As America debates the Arizona illegal immigration law there may be dangers far greater than most may realize or admit that are being attracted to our Southern border in hopes of gaining anonymous entry into the United States. The next deadliest event to happen on American soil may walk right across our border undetected.  These individuals will more than likely be  part of a larger terrorist cell network that leads back to our enemies abroad.  Terror cells according to many reports are in South and Central America waiting for a conflict between the U.S. and Iran at which time they will be activated.  All part of a global plan set in place by Iran utilizing the terrorist arm known as Hezbollah.  Sounds far fetched but the facts are the facts.

Many believe that our border controvesy is not only about illegal immigration into our country but more about American security. America’s enemies are not uninformed. There are groups that seek to utilize any method possible to enter the country and to do damage to the United States even if it means only strolling across the U.S. Mexico border. Infiltrating America without a trace of information to be tracked by. Seems like a perfect plan for a would be terrorist. Far fetched probably not if you consider what many informed public officials and experts have stated over the past few years. Many believe and have stated that the miltitant group Hezbollah, also know as Hizbollah, is operating throughout South America and even along the troubled border of America and Mexico. Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanon-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The Iran-backed Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America’s tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S.

In the past few days Rep. Sue Myrick has asked Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to step up investigations of terrorists who might be operating on the U.S.-Mexico border. Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, wants Napolitano to establish a fact finding task force on the presence of Hezbollah in Mexico. “I believe Hezbollah and the drug cartels may be operating as partners on our border,” Myrick wrote to Napolitano, who is secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a letter last week. “I believe we need to do more intelligence gathering on Hezbollah’s presence on our border.”

In March of 2009 the New York Times reported: Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S. law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say.

In a 2007 Telemundo and MSN report on the presence of Hezbollah in South America the article stated:The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has taken root in South America, fostering a well-financed force of Islamist radicals boiling with hatred for the United States and ready to die to prove it, according to militia members, U.S. officials and police agencies across the continent. Mustafa Khalil Meri, a Hezbollah militiaman in Paraguay, says the militant Islamist group would take violent revenge inside the United States if it were to attack Iran.

According to Mexican officials Hezbollah has been involved in training the opposition (drug cartels and zetas) to the Mexican Army and is starting to be seen throughout the country. Homeland Security has said that there are Hezbollah members operating in the U.S. and it is reasonable to believe they are in contact with other Hezbollah in Mexico and around the world.

In March 2006 FBI Director Robert Mueller said that his agency busted a smuggling ring organized by the terrorist group Hezbollah that had operatives cross the Mexican border to carry out possible terrorist attacks inside the U.S. “This was an occasion in which Hezbollah operatives were assisting others with some association with Hezbollah in coming to the United States,” Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee.

In November 2005, an al-Qaida operative who was on the FBI’s terrorist watch list was captured near the Mexican border, housed in a Texas jail and turned over to federal agents, according to Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.

In December 2008 Mexican prosecutors say they won a 60-year prison term for a human smuggler who helped about 200 people sneak into the U.S., including Hezbollah supporters. Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was arrested in 2002 and convicted on organized-crime and immigrant-smuggling charges. Boughader, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, ran a cafe in the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California. Among those he smuggled were sympathizers of Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based group that U.S. authorities have labeled a terror organization.

From an investigation from an Atlanta news station: Channel 2 Action News anchor Justin Farmer traveled to Arizona to view a detention center near Phoenix. He viewed records that show illegals in custody from from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen. ….

A recent congressional report on the border threat confirmed members of Hezbollah have crossed the Southwest border. It shows photos of military jackets with Arab insignias found on the border. One depicts a picture of a plane crashing into the twin towers in New York City. Dave Stoddard was a border patrol agent for 20 years. “The American public has been kept in the dark about this issue,” he said. “In my experience, for every one apprehended, at least 10 escape apprehension.”

The congressional report also revealed the route Middle Easterners take to get the United States. It showed they travel from Europe to South America, then to the tri-border region. That’s where they learn to speak Spanish. The report said they then travel to Mexico and blend in with other illegals.

Law enforcement officials believe one of the world’s most wanted terrorists may have traveled into the U.S. in 2004 by coming through the mountains on the Mexico border. Federal agents confirmed Adnan Shurkajumah spent time in Atlanta just prior to Sep. 11th, and left on a bus. He is a Saudi Arabian pilot and bomb expert with a $5 million bounty on his head. In 2004, Shurkajumah was one of seven Al-Qaida members agents were looking for after they were spotted in Central America and believed headed to the United States through Mexico . Federal agents now say Shurkajumah seems to have disappeared.

In August 2008 The LA Times reported Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations. As part of his anti-American foreign policy, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has established warm diplomatic relations with Iran and has traveled there several times. The Bush administration, Israel and other governments worry that Venezuela is emerging as a base for anti-U.S. militant groups and spy services, including Hezbollah and its Iranian allies.

In April 2010 Amid growing concern about the illicit drug trade across the U.S.-Mexico border, the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas have been linked to South American drug trafficking organizations–and the money Hezbollah and Hamas make from narco-trafficking is used to finance their organizations, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS). “International terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, have also reportedly raised funding for their terrorist activities through linkages formed with DTOs in South America, particularly those operating in the tri-border area (TBA) of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina,” stated CRS in an April 30 report.

There are many reports that the street gang MS 13 has worked with and has  ties to Hezbollah terror cells in Mexico and the United States.  There is a lot of money to be made by both MS 13 and for Hezbollah in the international drug trade as well as human smuggling activities.

The sad reality of this article is no matter how many reports and investigations conclude the same thing, that Hezbollah is using our pourous borders to threaten America in case of a conflict with Iran, many will say that this is paranoia. An overeaction to right wing ideologies. In the end it may just be exactly what is happening. The immigration debate should not in anyway threaten the security of the American homeland. For those that are more concerned about the rights of illegal immigrants than their fellow Americans I ask of you to acknowledge that an unsecured border where individuals enter the country without a trail of information of knowing where they are from or why they are here is not a responsible stance in post 911 times. 

See Also:

Terrorist Group Profile: Hizballah

Hizballah: a.k.a. Party of God, Islamic Jihad, Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine Back Ground Information Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanon-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council,…

For years now we have written about the endless violence that has erupted in Mexico. Thousands upon thousands have been killed since the drug cartels ratcheted up their wars with one another for control of the drug trade that leads to America. Tourists are staying away as organized crime is creeping into once popular tourist hot spots. In the end Mexico is losing out on the huge revenues that the tourist spots brought into the country not to mention the jobs that they once created. Mexico is in a self destruct mode and the corruption plaqued government can not stop the spiral as they watched their authority throughout cartel ran regions dissapear. Gory news reports of daily shootouts between drug cartel hitmen are fueling concerns among Americans, Canadians and Europeans that Mexico is increasingly unsafe, even though most of the violence is along the U.S. border, far from top tourist areas.

So how bad is it in Mexico? Well cartels and other organized crime groups have began launching offensives against Mexico Military bases. Drug gangs in Mexico have attacked two army bases in a serious escalation in the country’s drug war. Eighteen gang members died in the ensuing gun battles, in which gunmen attacked in force in bulletproof vehicles, using hand grenades and assault rifles. The attempts to blockade soldiers inside their bases were part of seven attacks across two northern border states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. Traffickers previously have fought with army patrols, but the attempt to blockade garrisons came after weeks of an intense, bloody power struggle between two rival organizations, the Gulf cartel and its erstwhile paramilitary allies, the Zetas, to control the region bordering South Texas. The Mexican army says two soldiers and two gunmen died in a shootout in a northern Mexico area that has seen a recent spike in drug violence just today.

A Mexican government report has been leaked stating that 23,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since the beginning of a government crackdown on drug gangs in late 2006. According to the report, violence has surged this year, with 3,365 people already killed in the first three months of 2010. That announcement comes as officials face a new front in their war against the drug gangs. Two of Mexico’s most powerful cartels have joined forces to battle government security forces as well as a third cartel seeking its own slice of the cross-border drug trade

ACAPULCO: Five people, including a woman, her young son and a police officer, were killed on today in a daylight shootout in the hotel zone of Acapulco on Mexico’s Pacific coast, local police said. The coastal region is a flashpoint in Mexico’s brutal drug gang violence, in which more than 22,700 have died since the end of 2006, but attacks mostly occur at night and on the outskirts of the famous beach resort. Wednesday’s shootout occured mid-afternoon, said police chief Hector Paulino Vargas. A taxi driver and another driver were also killed, and five others were injured, local police officials said. Local media said federal police and gang members had been involved in the shootout.

The area most affected by the latest spate of violence has been the northeastern Gulf coast state of Tamaulipas, where authorities said 19 people have been slain and eight wounded in clashes that either pitted the armed forces against cartel gunmen or rival gangs against one another Since this past Sunday. The battles mainly occurred in cities along the eastern part of the U.S.-Mexico border, where fearful parents began keeping their children home from school beginning Tuesday. Tamaulipas prosecutor Jaime Rodriguez said Wednesday that the gun battles took place between Sunday and Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of 19 people, including a municipal police officer, while six police are reported as missing.

