Editorial: Part I - Our Leaders Betray Us – National Security
By m3reportNATIONAL 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.
PLEASE READ THE NAFBPO EDITORIAL INSERTED AT THE END OF TODAY'S REPORT
Saturday 4/4/09
El Universal (Mexico City) 4/3/09
An international high level group is to be formed between Mexico and the US to analyze and formulate public policy regarding migration matters in a more efficient manner. In a private meeting between Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Patricia Espinosa, and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the two agreed to study the problem of migration in order to seek solutions to problems including undocumented migration, protection of human rights, procedures for repatriation, and informing the public about the risks of crossing the border illegally.
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El Financiero (Mexico City) 4/3/09
A Costa Rican truck driver was arrested trying to cross into Nicaragua with a load of 207 kilos of cocaine, nearly a million dollars and a firearm. The driver was trying to enter through a remote northern border post called Penas Blancas on the Pan-American highway.
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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 4/3/09
The Chief of Homicides of the Jalisco state Department of justice was shot and killed in a vehicle to vehicle attack in Zapopan, Jalisco. The Chief had served about three years in that position. Two suspects have been arrested.
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Sunday 4/5/09
Milenio (Mexico City) 4/4/09
A presumed member of the crime organization Los Zetas was executed Saturday morning and his body dumped in front of the military compound in the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, with a narco message that read: "This is what happens to those who support Los Zetas. Yours truly, La Familia Michoacana." The body was discovered at 5:30 a.m. by soldiers outside their enclosure. It showed signs of torture. This makes the eighth execution murder connected to organized crime that has occurred in the port city since the beginning of April.
A reader commented: "How is it possible that under the noses of the guardians of our homeland they come and toss bodies? Are they sleeping or what?" The only other reader comment was more succinct: "Guardians of our country? Ha!"
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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 4/4/09
The two suspects arrested in the assassination of the Chief of the homicide division of the Jalisco state Department of Justice [yesterday's brief report ] have been identified as probable members of Los Zetas. The Mayor of Zapopan, Jalisco, has requested that the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) authorize the municipal police who captured the suspects to carry their weapons even when out of uniform.
The purpose of the request is for their protection against possible reprisal by organized crime. The Mayor said that it is a sad situation when an honest person like the state officer is killed, but it is a "direct sign" that Los Zetas respect no one.
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Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 4/4/09
Dr. Ruy Perez Tamayo, Chief of the Department of Medicine at Mexico City's General Hospital, is also a scientific investigator and professor emeritus at several universities in the world. He asserts that Mexico has never had a true general plan of development by the government to promote science and technology. He said, that in Mexico, for every 10,000 people there is fewer than one scientist. Compared to other countries, he said, the outlook for Mexico is crushing. As an example, he cited other countries' ratios of scientists to 10,000 inhabitants: Chile, 3; Cuba, 4; Spain, 5; Canada, 11; and the US, 35. Dr. Perez Tamayo said the problem for Mexico is endemic, "part of the pathology of poverty."
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Monday 4/6/09
El Universal (Mexico City) 4/5/09
An armed group ambushed and killed a municipal police commander in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, as he had finished his shift Saturday evening. According to early reports, it seems the official was chased by a vehicle carrying the group that killed him. Although he left his vehicle in an attempt to escape, the attackers caught him and finished him with shots to the head.
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Last month, nearly a hundred police agents from two cities in Baja California have been called in by the AFI [equiv. FBI ] to testify about links to organized crime. Of those, 23 from Tijuana have been dismissed from the department and charged with crimes.
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At least three journalists have lost their lives and 46 have been attacked in Mexico so far this year while carrying out their professional work. The attacks against them include arbitrary detention, breaking and entering, intimidation and cruel or degrading treatment, among others. The most dangerous areas to practice journalism are the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, Federal District, Nuevo Leon and Michoacan. In the previous two years for this same period, 18 and 19 such attacks, respectively, were recorded. The data are kept by the Mexican National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH).
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La Cronica de Hoy (Mexico City) 4/5/09
The Hispanic labor force in the US, concentrated in construction, restaurants and services, is being affected by a rising rate of unemployment that reached 11.4% in March. A total of 13.2 million US workers were unemployed in March, according to the US Department of Labor. The leader of a construction local in Virginia affiliated with the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) said that in his area there are several projects that are helping Latinos. Nevertheless, he said "the situation is bad" and many Latinos cannot get unemployment benefits because of their immigration status. "I recommend that the workers take care of their jobs because it is hard to find work and it looks like the situation won't improve in the near future," he said. Hilda Solis, US Secretary of Labor emphasized the efforts of the government to raise the level of unemployment benefits and increase training opportunities for workers. [Although the article does not directly address the effect on unauthorized workers, it gives a clue by a quoting David Strauss, director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs: ] "The new figures of loss of employment are bad news, especially for migrant agricultural workers and seasonal workers."
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El Sol de Mexico (Mexico City) 4/5/09
Last February 22, one of the vehicles that was escorting the governor of Chihuahua, Jose Reyes Baeza, was attacked by an armed group from another vehicle. One of the governor's senior bodyguards was killed and two others were wounded. The attackers escaped. One March 31, two of the suspects were arrested in Chihuahua after a vehicle chase. Both men were in possession of AR-15 rifles they had stolen from the governor's bodyguards in the attack on his caravan. The federal Department of Justice agents (PGR) persuaded the two to divulge the location of their other two partners in crime. The four belonged to "La Linea," the armed branch of the Juarez cartel. All are now in custody and awaiting trial.
