscal year, 255 were fugitives. The other 197 were undocumented immigrants that ICE officers came across while looking for fugitives, Picard said.

Immigrant advocates have criticized the operations, saying they break up families and terrorize immigrant communities. In response, the government launched the experimental scheduled-departure program on Aug. 5. It gave non-criminal fugitives the chance to turn themselves in and arrange for their departure within 90 days. In exchange, participants would not have to worry about agents unexpectedly showing up at the crack of dawn and removing them without a chance to settle their affairs.


Critics: Designed to fail

Advocates for immigrants said Operation Scheduled Departure was merely a ruse intended to give the government justification for continuing its sweeps.

"They knew this project was going to be a failure. They needed an excuse to justify what they have been doing," said Elias Bermudez, founder of the Phoenix-based advocacy group Immigrants Without Borders.

Bermudez predicted that the government will now intensify fugitive operations and that more non-fugitive illegal immigrants will get caught in the dragnets.

"We are telling people not to answer their doors (if ICE officers arrive looking for fugitives)," Bermudez said.

Magdalena Schwartz, a Mesa pastor and member of the Alliance of Valley Religious Leaders, said she believes more immigrants would have participated in the voluntary program if the government had given them more time to settle their affairs.

"Many of these immigrants have lived in this country for years," Schwartz said. "It takes more than (90 days) to sell their house, close their bank accounts, take care of their finances and take their children out of school."

In the four other participating cities - San Diego and Santa Ana, Calif.; Chicago; and Charlotte, N.C. - two Guatemalans, a couple from India, a Salvadoran, a Lebanese and a Mexican came forward.

So it would be fair to say that portions of Mexico are in a full blown state of war and folks are more tuned into the Olympics, Putin's antics half way around the world and the election 2008 .... not sure of the right word here...."stuff".

Is that about it? Oh yeah and it's spilling over onto or soil more and more openly.... extra security needed at US hospital where some of the wounded are dropped off.... I forgot that part ...

Hell, people don't care about what's happening next door! Why would you expect them to care about Mexico?

Every time I go to WalMart there are more and more Mexican there.... you don't suppose they are staging for a coup.... the government would have warned us... right????

One thing I'm noticing is a LARGE percentage of the Sonora and other Mex. vehicles I'm seeing on my local by-ways are very upscale, top line SUVs and PUs. Sure one still sees older rigs,........I just never remember seeing this much shiny new iron before.

........you're right, folks are generally way more comncerned about what's happening on the other side of the Planet,.....and things are pretty rough, just off to the S.

Definately more "Spill-Over", as well.

Ya'll have a real good Sunday.

GTC

Searched out, and rescued,.....

That is almost unbelievably tough country, looks like it ate some.

GTC

Link: http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/...408-rescue-illegal-immigran.b316554.html

Over a dozen immigrants rescued from desert, confirmed fatalities

More Gila Bend and Phoenix Local News

05:33 PM Mountain Standard Time on Sunday, August 24, 2008

azfamily.com


Confirmed fatalities among the group
azfamily.com
RAW: Chopper rescue
RAW: 2nd transport of dehadrated immigrant

PHOENIX (AP) -- At least 12 suspected illegal immigrants have been rescued in a desert area near Gila Bend.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says the immigrants were found Sunday morning.

A sheriff's office spokesman says the search began Saturday night near the Barry M. Goldwater Gunnery Range, which runs along the Mexican border.

The search is ongoing for another five to seven people who may be lost.

Authorities said they believe the rescue mission was prompted by a 911 distress call.

The rescued have been taken to a Phoenix area hospital for treatment.

Maybe we should have many more gunnery ranges along the border.

All the good things,.......

"Blood, Gore, Beheadings, Assaults, and other criminal activities"

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

Capital Punishment ,....NO,.....Blinding,.....SI




Link: http://m3report.wordpress.com/2008/...se-of-police-corruption-and-kidnappings/

Mexico outraged because of police corruption and kidnappings
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.