In some respects, the Mexican problem is the result of Colombia’s successful war on the Cali and Medellín drug cartels in the 1990s. Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the notorious leader of the Medellín Cartel, was gunned down by police commandos in 1993. Brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, who formed and ran the Cali Cartel, were captured in 1995, and later extradited to the United States to serve 30-year prison sentences. Although the Cali and Medellín cartels continued to operate, the removal of their leaders weakened them and created an opening for Mexican organized crime groups, such as the Guadalajara Cartel led by Miguel “El Padrino” (“the Godfather”) Ángel Félix Gallardo and his successors, to seize control of the lucrative North American drug trade,

The Sinaloa gang is the country’s largest cartel, based on the volume of drugs it moves. It grew out of the coastal state of Sinaloa, once known for its poppy fields and opium gum produced by Chinese immigrants. Now it is produced by hundreds of thousands of Mexican campesinos. The Sinaloa Cartel operates up Mexico’s Pacific coast and along the U.S. border — from Tijuana in the west, to Ciudad Juárez and Nuevo Laredo in the east. Since a different chief, or capo (the Mexican cartels have adopted the same terminology as their mafia counterparts), controls each territory, the Sinaloa Cartel has also become known as “The Federation.” But at the top of the chain sits Félix Gallardo’s former lieutenant, “El Chapo” Guzmán; Forbes magazine estimates his wealth at $1 billion. The U.S. government is offering a $5 million reward for his capture.

The second group is the Gulf Cartel, founded in the 1970s in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas, along the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Cartel grew dramatically during the chaos of the early 1990s, expanding its territory and moving from drug trafficking into direct sales, while engaging in a host of other nefarious rackets. The growth inevitably brought them into conflict with “El Chapo” Guzmán and the Sinaloa Cartel. But while the Sinaloa Cartel tried to maintain the veneer of a legitimate business enterprise, the Gulf Cartel burnished a bloody, violent image.

At its core was Los Zetas, originally a small group of deserters from the Mexican Special Forces, hired in 2000 by the Gulf Cartel’s former leader, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, to serve as his bodyguards. But Los Zetas was not content to run merely security. Following the capture of Cárdenas Guillén in 2003 by Mexican authorities (sentenced to 25 years in prison by a U.S. federal court in Feburary 2010), Los Zetas started to branch off from the cartel and began independently building capacity in the drug trade and violent crime in general, engaging in kidnapping, extortion, and killings.

The Mexican Drug Cartels and their splinter drug gangs are becoming even more brazen in their targets. An employee of the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez and her husband were shot dead while driving home with their baby, who escaped injury, in March of 2010. Lesley Enriquez, 35, and Arthur Redelfs, 34, were returning from a child’s birthday party with others when gunmen stopped their cars at an intersection and opened fire. Police discovered the couple dead of bullet wounds, their baby screaming in the backseat. A third adult, the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate, was also killed and two children in his car were injured.

The violence in Mexico has been escalating for years and is boiling over as a result of local authorities and even federal authorities under the control of Mexico’s government are losing the war against drug cartels that bring in billions of dollars from the U.S. and Canadian drug trade. Despite momentary press releases from the corrupt and failing government claiming that they have won a few battles the big picture is growing dimmer as each day brings news of more deaths as a result of uncontrolled violence in Northern Mexico. Mexico is a narco state that is failing and in the end the United States will have to employ their own forces as the cartels and gangs continue to grow their operations in American cities. The by products of the cartel drug trade is accompanied by kidnapping, murder, human trafficking, illegal immigration and a host of other societal issues all wrapped up in one package. America is becoming more at risk each day despite reports saying that the violence is not spreading across the border. Ask authorities in many U.S. cities and they will tell you that many of the drugs in their city streets are part of this border problem. The Mexican Drug Cartels have turned into a more organized “Mafia” style enterprise that is not limited by an imaginary border.

As America begins to spend millions if not billions on a border fence to bring an end to illegal immigration, drug smuggling, human trafficking, and the threat of terrorists crossing the border without American law enforcement knowledge, one issue that has to be addressed is what to do about the tunnels being burrowed from Mexico into the Unites States. There has also been tunnels found between Canada and the U.S. along the Canadian border as well. These tunnels are growing in complexity and has been a growing problem since the late eighties and early nineties. The Tunnels have been use along the Southern border with Mexico to smuggle illegal aliens, Drugs, stolen goods, humans being illegally trafficked, weapons and more. Law enforcement are finding them, but they are saying that some have been in operation for years. Along the Northern border with Canada drug smugglers have created tunnels as well that may be used for human trafficking, weapons but definitely are being used for drugs. Tunnels have become a necessity to smugglers since a crackdown that began after the events of September 11, 2001. The newer tunnels are growing in complexity that includes railways, lighting and ventilation systems. The time and manpower to create the complex underground pathways shows a commitment for increase flow. To own or operate a tunnel into America would have to be an extremely powerful and profitable toll bridge worth billions of dollars.

The thing is that organized crime in Mexico is always involved in major operations such as this. They have the resources and manpower to create the tunnels. It would take quite a bit of both to complete the advanced tunnels being found in California and Arizona.

Terrorists Tunnels?

It is very important to understand why these drug and human trafficking tunnels are so dangerous to the safety and security of the United States. As stated drug dealers and human traffickers are the groups that are known to use the tunnels and that in itself is cause for concern and attention. However the thought that terrorists that are dead set to do harm in America could also use these tunnels or better yet create their own should be a major concern. What may be going on beneath American borders can be even more dangerous than what is above in the open. Far from the tiny passages or crawl spaces one would expect or envision from a prison breakout movie. The tunnels are large and lots of product can be moved at once regardless if it is humans, drugs, weapons or anything else that is profitable for the smugglers.

The second disturbing point is that law enforcement has acknowledged that the drug cartels are setting up training camps for recruits similar to those in Afghanistan created by al Qaeda. This shows that the drug cartels are willing to challenge the Mexican police and are even advertising for recruits. The camps are near the borders with United States. The Mexican drug cartels are advertising for young men to step up and come and join their ranks to fight the Mexican army. The ads and banners promise those who join will make good money have food and a place to stay even while in training. Federal authorities say these camps have Afghanistan and other middle eastern instructors who teach the latest military fighting tactics that are utilized in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Islamic radicals that are fighting and killing American and allied troops in those countries. Mexican officials admit they know of special training camps in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Michoacan, where newly recruited Zetas take intensive six-week training courses in weapons, tactics and intelligence gathering.

Former Mexican national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, stated, that “Spanish and Islamic terrorist groups are using Mexico as a refuge… In light of this situation, there are continuing investigations aimed at dismantling these groups so that they may not cause problems”. He also mentioned that the terrorist groups in question are located in the northern part of the country. “Islamic people” in Mexico sparked speculation among observers that the Lebanese Shi´ite terrorist organization Hizbollah have established cells in Mexico.

Iran is believed providing at least some of the money for this recruiting and training program. The training camps are teaching hit and run gorilla technique’s. Cells of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) have sent their seasoned veterans to oversee the training of the new troops and to direct the war against the Mexican government on behalf of the Mexican Cartels. Extremist cells tied to Hizballah, Islamic Jihad, and al Qaeda are operating in Mexico and pose a potential threat to U.S. businesses, military personnel, and civilians throughout the region.

There is enough evidence to suggests that terrorists are not only in the region but have aligned with some of the drug cartels. The terrorist groups are not there just to help the drug cartels, but must have a bigger plan in place. The locations near the border for their activities is enough evidence to warrant that they are wanting to get closer to America in a hostile area that has seen years of violence and non government control. The drug cartels have run the show in these regions for some time. Terroristplanet.com has stated before that the Mexico – U.S. border has the makings of the lawless Afghanistan – Pakistan border region that has bred extremism and a flourishing drug trade as a result of poverty and ongoing violence. The recipe is the same in both places and now the terrorists have recognized it and are taking advantage of a disinterested America and a mostly absent Mexican government.

The drug and smuggling tunnels in Mexico and the Canada are dangerous. American, Mexican and Canadian law enforcement are locating some of them but are stating that they have been in operation for years. It is not an easy job. The borders are large and as you will read in the clippings below that some travel from buildings on one side of the border to another building on the other. More resources are needed. The Border Fence is just one part of the security measures that are needed to secure America. Surveillance equipment and intelligence gathering is crucial to locate and destroy these dangerous entry ways into America.

Below are a collection of news clipping collected to show how the problem is not going away even as Border Patrol agents on both side of the border fight for control of the borders themselves.

 February 28, 2002 · Jacki Lyden speaks with Donald Thornhill, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency, about the discovery of a 1000-foot tunnel used to smuggle drugs from Mexico to the United States. He says the tunnel connects a private home in the mountains east of San Diego to a house in the Mexican border town of Tecate. The tunnel is lighted and has steel rails to carry carts through it. Officials guess it had been in operation for two to three years.

