U.S.-Mexican Border Security Continues To Deteriorate

Despite Barack Obama's May 5, 2010 claim that the Federal government has secured the border, violence continues, especially when Mexican authorities flatly refuse to control their side of the border. This refusal to control their own citizens has resulted in two deaths, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas and Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca, the latter known to be a drug smuggler.

From Sara A. Carter in the Washington Examiner:

After the shooting, Mexico opened a homicide investigation, and the FBI also commenced a probe of the death. Mexican President Felipe Calderone said he was "shocked and outraged" regarding the two deaths, and Mexico's foreign affairs minister said shooting at the teen in El Paso was a "disproportionate use of force." But for U.S. agents working the border, the deaths illustrate the stark reality of a violent situation that threatens to spin out of control. "Enough is enough," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents U.S. agents. "The Mexican government demanding a full investigation and pretending they have no control or responsibility over what happened is unbelievable," Bonner said. "They openly encourage people to cross. Nobody shows up to stop the rock throwers, smugglers on their side. It's a terrible thing that they are allowing criminals to gather on their side of the border to assault our agents."

How long will our government remain asleep at the switch? Here is an especially telling fact about how hypocritical the Mexican government is on this issue:

"Do you think U.S. Border Patrol agents would allow American teenagers to throw rocks at Mexican police or military from our side of the border into Mexico?" a Department of Homeland Security official said. "It would never happen. But daily, agents and officers are confronted by thugs while Mexican law enforcement rarely lifts a finger and many times are a part of the problem. "

You can access the complete article on-line here:

U.S.-Mexican Border Security Continues To Deteriorate
Sara A. Carter
Washington Examiner
June 15, 2010

Bush Finally Does Something About Wrongly Convicted Border Agents

It isn't perfect and still doesn't rid me of the feeling that Compean and Ramos were wrongly convicted and being held as political prisoners, but it is a start.

President Bush commuted the sentances of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Their prison terms will end on March 20 of this year.

Deb Riechmann has this:

Ramos and Compean became a rallying point among conservatives and on talk shows where their supporters called them heroes. Nearly the entire bipartisan congressional delegation from Texas and other lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle pleaded with Bush to grant them clemency.

Why did all of this happen? Read on:

Compean and Ramos, were convicted of shooting admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks as he fled across the Rio Grande, away from an abandoned van load of marijuana. The border agents argued during their trials that they believed the smuggler was armed and that they shot him in self defense. The prosecutor in the case said there was no evidence linking the smuggler to the van of marijuana.

The "prosecutor" in this case is Johnny Sutton. In order to ensure that Ramos and Compean were convocted, Sutton issued a Humanitarian Visa to Davila in exchange for immunity and his testimony against the border agents. Davila went on to use the Visa to continue his efforts at smuggling drugs into the United States. Further, Sutton held back evidence that at least three jurors said would have caused them to change their votes.

That makes Johhny Sutton possibly the most ignorant prosecutor of all time.

Compean and Ramos got railroaded and President Bush knew it.

This should have been a full pardon. We will still work for a full pardon but won't be expecting it from Barack Obama.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Bush Commutes Sentences Of Former US Border Agents
Deb Riechmann
Associated Press via Yahoo News
January 19, 2009

Mexican Military Aggressively Crosses U.S. Border And Arctic Ice Still Not Melting

If you think the current Presidential campaign, economics and oil prices have erased the illegal immigration problem, think again. Another very troubling incident has occurred down in Arizona and we cannot afford to ignore it.

From the Washington Times:

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist. Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who was not identified. It was unclear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers.

That was a military incursion into our soveriegn territory. I know that production of domestic energy is in the forefront of our national debate right now, but we need to remember that other issues are still going unresolved.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Border Patrol Agent Held At Gunpoint
Jerry Seper
The Washington Times
August 6, 2008

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And according to the Seattle Times, three vessels are stuck in the Arctic ice pack off of Alaska's northern coast.

The Alaska Patriot, Riverton and Hudson Bay Explorer were traveling east when they became stuck. It is not known how many people are aboard. The Coast Guard says it has diverted the Coast Guard Icebreaker Healy to open the ice around the ships. However, it will take the Healy a minimum of two days to get to the ships.

I wonder if the people aboard those ships were up there trying to document the claim that the Arctic was supposed to be ice-free this summer.

You can access the complete story on-line here:

Three Vessels Stuck In Arctic Ice
The Seattle Times
August 5, 2008

Middle-Eastern Illegal Aliens Nabbed In Mississippi

I've lost count of how many times liberals became indignant at the suggestion that our open border with Mexico is a perfect pathway for terrorists to come into the U.S. and with the help of local Mexican authorities, a pathway for them to bring weapons and equipment in. Although the libs have nothing to back up their indignation with, we Conservatives can point to drug smugglers shooting at Border Patrol agents killing one recently, U.S. citizens beng attacked by armed illegals and trucks full of illegal drugs being driven into the U.S.

Well, we have a new story here about OTM (other than Mexican) illegals and we really should perk our ears up at it. From One News Now:

Operation Uniforce was conducted during a two-week period this month by a special Border Patrol task force targeting I-20 because federal agents believe it is a new corridor for smugglers to ferry illegal aliens to the East Coast. A similar operation was conducted on I-10 last year at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. According to the Border Patrol, greater scrutiny of the I-10 corridor prompted smugglers to move further inland to I-20 -- which is 800 miles from the Mexican border. While most of the illegal immigrants nabbed came from Mexico, two individuals from "special interest" countries -- one Egyptian and the other a Palestinian from the West Bank -- were also apprehended. Rodney Hunt with the Mississippi Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement says people are concerned that terrorists are entering the U.S. across the porous border. "And I think this just shows [that] these people from these special interest countries ... [are not just] ... people coming here taking jobs from Americans, but we have potential ... terrorists," warns Hunt.

Those two were found with one group of illegals. How many more of their compatriots are roaming the United States unchecked because they were never found out?

I would love to be able to pose a question to both the Dem and GOP candidates about their positions on this one.

You can access the complete story on-line here:

Middle-Eastern Illegal Aliens Nabbed In Mississippi
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
January 30, 3008