VAST REIGN OF TERROR

( Note: an initial review of Mexican media sites today revealed the ever present, widespread and even growing accounts of blood, gore, beheadings, assaults and other criminal activities. In tune with that, the attachment to this report is an editorial section cartoon titled �Vast Reign of Terror� in today�s �El Universal�, a major Mexico City newspaper. It shows a map of Mexico on which there is a huge, overpowering and dominating fortress flying three flags: �narco�, �organized crime� and the skull & bones. From the depths, arising next to a puny Mexican flag, a cry arises: �Enough already!!�
In lieu of the usual recounting of assorted criminal activity and corruption, the following is a full translation of an article today in �El Diario de Coahuila� (Saltillo, Coahuila), titled �Mexico outraged because of police corruption and kidnappings.� We believe this article will give the reader an accurate picture of today�s climate of insecurity in Mexico )
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* - After the kidnappers in police uniforms set up a false checkpoint on a street in Mexico City to catch 14 year old Fernando Marti his father paid a ransom of hundreds of thousands of dollars and awaited his son�s safe return.
(MEXICO(AP)) - It was in vain. The boy and his driver were found dead, each one in the trunk of a car. Days later, law enforcement officials said that a �judicial� policeman had a relevant participation in the kidnapping plot.
Suspicion about police participation in the kidnapping-murders has outraged the nation, where indifference by numerous residents tends to grow about the noon time shootings and the beheadings between drug cartel members. Massive protests are being planned in various cities and some legislators are changing their minds about the rejection of the death penalty.
�They should blind them, that way they would not commit crimes any more. Prison is not the answer; they go to prison and form their own groups there inside, and they come out more powerful� said 26 year old college student Ignacio Noriega, and added that he no longer feels safe anywhere.
Thursday, police reported that 150 residents of a community on the western outskirts of Mexico City viciously beat two alleged thieves and threatened to lynch them. They finally turned them over to the police.
With no other option but to make efficient decisions, persons in authority at all levels signed an accord on Thursday to improve the struggle against crime in Mexico, with commitments and time limits which include the cleaning up and permanent training of police officers, new laws and more resources.
The Executive, Legislative and Judicial leaders accepted the National Security, Justice and Legality Accord, which sets time periods ranging from 30 days to three years to bring about 74 programs, and whose performance will be overseen by a citizens� watch group.
At the signing of the accord in the nation�s capital, President Calderon said that �the traditional form of fighting insecurity has been insufficient� and he committed himself to sending legislative proposals about public security and kidnapping to the Congress. The legislature agreed to analyze them and approve them before 2008�s end.
Alejandro Marti, the father of Fernando Marti, present at the meeting, warned that Mexicans will be watching that the government keeps its promises.
He said �If they can�t, they ought to resign, but they shouldn�t stay in government positions, or receive a salary for doing nothing.�
Mexico has one of the world�s highest rates of kidnapping, according to the social group IKV Pax Christi, and the problem is getting worse. Kidnappings have increased 9.1% this year, averaging 65 per month in the entire country, says the (Mex.) Dep�t. of Justice, which holds responsible for this a growing web of cartels, police and ex-police officers and informants who single out potential lucrative victims.
And the official figures widely underestimate the problem. The majority of the kidnappings are not reported, for fear of the police.
After interviewing Mexicans about crimes that were not reported, the Citizens� Study Institute on Insecurity determined that the real number of kidnappings is more than 500 per month. Eighty-six percent of those interviewed said that they have little or no confidence in local police. The poll results were released Wednesday.
Rich Mexicans have battled kidnappings for a long time, with costly security measures and private negotiators. But now even middle class families are in danger, and the kidnappers tend more and more to kill their captives, even if a ransom is paid. Barely a few days before Marti�s decomposed body was found on August 1st, six members of a family were found dead in a house in the western state of Jalisco, presumably victims of kidnappers aided by a police agent. Four of the victims, including two children, were shot in the head. One adolescent had his throat cut. His mother was asphyxiated with a plastic bag.
One of the family�s sons had been kidnapped and then set free once the ransom was paid, but the gang
- presumably with the collaboration of a corrupt police agent from the state�s anti-kidnapping unit - decided that the family had much more money and threatened to keep kidnapping unless they were paid more. Investigators said the men killed the family after the police agent was identified.
The anger at the inability to trust Mexican police exploded last week, when residents of the central city of Tlapanala were able to surround and disarm a gang of seven kidnappers who had been posing as policemen.. They held them for 24 hours, beating them �with everything they could get hold of� until leaving them totally bloodied, said the mayor, Jose Villalba.
��People are very furious� the truth is they wanted to beat me up also�, said Villalba. The mayor finally convinced the crowd to turn over the suspects - who carried false police credentials - to the state police.
Mexico officially opposes the death penalty, which it abandoned a long time ago, and considers that a life sentence is a cruel punishment. Just in 2005 Mexico agreed to extradite to the United States suspects who faced a life sentence in the United States. But this week, the small Green Party proposed to reinstitute the death penalty for police who participate in kidnappings and for kidnappers who kill their victims.
President Calderon has proposed life sentences for those crimes, now punishable with the maximum sentence of 50 years imprisonment. The (Mex.) Dep�t. of Justice attributes the increase of the violence to the diversification of organized crime in Mexico. It indicated in a report that �The criminals now engage in drug traffic, kidnapping and money laundering, among other activities, without a central control or management, nor any predominant organization among the crime areas or spheres.� It added, �Because of that, criminal activity became competitive, using violence with much more frequency among themselves and against society, to gain markets, territories or positions.�
Previously, anti-crime sentiment in Mexico has been shown to be a powerful force. More than a quarter million of Mexico City residents took part in a protest against assassinations and kidnappings in 2004, severely damaging the presidential aspirations of the then capital city mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
A similar protest has been called for on August 30. The Secretary of Government, Juan Camilo Mourino, deems worrisome that the growing outrage may lead to more acts of justice being carried out by private citizens.
He said �It�s obvious that society is outraged, it�s obvious that society is annoyed, and they have reason to be� �If we can�t agree to commitments and to channel those demands into clear and concrete steps, then the people could begin to take other types of actions which would not resolve the problem nor help anyone.�
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- end of report -

The sad fact is that MANY training missions have been aborted,.....due to "Traffic" on designated ranges,....leaving Davis Monthan and Luke AFB with having to bring aircraft back in bombed up, and carrying other live ordinance,......

It's been a real problem, ....at one point over 60% of training flights were being aborted........that sorta' thing gets but passing comment in media format.

GTC

Sounds to me like that need to go ahead and bomb anyhow, maybe they would get the friggin hints. Stupid fuggers!

Have you noticed this issue is virtually being ignored in the presidential race, other than generic ten second sound bites?