October 3, 2003  Highly developed drug tunnel discovered in Arizona.  During the second week of September, one of the most complex drug smuggling rings was discovered. It was connected to the notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin Guzmán Loera.  Guzmán Loera is one of the most feared and sought-after Mexican drug kingpins. He is known to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for his use of underground tunnels as a means of smuggling, like the one that was recently discovered.  In 2001, he escaped from a maximum-security prison in Guadalajara, Mexico. His current whereabouts are unknown, but it is certain that he is fully established and producing massive amounts of cocaine.  The Guzmán Loera tunnel stretches under the border, from a poor border town in Sonora to the clean-cut, well-groomed suburban town of Nogales, Arizona. The tunnel is thirteen feet deep, nine hundred and eighty-five feet long and is the best-equipped drug tunnel ever discovered. It contains rails and rail cars believed to have shipped tons of cocaine and marijuana.

July 25, 2005   Drug tunnel stirs fears about northern border.  In the most remote parts of the 4,000-mile border the United States shares with Canada, more than 200 roads snake between the two countries, miles from homes and shops — unwatched and unprotected.  News last week that authorities had discovered a tunnel for smuggling marijuana from British Columbia into Washington state — the first tunnel found on the northern border — has focused new attention on what has long been known as the world’s longest undefended border.  While authorities on both sides have beefed up security and added staffing since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many believe the stretch remains hugely vulnerable — to illegal crossings, drug smuggling and especially terrorism.  In recent years, security measures have been added on both sides of the border.

On the Canadian side, the border is monitored by 23 teams of border agents assisted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and local police. Still, most of Canada’s 160 land and maritime border crossings are staffed by only one unarmed guard — and long stretches between entry points go unmanned.  On the U.S. side, new camera-surveillance systems have gone online, and since Sept. 11 the Border Patrol force has been boosted by about one-third, to 1,000. Also, the Department of Homeland Security has added small air and marine operations near Blaine and Plattsburgh, N.Y., and plans others in Michigan, North Dakota and Montana.

January 27, 2006  SAN DIEGO — Federal officials, who are stunned by the discovery of the longest border tunnel ever found, think the tunnel was constructed by a well-known drug cartel.  John Fernandes, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s San Diego office, said he suspected the tunnel was the work Tijuana’s Arellano-Felix drug smuggling syndicate or another well-known drug cartel. Fernandes said tougher enforcement above ground had forced smugglers to dig below

Mexican investigators found the tunnel entrance Tuesday inside a warehouse near the airport, about 150 yards south of the border. A 6-by-10-foot cement shaft equipped with a pulley dropped about 75 feet to the tunnel.  The tunnel exited into a large, two-story white cinderblock warehouse in an industrial San Diego neighborhood near the border.  Authorities found more than 2 tons of marijuana in what they say is the longest and one of the most sophisticated cross-border tunnels ever discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The tunnel ran about 2,400 feet from a warehouse near the airport in Tijuana, Mexico, to a warehouse in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial district, Michael Unzueta, a special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said.  The size and scale of the tunnel — the 21st discovered in more than four years along the Mexican border — stunned authorities, who said that the passageway revealed the lengths smugglers will go to evade detection.

At least 60 feet below U.S. soil, authorities found a tunnel floor lined with cement, lights that ran down one of the hard soil walls and air piped down from the surface, he said. An adult could stand in the 5-foot-high shaft.  It was like being in a cavern or a cave,” Unzueta said. “It’s just huge, absolutely incredible.”  The marijuana was found on the tunnel’s Mexican side. About 200 pounds of marijuana was also discovered on the U.S. side, Unzueta said.  Last week, Border Patrol agents discovered a 35-foot-long tunnel beneath the U.S.-Mexico border in after it caved in and the asphalt roadway above it collapsed. U.S. authorities said the tunnel ended in a patch of vacant land near the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego. Three other tunnels have been discovered this month in the Tijuana-San Diego area.

June 13, 2007  Border Patrol finds two drug tunnels in Nogales.  Border Patrol agents found over 350 pounds of marijuana in a storm drain tunnel last week. Friday, a certified tunnel unit with Border Patrol, along with their Mexican counterparts, started searching tunnels in Mexico into Arizona. During their search in the tunnels, they found a hand-dug drug tunnel.  The tunnel actually runs underneath I-19 and comes out near exit 1-A in the city, a length of about 150 yards.  Border Patrol’s Andy Adame said, “You can see where they cut the sides of the galvanized. They cut that and made a tunnel that runs around and reconnects.” Border agents say that smugglers used the tunnel for their get aways.  Adame said, “When we dropped down, you could see the bodies going around us and scooting back into Mexico.” Agents say the smugglers work in the late evening or early mornng when there’s little traffic off I-19.  They bring a vehicle down here, use a rope to pull the marijuana into the vehicle, and off they go. When agents went through the tunnel, they found water bottles and a pick. They also discovered a makeshift tray to smuggle their illegal cargo.  Adame said, “It’s just an aluminum tray. They run this, put it in the ground, run ropes so they don’t even have to use a body to bring it across.” Agents say that there’s a chance the tunnel could collapse, so they have notified the Arizona Department of Transportation.  Border Patrol agents don’t know how long this tunnel has been in existence, but they do know that it’s one tunnel drugs won’t be coming out of anymore. Border patrol officials say that were it not for the cooperation of their Mexican counterparts, they would have never found the tunnels.

6/29/2007 NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agents executing simultaneous raids discovered a recently completed smuggling tunnel linking the two countries, officials said Friday. The entrances to the tunnel, described as a sophisticated passageway its builders planned to use to smuggle drugs, were discovered in a home in Nogales, Ariz., and an apartment in Nogales, Mexico, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Five people were arrested during the raid on the Mexican location. No arrests had yet been made on the U.S. side of the border. The investigation has been underway since April, said Ramona Sanchez, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman. The tunnel was about 3 feet wide and 100 yards long, she said. Agents who served a search warrant late Thursday at the tiny, one-story home found the tunnel entrance hidden beneath plywood sheets weighted down with bags of dirt inside a utility room. The tunnel itself was reinforced in areas with wooden supports and sand bags and had a lighting system, but no ventilation. The home was largely unfurnished, and searchers found picks, a jackhammer and other excavation equipment. The tunnel was the largest discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border since January 2006, when a tunnel extending nearly a half-mile from San Diego to Tijuana was found. Federal officials said the tunnel discovered Thursday has been temporarily sealed and will be filled in after the investigation is complete.
Federal officials said 40 tunnels have been discovered crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and California since surveillance was increased following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Dec 5, 2007 TIJUANA, Mexico – Gunmen killed the police chief of a Mexican city bordering California Tuesday by shooting him some 50 times in an apparent revenge attack after police found a drug-smuggling tunnel under the border. From today’s U-T: Agent finds pot-filled container with cross-border tunnel beneath
Gunmen broke into the house of Tecate police chief Juan Soriano in the early hours of the morning and shot him repeatedly in the face and torso as he slept in bed with his wife, an official at the Baja California state attorney general’s office told Reuters. His wife was not hit. The killing of Soriano, who had started his job only last week, appeared to be an act of revenge against Mexican police, who Monday discovered a tunnel nearly a mile long running into California from Tecate near the Pacific coast after a tip-off from the U.S. Border Patrol.

September 17th, 2008 Eight people have been charged in Los Angeles for their connection to a 150 yards long underground drug tunnel. From the Los Angeles Times: The men, one of whom was identified as a suspected Los Angeles-area gang member, were arrested this month inside a small house where the well-constructed passageway began. The tunnel, equipped with ventilation, electricity and a rail-and-cart system to ferry material and dirt, stretched 150 yards, ending within feet of the California border. Mexican authorities say the sophisticated design suggests that a major drug cartel financed the project. Drug trafficking in Mexicali is controlled by the Sinaloa-based cartel led by Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, but authorities have yet to determine whether the group was responsible. The tunnel appeared destined for a quiet neighborhood in the Imperial Valley city of Calexico. In recent years, organized-crime groups have tried to build at least seven tunnels in the Calexico-Mexicali area, taking advantage of flat terrain and dense cross-border neighborhoods. The tunnels, which can cost $1 million, are closely guarded secrets that often enjoy protection by local police

October 6, 2008  Mexican man gets 2 1/2-year sentence for drug tunnel   SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Mexican man has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for his role in a secret tunnel that was used to smuggle marijuana across the border to the United States. Antonio Morales Barrios told a federal judge Monday in San Diego that he regretted his actions. He will also lose his legal residency.  Prosecutors say the 41-year-old was the caretaker of a home in downtown Calexico, about 51 miles west of Yuma, that housed a tunnel used to smuggle drugs from Mexico to California.  Morales pleaded guilty in May to possession of more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana with intent to distribute.  The tunnel discovered in September 2006 is one of at least 60 found along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2001.

It is not going to get any easier for the next president of the United States. Regardless of the winner of the 2008 election, that is right now a little over a few days away, John McCain or Barrack Obama will have to put the growing problems facing Central and South America under the spotlight of American interests again.

Basic survival of a nation would have to be centered around it’s immediate neighbors and in our case the America’s. Rather it be North America, Central America, or South America our next leader cannot ignore the changes and issues affecting our region. The current status quo will continue to leave America at risk as our closest neighbor to the South, Mexico, is to be quite honest an utter disaster of a state. America is wasting an opportunity to change relations with a new Cuba and it is getting very close to time to put a cage around the “mouth of the South”, Hugo Chavez.