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El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 4/5/09
In a joint operation, the Mexican Army and Chiapas state police arrested four presumed members of Los Zetas. The operation was carried out in the cities of Tuxtla Gutierrez, San Cristobal de las Casas and Comitan de Dominguez. During the arrests, police freed two kidnap victims and seized firearms and armored vehicles.
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Excelsior (Mexico City) 4/5/09
Excelsior's graphic casualty count by state, updated daily:
http://www.exonline.com.mx/diario/contenido/468598
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-end of report-
EDITORIAL
April 6, 2009
This editorial appears on April 6, 2009. The schedule published with our first editorial in this series on March 24 indicated that the editorial for today would deal with national security and public safety. Taken together, those two subjects comprise a body of thought too broad to be addressed in one piece. Therefore, we will look today at the national security element of the two, and tomorrow we will speak to public safety.
Our Leaders Betray Us – National Security
In years past it was recognized that a thoughtful immigration policy ought to protect the United States from those who would do us harm – and harm can come to us in a number of forms, some not immediately visible. For example, during the Cold War, Communists were not eligible to enter the United States except under very limited circumstances and their travel and activities were severely defined. Even long before Communism became an issue, our immigration laws barred the entry of anarchists or subversives.
Now, reflecting modern realities, the law says that terrorists, or terrorist supporters, or those coming to commit an act of terrorism are not eligible for entry. One would certainly hope not.
However, for laws like that to be effective, there must be a means of enforcement, and enforcement calls for identification of, in this example, terrorists. How are we to do that?
The visa process is, or was, anyway, a useful tool for that purpose. Briefly, a visa is a license to apply for admission to the U.S. at a port of entry. It does not guarantee that the holder will be allowed in, only that he may present himself to an immigration officer – without a proper visa, the immigration officer won't even consider letting the alien into the U.S.
In days past, someone wanting to come to the United States took his passport (a document issued by his home country that serves to identify him) to the U.S. Consul (a U.S. State Department official in that foreign country) and applied for a visa. In that application, he said who he was, answered questions about things he had done or not done (was a Communist, for example), and what he intended to do in this country. In a perfect world, the consul then verified that his passport was valid and all the other things that mattered, did a brief investigation of the applicant's background, and issued the visa, or not. As a practical matter, it was not a flawless process, but it was useful when done with diligence by U.S. officials – which has been rare since the 1970s.
However, while the visa process is still in place for some purposes, its value has been eroded by a number of factors, largely inattention by the nation and its consular staffs to its purpose. Visas are issued by the U.S. Department of State, and, taken as a whole, our State Department is embarrassed by having to tell a foreigner that he can't come to the U.S; they don't like saying "No". Furthermore, they
For reasons clear to anyone interested in national security, interior enforcement is a must. If anyone had been paying attention to that need, those "students" who brought us 9/11 would have been located when they dropped out of school and questioned about what they were up to. The fact they were no longer in school could have resulted in their removal from the country even if it had not been possible to prove that they were up to murder.
Even now, there are Islamic terrorist training camps in this country, staffed by aliens (who may have come here legally, but for illicit purposes), but there is no action being taken against them by immigration authorities. Those people should be found, identified, detained, and deported, but they are not. Instead, they are free to continue giving their lessons to our domestic idiots, would-be terrorists who will happily blow other Americans up. To be sure, the FBI may well have them under surveillance, even penetrated by informants, but they must gather evidence that can be used in court, perhaps even wait for some overt act, a dangerous thing. Instead, we should put our immigration laws to the use for which they were intended. Such interior enforcement was done well into the 1970s, but it was curtailed due to bureaucratic and political pressures; 3,000 people paid the predictable price on 9/11.
Without a strong interior enforcement posture, the border can never be secured. As long as aliens think they can roam the U.S. with impunity, doing what they will (be it work, or killing) they will get past any number of patrols and technology. No illegal alien should feel secure in his activities once he is here; he is breaking the law, he represents a threat, and he should be looking over his shoulder every second. In fact, he has nothing to fear, though, for interior enforcement has to all intents and purposes, been stifled in recent years, and gutted in recent months. As in the case of protecting our jobs, it seems clear that too many of our leaders just do not give a damn. Obama, Reed, Pelosi, Napolitano, and their Amen Chorus in Congress seek to stifle any meaningful efforts at controlling the presence of illegal aliens in this country. Pelosi even goes so far as to make the despicable statement that attempts to do so are un-American.
We are being betrayed by our leaders. We leave them in place at our peril, for they obviously do not see protecting us as part of their job descriptions. That must be changed, and soon.
Kent Lundgren
Chairman
National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers
Schedule of Editorials – these will appear on our website, http://www.nafbpo.org, and our daily Foreign Media Report.
March 24 – Introductory Editorial
March 30 – American jobs for American workers
April 6 – National security and public safety (1st half)
April 7 - National security and public safety (2nd half)
April 13 – Public health and social impact
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Comment: Take the above for what it is worth. There is always a whole lot more going on than can ever be covered by the major news organs and news services. A wider purview helps us have a wider perspective of it all. I came across this website via Google Search engine..
A good knowledge of the daily news helps us keep on track with what is going on in the world and there are some parts we hardly ever hear about through corporate controlled media services. Anyone with any border news should share what they come across with us all. We are actually building historical archives for ourselves and for our descendants.
Education for Liberation!
Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THIRD-WORLD-NEWS/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