Issue One:  Illegal Immigration

Since the beginning of the new century American focus has been thousands of miles away as a result of the events of 911.  We have fought two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while operating clandestinely in many others.  As much as we need to continue to apply pressure overseas it is just as important to protect ourselves in our own hemisphere.  At this point thousands of illegal immigrants cross our Southern borders every day and even though many are coming for jobs and opportunities as well as many others that are no longer safe in their homeland there are still others that are coming here to do harm or to participate in illegal activities.  It is reckless to allow anyone to cross our borders without any way of knowing their intentions or being able to know their history.  As paranoid as it sounds it is now a fact of the new America post 911.  We are told that the terrorists still want to plan attacks on the homeland.  We are told that they are determined.  Yet we continue to gamble as current policies and inadequate safeguards allow them to walk right in through our Southern borders with very little resistance.  Coyotes who make a living of smuggling illegal immigrants across the border have stated that foreigners of Arab, Asian, and African descent have sought to employ smugglers to gain illegal entry into America .  If America is serious about stopping the next September 11th, the next president has to put America in control of it’s borders.  It is crucial that we develop a plan that allows immigrants to enter  America in an orderly and accountable way.  America has grown dependent upon this labor force and at one point was a beacon of freedom and hope for people around the world.  This can still be the case, but modern times calls for Big Brother to know who is within our country. 

Issue Two:  Growing Russia, China, and Iranian Presence In The West.   Re-emergence of Leftist Governments.

Russia is re-emerging on the world stage as a global power being fueled by petrol dollars.  The former Soviet Union break up was more than just a defeat for Russia, but rather a humiliation that still burns inside the hearts and minds of the Kremlin.  After testing the world with their onslaught against the democratically elected Republic of Georgia, Russia is now extending it’s presence on a global sphere.  Russia has been selling arms to Venezuela and is rekindling old ties with former Cold War partner Cuba. In a matter of weeks, a Russian naval squadron will arrive in the waters off Latin America for the first time since the Cold War. It is already getting a warm welcome from some in a region where the influence of the United States is in decline.  “The U.S. Fourth Fleet can come to Latin America but a Russian fleet can’t?” said Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa. “If you ask me, any country and any fleet that wants can visit us. We’re a country of open doors.”  The United States remains the strongest outside power in Latin America by most measures, including trade, military cooperation and the sheer size of its embassies. Yet U.S. clout in what it once considered its backyard has sunk to perhaps the lowest point in decades. As Washington turned its attention to the Middle East, Latin America swung to the left and other powers moved in.

The United States’ financial crisis is not helping. Latin American countries forced by Washington to swallow painful austerity measures in the 1980s and 1990s are aghast at the U.S. failure to police its own markets. “We did our homework — and they didn’t, they who’ve been telling us for three decades what to do,” the man who presides over Latin America’s largest economy, President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva of Brazil, complained bitterly.  Latin America’s more than 550 million people now “have every reason to view the U.S. as a banana republic,” says analyst Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. “U.S. lectures to Latin Americans about excess greed and lack of accountability have long rung hollow, but today they sound even more ridiculous.”  In the past three years of presidential elections, Latin Americans chose mostly leftist leaders, and only Colombia and El Salvador elected pro-U.S. leaders. In May, the prestigious U.S. Council on Foreign Relations declared the era of U.S. hegemony in the Americas over. And in September, Bolivia and Venezuela both expelled their U.S. ambassadors, accusing them of meddling.

Trade:  The U.S. still does $560 billion in trade with Latin America, but in the meantime other countries are muscling in. China’s trade with Latin America jumped from $10 billion in 2000 to $102.6 billion last year. In May, a state-owned Chinese company agreed to buy a Peruvian copper mine for $2.1 billion.  Other countries are also biting into U.S. military sales in the region. Boeing Co. is vying with finalists from France and Sweden for the sale of 36 jet fighters to Brazil. Venezuela’s Chavez has committed to buying more than $4 billion in Russian arms, from Sukhoi jet fighters to Kalashnikov assault rifles. In April, Brazil and Russia agreed to jointly design top-line jet fighters and satellite-launch vehicles, and Brazil is getting technology from France to build a submarine.

New Military Presence:  Last month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered to help Chavez develop nuclear power. Even Colombia, the staunchest U.S. ally in South America, isn’t limiting its options. After expressing alarm about the Russian warships a week ago, its defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, promptly headed for Russia himself to discuss “better relations in defense.” Chavez says he expects to hold joint Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises as early as November.  Following Venezuela’s lead Bolivia also is looking to deepen ties with Russia and Iran. Although the Islamic republic’s ambassador has yet to arrive in South America’s poorest country, its top diplomat there announced Friday that Iran will open two low-cost public health clinics.
And while Bolivia’s only announced Russian hardware purchase is five helicopters for civil defense, Moscow’s ambassador told the AP — after Bolivia booted the U.S. ambassador — that Russia has every right to help Latin American nations arm themselves.  “We know of many historical cases of U.S. intervention in Latin American countries,” said the diplomat, Leonid Golubev.   Cuba is also answering Russia’s call for building new strength in an old friendship as it is also welcoming Russian military presence and cooperation.  This move could have easily been stopped a year ago.  After Fidel Castro fell ill, the United States wasted an opportunity to work with a much more less dictatorial Raul Castro.  He is far from a democratically elected leader, but showed signs of loosening the cold war grip that his brother Fidel held over the tiny island just eighty miles off the coast of America.  The U.S. should have taken this opportunity to initiate talks and try to guide Cuba to a new path, albeit slowly.  It was in America’s best interests.  Now that Russia and other competitive nations are calling on Cuba the window may already be closed.

End The War on Drugs and Build Stronger Democracies:  It is time for America to quit spending billions of dollars fighting a losing war.  The amount of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs being grown and produced inside other South and Central American countries has not changed the supply level in the United States.  The price and availability of cocaine and marijuana has remained stable in the states despite inflation on all other legal goods.  That is amazing.  There is no better barometer that measures the success of the war on drugs abroad as the street price in America.  The billions of dollars being spent needs to be better utilized to protect the democracies in the hemisphere and to aid the building blocks for possible new democracies away from the growing leftist influence. Thomas Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for the hemisphere, noted that overall U.S. aid to the region will reach $2.2 billion for 2009, to total more than $14 billion during Bush’s presidency  However, critics point out that half that aid is for the military or counter-narcotics, and that Washington sends more money annually to Israel alone. U.S. aid has been less than Hugo Chavez’s checkbook diplomacy, which easily eclipses U.S. aid between outright gifts and discounted oil.   Hugo is spreading influence that has lured several longtime U.S. friends. Honduras’ president, Manuel Zelaya, said last month that after pleading with Washington and the World Bank, he accepted $300 million a year from Chavez for agricultural investment to help fight rising food prices.  “Allies, friends, did not help me when I asked,” he said.the U.S.policies in Latin America comes after a history of welcomed influence dating back to President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor” policy of the 1930s, which emphasized cooperation and trade over military intervention. What has changed is that America has mainly one interest in South America.  The wasteful and ill-ran war on drugs that has spent the majority of it’s money in a dictator led Columbia.  As America continues this policy and with a history of unwanted covert operations many feel America is not interested in helping the people in it’s own hemisphere achieve freedom and democracy.  To stand up to the growing leftist influence in the region is suicide without U.S. support and intervention.  Talk is talk.  It will take action if America is interested in influencing democracy in the region.  The money that is being spoiled on the losing war on drugs policy in the region should be used for goodwill and aid assistance to those seeking to strengthen their democracies and assisting us in the spread of it benefits.  It may already be too late as foreign competition from abroad has begun to flow into the region. This lack of interest in issues so close to home only shows the rest of the world America’s biggest weakness and vulnerabilities. In October 2008,  LIMA, Peru – A leftist governor says he has agreed to become the Peru’s prime minister, a day after the nation’s Cabinet resigned amid a brewing oil kickbacks scandal.  Yehude Simon says he will replace outgoing Jorge del Castillo in the position, which heads the president’s Cabinet.

Costa Rica’s president, Oscar Arias, says Venezuela offers Latin America about four or five times as much money as the United States. Costa Rica has become the 19th member of Petrocaribe, through which Chavez sells Caribbean and Central American nations cut-rate oil at very low interest.  The current negative tide of

The Next President:  With the U.S. facing its own financial crisis, it’s unlikely to be able to assist in economic influence in Latin America anytime soon. Sen. Barack Obama’s senior adviser on Latin America, Dan Restrepo, acknowledges that his candidate is essentially proposing a symbolic shift in style — albeit adding a special White House envoy for the Americas. “Barack doesn’t see the United States as the savior of the Americas, but as a constructive partner,” Restrepo told the AP.  Reich, an adviser to Sen. John McCain who served three Republican presidents in the region, put it even more bluntly.  “No matter who is elected in November, there is not going to be any money for Latin America,” he said. “Latin Americans expecting financial resources, any kind of help from the United States, they are barking up the wrong tree.”  America needs to reconsider this as we are self creating our next “BIG PROBLEM”.  Ignoring the issues of South America is akin to not removing a cancerous cyst.  If caught early enough it can save the patient, if delayed for too long the patient will surely die. America will lose an important region in the globalization process that has evolved directly fed by the Bush administration’s move to globalization as our potential enemies from abroad move once again in our back yard.

Mexico:  Violence, Corruption,  And Falling Apart At The Seems:

To the further dismay of many American’s that just a decade ago would vacation in Mexico’s tourist destinations such as Cancun, Tijuana, and other Mexican visitor hot spots, are now being over ran with violence.  Kidnappings, murder and drug cartel shootouts in the middle of the day are alarming potential tourists.  Mexico in just a little over a decade has gone from tourist haven to a complete narco state replacing the once brutal Columbian drug lords with their own style of murder and drugs.  The situation has grown so dire that the American border with Mexico is at times as dangerous as the Pakistan – Afghanistan border.  The Mexican government is losing control to drug dealers, smugglers and other groups that operate under the control of the drug cartels.  Their politicians are being corrupted by drug money  and/or threats.  Mexico does not have the resources to win this war alone and has proven to be a liability at times due to corruption.  The biggest problem with Mexico is the U.S. unwillingness to control our own border.  The coyotes, human smugglers, have already warned us that they are being approached by potential terrorists to give them safe passage to America.  The drugs sold in America are financing Mexico’ s destruction and creating a security breach in one broad swoop.  The Mexican border with the U.S. needs to be controlled and this will assist both sides.  To continue to ignore the violent over flow into America where Drug Cartels are actually now kidnapping and murdering on American soil shows the problem is growing out of control and America’s porous borders are destabilizing Central America and making it vulnerable to dangerous global groups seeking to do harm to America.  The Question Now should be what will the next America President do about the situation in the region.  To do nothing will create a very costly tomorrow.

La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as the MS-13, are considered by the FBI to be the most dangerous gang in the U.S.. A Central American network spreading from the base of the organization in El Salvador to Honduras to Guatemala to Mexico, and now well established on U.S. soil. Incredibly enough this growing menace has cells in Canada, Colombia, Spain, Great Britain and Germany, according to international press on criminal activity. Best known for their violent methods, the gang has been identified in 33 states within the United States, with an estimated 10,000 members nationwide and more than 40,000 in Central America. The FBI says MS-13 are the fastest growing and most violent of the nation’s street gangs. So violent that other rival gangs fear them. MS-13 was named after “La Mara”, a street in El Salvador and “13th Street” in Los Angeles. The organization originated in El Salvador and initially consisted of violent guerillas who fought in El Salvador’s civil war. As the war neared its end, the gang moved operations into the nearby Honduras. In Honduras, where membership topped 36,000, the gang rose to such power that the Honduran government instigated a crackdown on all gangs and even passed a law aimed specifically at busting up gangs and organized crime. Code named “Strong Arm”, the Honduran government arrested more than 4,000 gang members in 2003, often solely because they wore tattoos or colors of known gangs.

MS-13 is a transnational organized gang that is beginning to take on more attributes of a drug cartel in organizational structure. “Traditionally, the gang consisted of loosely affiliated groups known as cliques; however, law enforcement officials have reported increased coordination of criminal activity among Mara Salvatrucha cliques in the Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York metropolitan areas,” states a confidential memo sent out in July 2007 from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Illinois, the newspaper reported. “MS-13 is attempting to become a unified criminal enterprise operating under one leadership.”

The Mara Salvatrucha gang moved into the Los Angeles area in the late 1980’s as immigrants from El Salvador began arriving in the city. The early Los Angeles MS-13 gangs sought to protect El Salvadorian immigrants from the ruthless LA gangs. As with many gangs who’s original intent was to protect others, the gang soon came to prey upon the Salvadorian community themselves. Once profits were recognized, Mara Salvatrucha cliques began to spread across the United States at an alarming rate. By the 1990’s, MS-13’s reach had spread across the country and had planted its roots deep on the East Coast. The early cliques located on the eastern coast were independent and not well organized. In the early 2000’s, the gang hierarchy changed radically when leadership for these newly unified units, came from as far away as California and El Salvador. Cells continued popping up all over the country.

Stealing and exporting cars from the USA, burglary, drug sales, home invasion, weapons smuggling, carjacking, extortion, murder, rape, witness intimidation, illegal firearm sales, aggravated assault, prostitution and human trafficking are the list of activities associated with MS-13. In March 2004, the Maldon Institute, a Washington DC based think tank, released a report detailing the violent methods MS-13 used, including their increasingly typical and disturbing calling card. MS-13 often leaves behind dismembered corpses, complete with the decapitated head, at the scene of their murders. Often a grim note is attached to the body.

The Spread of MS 13 Gang In News Clips and violence

In two attacks in Fairfax County, Va., MS-13 members severed the fingers of two rival gang members. In 2003, members stabbed to death a pregnant 17-year old, Brenda Paz, on the banks of the Shenandoah River after discovering she was a federal informer. Tales of MS-13 violence are even more gruesome in Central America, where gang members have been linked to beheadings, mutilations and the spraying of bus passengers with bullets.

Mexican alien smugglers plan to pay violent gang members and smuggle them into the United States to murder Border Patrol agents, according to a confidential Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by the Daily Bulletin. The Officer Safety Alert, dated Dec. 21, 2005 warns agents that the smugglers intend to bring members of the international Mara Salvatrucha street gang also known as MS-13 into the country for the deadly mission. “Unidentified Mexican alien smugglers are angry about the increased security along the U.S./Mexico border and have agreed that the best way to deal with U.S. Border Patrol agents is to hire a group of contract killers,” the alert states.

On December 23, 2004, one of the most widely publicized MS-13 crimes in Central America happened in Chamelecón, Honduras. An intercity bus was intercepted and sprayed with automatic gunfire, killing 28 passengers, most of whom were women and children

In February 2007, the courts found Juan Carlos Miranda Bueso and Darwin Alexis Ramírez guilty of several crimes including murder and attempted murder. Ebert Anibal Rivera was held over the attack and was arrested in Texas after having fled. Juan Bautista Jimenez, accused of masterminding the attack, was killed in prison. According to the authorities, he was hanged by fellow MS-13 inmates

Newark, NJ August 19, 2007.  THE grim execution-style shootings that killed three college students in a Newark schoolyard two weeks ago bore many hallmarks of gangland slayings, and the culprits clearly wanted it that way.  Three of the four victims, two women and two young men aged 18 to 20, were forced to kneel facing a wall before being shot in the head. Both women, one of whom survived, were slashed in the face with a machete or knife. And the MySpace page of one of the six suspects, a 16-year-old who is still at large, pays loving homage to one of the country’s most feared and hyped gangs: La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a Central American gang that has become synonymous with bloodthirstiness.

Adelphi, MD October 25, 2004  According to testimony presented at the four week trial, Israel Ernesto Palacios was a member of the Langley Park Salvatruchos (LPS) clique of MS-13.  At some time prior to the night of  October 25, 2004, Palacios met with another MS-13 member to discuss and investigate rumors that Nancy Diaz was associating with a rival gang. Witnesses testified that shortly thereafter, Palacios, James Guillen and other MS-13 members attended a meeting of the LPS clique in Prince George’s County, Md., in which clique leaders discussed plans to kill Diaz. On Oct. 25, 2004, Guillen drove two other MS-13 members, Diaz and another juvenile female in his car, and dropped them off at the George Washington Cemetery in Adelphi, Md. According to testimony, two MS-13 members shot and killed Diaz, shot the other girl in the face and stabbed her twice in the chest to attempt to make sure she was dead, and then left the scene. On Aug. 25,
2005, Palacios and Guillen were arrested in connection with the racketeering, murder and firearms charges.

Nashville, Tennessee  January 10, 2007  In Tennessee. The Department of Justice announced the indictment of 13 members of MS-13 today which alleges that gang members killed three people and attempted to kill at least seven others. The indictment further alleges that MS-13 was organized in “cliques,” including the Thompson Place Locos Salvatruchos clique (TPLS), which operated in Nashville, TN.

New Haven, CT Dec. 30, 2007.  Veterans are outraged that a war memorial in New Haven has been vandalized. The Vietnam War Memorial at Long Wharf was spray painted with the threatening words “Kill whites and  MS 13.”  Members are involved in drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and even human trafficking and their presence is growing in the U-S. Just this summer, police in the Boston area did a big round-up of MS 13 gang members

Toronto, Canada  Jun 5, 2008 Toronto police have arrested 17 people who they say are members of MS-13, a notorious street gang with roots in Latin America, after an investigation that highlights concerns about gangs expanding north into Canada’s largest city.  During a five-month investigation, police said, they learned MS-13 was targeting a member of Canada’s justice system, but refused to be more specific.The suspects are facing a total of 63 charges, and police said they seized 6.5 kg of cocaine during the raids

Greenbelt, Maryland May 13, 2008  A federal jury convicted Wendy Garcia, age 25, of Hyattsville,
Maryland, today for obstruction of justice, in connection with the murder of an MS-13 gang
member by other MS-13 members.  According to testimony at the five day trial, Garcia lived in an apartment in Hyattsville with MS-13 leader Israel Ramos Cruz and their infant daughter. On November 22, 2003 Cruz
and several other alleged MS-13 gang members met inside the apartment to discuss whether to
kill gang member Randy Calderon who had participated in a fatal stabbing. They were concerned
that Calderon would cooperate with the police if arrested for the murder. Shortly after the
discussion, Calderon was fatally shot by one of the individuals present at the discussion.

San Francisco, CA June 22, 2008.  Arrest of illegal alien murder suspect Edwin Ramos. Ramos is currently charged with the June 22, 2008, triple murder of Tony Bologna and his sons Michael and Matthew in San Francisco’s Excelsior District. Edwin Ramos, shot and killed a father and two of his sons following a minor traffic accident.  Ramos, “based on . . . numerous documented contacts” as being an active member of the MS-13 street gang. The records, which document that he is not a U.S. citizen, also show Ramos’s previous March 30, 2008, arrest related to weapons and gang charges. San Francisco prosecutors declined to charge Ramos. He was released on April 2, 2008.  Likewise, Ramos’s juvenile criminal record remains sealed, although reports in the San Francisco Chronicle revealed that Ramos is an illegal alien who was found to have committed two (2) felonies at the age of 17 – a gang-related assault and an attempted robbery of a pregnant woman.  Despite his violent criminal behavior Ramos, a Salvadoran native, was not turned over by San Francisco juvenile justice officials to federal immigration authorities. San Francisco law prohibits local officials from cooperating with federal officials in deporting illegal aliens.

The MS 13 and al Qaeda Connection Threat

September 28, 2004 Washing Times Article A top al Qaeda lieutenant has met with leaders of a violent Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico and the United States — including a stronghold in the Washington area — in an effort by the terrorist network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement authorities said. Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El Salvador’s notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of Central and South Americans — mostly gang members — into the United States. Although they are actively involved in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, Mara Salvatrucha members in America also have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, extortions, rapes and aggravated assaults — including at least seven killings in Virginia and a machete attack on a 16-year-old in Alexandria that severely mutilated his hands. The Salvadoran gang, known to law enforcement authorities as MS-13 because many members identify themselves with tattoos of the number 13, is thought to have established a major smuggling center in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas, from where it has arranged to bring illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico into the United States. Authorities said al Qaeda terrorists hope to take advantage of a lack of detention space within the Department of Homeland Security that has forced immigration officials to release non-Mexican illegal aliens back into the United States.

El Shukrijumah, born in Saudi Arabia but thought to be a Yemen national, was spotted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July, having crossed the border illegally from Nicaragua after a stay in Panama. U.S. authorities said al Qaeda operatives have been in Tegucigalpa planning attacks against British, Spanish and U.S. embassies. Known to carry passports from Saudi Arabia, Trinidad, Guyana and Canada, El Shukrijumah had sought meetings with the Mara Salvatrucha gang leaders who control alien-smuggling routes through Mexico and into the United States. El Shukrijumah, 29, who authorities said was in Canada last year looking for nuclear material for a so-called “dirty bomb” and reportedly has family members in Guyana, was named in a March 2003 material-witness arrest warrant by federal prosecutors in Northern Virginia, where U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty said he is sought in connection with potential terrorist threats against the United States. A former southern Florida resident and pilot thought to have helped plan the September 11 attacks, El Shukrijumah was among seven suspected al Qaeda operatives identified in May by Attorney General John Ashcroft as being involved in plans to strike new targets in the United States. Citing “credible intelligence from multiple sources,” Mr. Ashcroft said at the time that El Shukrijumah posed “a clear and present danger to America.”

Illegal Immigration: The Mexico – America Dilemma

We can no longer avoid it, we have avoided the problem for as long as we could and when we couldn’t avoid it any longer we were told that, indeed, somewhere between 12 and 20 million people had somehow snuck into this country unnoticed. After reading the last two sections of this article, I am assuming that one would understand that Mexico has many problems to overcome. Mexico is struggling with internal and external corruption as well as a devastating war against the Mexican drug cartels that are overrunning the Mexican government and the country in general. Mexico is a serious problem for the Americas. It could be turning into the Afghanistan/Pakistan of the Western hemisphere. At the very least, it will make the Columbia Drug Cartel wars of the eighties look not all that bad. Maybe because it was not so close to American borders. The important thing to realize about the illegal immigration that is coming across the Mexican border is that they are not all Mexicans. The Issue of illegal immigration is destined to be a major controversy in the 2008 election campaign as Americans are fueled by the economy, gas prices and and an all out invasion coming over our Southern border. One of the most common misconceptions is that Mexico is a poor nation. Mexico has a lot of poverty, yes, but it’s not “poor.” In terms of the potential to obliterate much of that poverty, Mexico has one of the greatest capacities in all of the Americas to do just that. It is rich in natural resources and, should it decide to tap those resources, could eradicate much of its own destitution. When Mexico is complaining about U.S. being too tough on immigration it is almost funny to me. Then I realized what Mexico has to gain from this exchange. They are sending their unemployed to America. Once in America, the illegal aliens then send money back to the Mexican economy. So wonder a few years back the Mexican government was giving survival guides and maps on the best way to invade the United States. Mexico’s economy is reaping the benefit of over 20 billion U.S. dollars into their economy. In addition, Illegal immigrants are costing the United States over 24 billion dollars a year in taxpayers money (National Review 12.13.93) That is a net cost of 44 billion dollars that will not benefit our economy in any way. In no way can anyone ever say that illegal immigration benefits American taxpayers.

Who Are the Illegal Immigrants?

According to the Pew Hispanic Center and agreed with by U.S. Government Accountability Office, The 12 to 20 Million  Illegals are comprised of:

The interesting point to make here is that not only are Mexicans crossing from Mexico but so are many of the 24% from Central and South America. At least 3 out of every 4 illegals in the U.S. cross over from Mexico

Why The U.S. Government is Not Stopping Illegal Immigration

First, I think it is important to understand that we are not anti-immigration nor racist or any other adjective that is being thrown out there that is describing anyone that is tired of foreign countries having more influence in America than the taxpayers. Immigration is what built America. Immigration when conducted by the law of a sovereign nation can be good. It is a controlled way of introducing labor at a fair wage. We need immigration to fill voids in our work place, but not when we have a shrinking middle class in times of foreclosures and job cuts of good paying jobs that go over seas as a result of the new global economy. Illegal immigration is crime. Hiring illegal undocumented workers is a crime. Everyone needs to enter the United States the same way. If we have voids then complain about that not that we are taking your $6 hour laborer away that you fired an American for because he was making $12. Sure, I understand that your competition started the trend and you had to do it to stay in business. It does not make it right. Report it, do not let go of a painter, dry waller, landscaper, manufacturer, or whomever go because your competition is breaking the law so that for the short term they can cheat the system and reap in a higher profit margin. It is causing the rest of us a lot of pain including the lives of many illegal immigrants that die in the process as the road to America is a deadly one when it comes through Mexico.

American Politicians are growing very fearful it appears of the growing Hispanic vote in our country. They are also feeling the pressure from manufacturing, mega farms, construction companies and others to lay off illegal immigration. It is time for rest the rest of America to stand up and discount the lies that pro illegal groups are pushing forward in their agendas. America has survived without this influx of illegals a lot longer than it has had them here. It is greed. American companies have thoroughly enjoyed charging higher and higher prices for goods despite this lower paid labor force. America will not crumble if we removed the majority of illegals. At least actively remove the ones that are criminals from Mexico rather than placing blooming costs of incarceration, health care, and welfare on American taxpayers. The industries that are putting pressure on our politicians are not concerned with the cost in tax dollars to the rest of us. They are truly only thinking about themselves. I think this game needs to come to an end. Companies need to employ Americans first at a decent wage. It is not just a global economy for Americans losing their jobs in other markets. America’s middle class is being swept away in this new global market and illegal immigrants are taking jobs that America needs. The money earned needs to be re circulated in our economy, not Mexico’s or Guatemala’s because they can’t stop their own corruption. Everything that surrounds illegal immigration is hurting our economy, straining our resources to benefit a few, and a waste of tax payer dollars. It has been over 7 years since September 11, 2001 and our Politicians have not secured our borders. It is putting America at risk for a small number of people that benefit from the illegal activity.

Human Trafficking as a Result of Illegal Immigration

As stated above, the road to America from Mexico is a deadly one.

Mexico is a source, transit, and destination country for persons trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. The majority of victims trafficked into the country come from Central America, destined for Mexico or the United States. A lesser number of victims come from South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia. A significant number of Mexican women, girls, and boys are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation, often lured from poor rural regions to urban, border, and tourist areas through false offers of employment; many are beaten, threatened, and forced into prostitution. Sex tourism, including child sex tourism, appears to be growing, especially in tourist areas such as Acapulco and Cancun, and border towns like Tijuana; foreign pedophiles arrive most often from Western Europe and the United States. Organized criminal networks traffic women and girls from Mexico into the United States for commercial sexual exploitation. In a new trend, the trafficking of U.S.-resident children into Mexico for commercial sexual exploitation was reported during the last year. Trafficking in Mexico is frequently conflated with alien smuggling, although the same criminal networks are often involved. – U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007.

Illegal immigration is the bait many times for individuals including women and children that dream of reaching America. They are told that they will be given a job, safe passage, and other forms of enticements. The sad truth is that the women and children are raped and placed into sexual slavery in route to America. Illegal immigration is not worth the price that people pay. Sometimes the cost of this mistake is their life.

Below are few stories of the horrible practice of human trafficking caused by illegal immigration

From the Sun Sentinel May 2008:
FLORIDA, United States- A Mexican national has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle Mexican women and girls into the United States and force them into prostitution, the United States Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

Juan Luis Cadena-Sosa, 43, is one of 16 defendants charged in 1998 with smuggling the women and girls from Mexico to Florida and South Carolina. Cadena-Sosa remained a fugitive until November 2007, when he was extradited from Mexico to the United States. Nine of the defendants, including Cadena-Sosa, have now been convicted in federal court; one was convicted in state court and another was convicted on related charges in Mexico. A third defendant died while a fugitive. Three remain at large.

According to federal court documents, Cadena-Sosa, his brothers and a nephew operated a number of brothels, some with girls younger than 18, throughout South Florida. The women and girls were smuggled into the country primarily from Veracruz, Mexico, by Cadena-Sosa and his associates.

Once in the United States, the women and girls were informed that they owed a debt to the Cadena organization for bringing them here and that they would be required to repay the debt by working as prostitutes. Those that tried to escape were tracked down. The men used physical violence and threats to intimidate the women and girls, according to court records.

Cadena-Sosa, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday, will be sentenced on Aug. 20. He faces 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Prosecutions of human trafficking cases have increased seven-fold over the past seven fiscal years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Atlanta Examiner: Feb 22, 2008
WASHINGTON (Map, News) – A D.C. couple was arrested on charges of human trafficking and prostituting young females from Mexico and Honduras, according to charging documents filed in federal court.

The arrests of Franklin Yasir Mejia-Macedo and Yaneth Martinez grew out of an investigation centered in North Carolina, according to court documents.

“These arrest were made out of an ongoing investigation, that is really all I can say,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Richard Rocha. Mejia and Martinez had business cards printed up for services such as “Hair Cuts for Men Only” and “Flowers Home Delivery,” and handed them to men on the streets of D.C.’s predominately Hispanic neighborhood such as Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, authorities said. The business cards are commonly used to advertise prostitution, according to an ICE special agent who signed the charging document filed in U.S. District Court.

“Based on my experience in investigating human trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution and related offenses, I know that such language [is] commonly used as code language to advertise prostitution,” the special agent wrote.

The human trafficking and prostitution operation came to the attention of federal law enforcement when Martinez, 33, unwittingly handed one of her cards to a federal source, according to documents. On Monday, federal agents arrested her and Mejia at their Petworth residence. A 24-year-old woman at the residence told agents she served as a prostitute and shared her earnings with Martinez, according to documents.

Mejia admitted that he was a native of Honduras and living illegally in the United States. Mejia was charged with unlawful transportation of an alien. Martinez was picked up on arrest warrant out of North Carolina on charges of sex trafficking.

SEE ALSO

Mexico Part I: Government Corruption, Drug Cartels and Illegal Immigration (June 2008)

Mexico Part II: Government Corruption, Drug Cartels and Illegal Immigration (June 2008)

The Mexican drug cartels are some of the most dangerous and ruthless organized crime organizations in the world. They have proven over and over that they are willing not only to kill any Mexican or American citizen that is in the wrong place at the wrong time, but also any law enforcement officer that stands in their way. The Mexican drug cartels in the past took a back seat to the more powerful Columbian drug cartels. This is no longer the case. Mexican drug cartels are the new kingpins of narcotics trafficking in the Western hemisphere. They have blossomed in the corrupt nation to our South and have taken over the border areas as their own. Their expertise is not only limited to smuggling cocaine, heroin or marijuana across the border, they have added kidnapping, murder for hire, human slavery, organizing illegal immigration into the United States, and a host of other underworld activities. They mean business and are not only eager to take control of the American markets but to dominate them with there ruthlessness. Mexican drug lords are in control of what the U.N. estimates is a $142 billion a year business in cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs. The new dominance of Mexican cartels has caused a spike in violence along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border where rival cartels are warring against Mexican and U.S. authorities. Drugs are either flown from Colombia to Mexico in small planes, or, in the case of marijuana and methamphetamine, produced locally. Then, they are shipped into the U.S. by boat, private vehicles, or in commercial trucks crossing the border.

Mexican Drug Cartel Violence

“The news reports are graphic: ‘7 Bodies Found,’ ‘Attack with Grenades,’ ‘Three Kidnapped and Others Murdered,’ ‘Two De-Quartered Bodies Found. The newspaper headlines actually hail from Mexican newspapers that print daily stories about narco-violence that’s extended from northern border states to the central and southern parts of the nation. Violence is the way the Mexican drug cartels operate. Not behind the scenes, but rather in the open and within the complete orchestrated chaos that they create. According to official figures released in May 2008, 1,367 people have died in drug-related violence around the country so far this year, a 47% increase on the same period last year, which was itself a record. About 10% of the victims have been police and soldiers.

In the past, the federal government of Mexico temporarily deployed the military and federal police officers to maintain order against trafficker-generated violence in highly impacted cities. But more often than not Mexican military — or those posing as military — provide protection for the traffickers and drug gangs. In May of this year Mexican President Calderon has stepped up the pressure dramatically. Huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs are being captured but the violence is equivalent to that of a war zone. The border cities of Juarez, Tijuana, Mexicali, Palomas and many other are the object of the deployment. Tijuana was once a favorite day trip for U.S. citizens from near by San Diego, but not as of late. In April 2008 a bout of violence exploded on with rival gang members killing each other all over Tijuana in simultaneous, pre-dawn attacks that left at least 13 dead.

If you think we are kidding about how serious this situation is then ponder on these facts. Mexico drug cartel gang members have lists that include the names of police officers that are on a death hit list. The job is usually done by Mexican drug cartel death squads. June 1, 2008: Drug gangs are reportedly destroying the police force in the city of Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua just across the border from U.S. Army base Ft Bliss by delivering one death list of police officers after another. The first list, earlier this year, had 22 names on it. At this point all but one on the list were murdered, seven resigned but only after three were wounded. A new list has a dozen names. The drug gangs are targeting officers who have been effective, or resistant to gang controlled bribes or threats. In a grisly example near the city of Durango, six severed heads were recently discovered alongside the highway. Each had been placed carefully within a cooler, four of them in an abandoned vehicle, accompanied by threatening messages to a rival.

The Mexican Drug Cartels of Mexico

According to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) testimony, four organizations comprise the Mexican crime groups: the Tijuana organization; the Sonora Cartel; the Juarez cartel; and the Gulf group.

I. The Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO) is commonly referred to as the Tijuana Cartel.

Within the AFO, drug running is a family affair. There are seven brothers and four sisters.  They inherited the Tijuana Cartel from Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo in 1989, after he was arrested for his involvement in the murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. The family’s most visible leaders, brothers Benjamin and Ramon Arellano, have eluded authorities on both sides of the border for years. Both remain fugitives, with U.S. authorities offering a $2 million reward for their capture. Ramon has earned a place on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. They are not unorganized but rather very modern in their approach, the AFO employs a combination of complex communications systems and police corruption for counter surveillance. . Much of their drug distribution enters California through Baja from which it is distributed throughout the United States. The Tijuana Cartel is considered the most violent of all the Mexican drug cartels. Mexican enforcement officials describe their security as paramilitary in nature. They have been known to murder rival drug leaders, Mexican law enforcement officials who are not on their payroll, and members of their organization who fall out of favor or are suspected of collaborating with law enforcement officials.  Many kidnappings tied to the AFO have reportedly been carried out by corrupt police.  In other cases, the AFO has hired Hispanic gang members from San Diego as assassins , or recruited sons of well-to-do Mexican families, commonly referred to as “Narco-Juniors.” Both groups are valued commodities because they have U.S. citizenship and can travel between countries at will.

II. The Juarez Cartel

Was headed by Amado Carillo Fuentes, once known as the most powerful figure in the Mexican drug trade. He died in 1997 of complications of cosmetic surgery in an attempt to change his identity.  The scope of the Carrillo-Fuentes’ network is staggering; he reportedly forwarded $20-30 million to Colombia for each major operation, and his illegal activities generated tens of millions per week. He was a pioneer in the use of large aircraft to transport cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and became known as ‘Lord of the Skies.’ Carrillo-Fuentes owned a fleet of aircraft and had major real estate holdings.  This cartel had very strong ties to the Rodriquez Orejula organization in Cali, as well as family ties to the Ochoa brothers in Medellin, Colombia. For many years the Juarez cartel ran transport services for the Cali cartel and used aircrafts such as 727’s to fly cocaine from Colombia to Mexico.

The cartel has most recently transformed itself into the Golden Triangle Alliance, or La Alianza Triángulo de Oro, because of its leaders in three Mexican states.  The Juárez Cartel was featured battling the rival Tijuana Cartel in the 2001 motion picture Traffic.  This violence may seem a million miles away to many of us but much closer, across a guarded fence and a river a little wider than a stream, from Juarez, Mexico is El Paso, Texas. On the western side of the Mexican city are the barrios – dirt streets of ramshackle huts without sanitation, built from discarded wood and tires, whose inhabitants live in sight of the gleaming offices of downtown El Paso.  An American city of 700,000 is maybe too close for comfort to many El Paso residents..

III. The Gulf cartel

Was headed by Juan Garcia Abrego and is based in Matamoros Tamaulipas State. It distributes cocaine to the United States, as far north as Michigan, New Jersey and New York. Juan was expelled to the United States in 1996 and arrested on a federal warrant from Texas charging him.with conspiracy to import cocaine and the management of a continuing criminal enterprise. violent gang of former Mexican soldiers, known as Los Zetas, are also known to work for the Gulf cartel. The Zetas are known as being trained by United States Special Forces and have equipment similar to that of an American SWAT team. The Zetas are located along the U.S.-Mexico border. They routinely kill, kidnap, rob and torture. In addition, the Zetas are known to work with drug dealers within the United States. They enter the U.S. and commit crimes such as murder, and then reenter Mexico making it very hard for police to track them.  Aside from earning money from the sales of narcotics, the Cartel also collects taxes aka piso, cuota from street level dealers, prominent businesses, even illegal alien smugglers. Anyone passing narcotics or aliens through a plaza belonging to the Gulf Cartel is subject to payment of these ‘taxes’ to the cartel, regardless of whether the contraband is subsequently apprehended by US law enforcement or not.  This organization is growing more and more deadly as in the past few years the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo has seen many of it’s police, including chiefs killed in the streets in assassination style killings.  The Gulf Cartel also is very active in kidnapping and other organized crimes.

IV. The Sonora cartel

Operates out of Hermosillo, Agua Prieta, Guadalajara and Culican as well as the Mexican states of San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa and Sonora. This cartel has direct links to the Colombian cartel and was created with a merging with the original Guadalajara Cartel.  They operates route into California. The Sonora cartel was led by Miguel Caro Quintero whose brother is currently in jail for his role in killing a DEA agent in 1985. Quintero was wanted by the DEA and became a fugitive based on two federal indictments issued in Colorado in 1988 and 1993, and two more issued in Arizona 1994. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2001. It is believed he still maintains control over the organization from behind bars.  The Sonora Cartel is primarily a marijuana and opium smuggling organization.  In recent years the Sonora Cartel has been in violent turf wars with the Gulf Cartel.  The Sonora Cartel has a long history.  Rafael Quintero the older brother of Miguel expanded his families network influence by offering an expensive high grade of seedless cannabis at a wholesale price. At the time, Sinsemilla sold for $2,500 a pound in the United States. The popularity of the product made Rafael one of the most powerful traffickers in all of Mexico. By the mid 80s, the Sonora Cartel was trucking tons of Sinsemilla across the U.S. border where it is today a legendary commodity known on the streets as the chronic

SEE ALSO

Mexico Part I: Government Corruption, Drug Cartels and Illegal Immigration (June 2008)

Mexico Part III: Government Corruption, Drug Cartels and Illegal Immigration (June 2008)

Mexico Government Corruption

Mexico.  On the surface,  it appears that this neighbor to the South has much to offer not only to the United States, but to all of the countries in the Americas.  It has beautiful beaches, abundant resources and a rich colorful culture. It could be a leader to rest of Latin America.  In reality, Mexico has chosen to be a chronic problem that has made a mockery out of any notion of acceptance of American sovereignty, has allowed criminals to cross into the United States to commit violent crimes and then refuse to extradite them in any significant numbers.  No active major Mexican drug trafficker has been extradited to the United States. Their politicians allow drug and human trafficking to overburden our law enforcement as a result of  the corruption that runs rampant throughout Mexico. In 2006, a tunnel was discovered running about 2,400 feet from a warehouse near the airport in Tijuana to a warehouse in San Diego. More than 2 tons of marijuana had been found inside. It was unclear how long the tunnel had been in operation.  Illegal aliens are NOT necessarily coming here just to work. Lou Dobbs reported that 33 percent of our prison population is now comprised of non-citizens. Plus, 36 to 42 percent of illegal aliens are on welfare. So, for a good proportion of these people, the American dream is crime and welfare, not coming here to work.  It always amazes me that Mexico and many legal and illegal Mexicans in America continues to paint America as the bad guys. It is simply ridiculous that things have been allowed to go this far, as our politicians refuse to act in a timely manner to put an end to the border controversy.  American politicians of both parties are not acting on illegal immigration and the other problems that have accompanied it (i.e. human trafficking and narcotics smuggling), because they are being lobbied by Latino groups,  manufacturing, farming and other industries that have replaced American workers with the illegals that are looking to make an honest living but will work for cheaper wages and less benefits than ordinary Americans. This combined with the new global market has resulted in the demise of the American middle class.  Politicians in recent years have been more concerned with the Hispanic vote than the American vote.  So what is really so bad with Mexico that so many people are running for America.

Government Corruption

During his first visit to the United States, Mexican President Calderón spoke at his alma Mater Harvard University, proposing job creation in Mexico as a means to stem Mexican migration to the United States. He said an increase in investment would boost the economy.  The truth is that Mexican trade with the US and Canada has tripled since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Mexico has 12 free trade agreements with over 40 countries including, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the European Free Trade Area, and Japan, putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements.  They should be more than any other country in the world able to produce enough jobs on their own for their own.  Calderon has be a realist and understand that the reason that U.S. and other industrialized nations are not willing to relocate and stay in Mexico is because the entire system is full of corruption.  Seriously, bribery is a way of life in Mexico and corruption is instilled at an early age.  It can be argued that this corruption begins when Mexicans are children and are taught from their parents to fear and distrust authorities. To begin to change the culture of corruption within the Mexican public, education must be the major tool. By educating the children of Mexico at an early age through the school system, there will likely be greater success at changing the culture of corruption. This is the same step that many industrialized countries have taken.

As far as saying investment is the answer to any problems that are occurring in Mexico is wrong.  Mexico, in order to attract new investment, must deal with itself with all it’s resources from the inside out..  In Mexico, it is common to see local police harassing locals and tourists in order to be bribed.  The practice of “la mordida”, the bribe, is a way of life in Mexico To get by, one makes no bones about slipping that cop a 20 peso bill to let you off for a minor traffic violation or bogus charge. After all, that’s why he stopped you in the first place. The Mexican law enforcement is a true “For Profit Business”.  They take bribes,  turn their heads and at times even assist criminals if the price is right.  It is estimated that bribery takes as much as 25% of the annual income of Mexicans.  It is this form of coercion and activity that has led many Mexicans into poverty. 

The chain of command that currently exists within Mexican law enforcement is corrupt on all layers from the lowest ranks to the highest, they understand that their actions will not be punished, and this mindset makes it possible for them to continue their illegal ways.

Jan 9, 2008 — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption,  released a U.S. Border Patrol report titled, “Mexican Government Incidents.  The report describes 29 confirmed incidents in 2006 along the U.S. – Mexican border involving Mexican military and/or law enforcement personnel, 17 of which involved armed Mexican government agents. Among the incidents cited. January 3, 2006, [Troopers] attempted to apprehend three vehicles believed to be smuggling contraband on I-10… As the vehicles approached the border, Troopers stated that a Mexican Military Humvee armed with a .50 caliber weapon and several soldiers were seen assisting smugglers return to Mexico… Officers then noticed several armed subjects dressed in fatigue type clothing unload the contraband into the Humvee. These subjects set fire to the stalled vehicle before leaving the area. 

“These documents not only show the dangerous and chaotic situation at the Mexican border, but also the complicity of some Mexican government agents in violating U.S. law,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The U.S. government must begin to take these incidents more seriously, publicize them and take measures to bring the crisis at our border under control.”

Mexican Attorney General Medina Mora has long complained about the smuggling of weapons from the United States to Mexico.  Cartels arrange for the purchase of weapons in the United States and move them into Mexico.  This problem is exacerbated by corruption within the Mexican Customs department, and the general lawless atmosphere that exists on the U.S.-Mexican border. 

Amnesty International recently released a report detailing the flaws in the Mexican criminal justice system.  In regard to corruption, their study exposes that the corruption rises into the ranks of judges and prosecutors.  Calderon plans to send proposals to Congress that would make it easier to fire corrupt police officers and seize criminals’.  In addition, Calderon has said that he would like to see Mexico’s trials resemble more closely those in the United States.

Mexico Fact File

Mexico consists of 31 states and one federal district. Mexico is approximately 3 times the size of Texas. Population of Mexico is above 108 million.

Violent crime is a critical issue in Mexico; with a rate of homicide varying from 11 to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Mexico continues to be the source or entry point for the vast majority of the narcotics that are consumed in the US. Mexico is the leading transit country for cocaine and heroin consumed in the US. It is also the leading source country for marijuana and now methamphetamine.

Government of Mexico has arrested a former governor of the State of Quintana Roo, suspected of assisting in the transshipment of millions of dollars worth of cocaine from South America to the US.

Mexico is experiencing ongoing economic and social concerns that include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states.

Mexican trade with the US and Canada has tripled since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Mexico has 12 free trade agreements with over 40 countries including, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the European Free Trade Area, and Japan, putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements.

Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the United States.

Mexico is a major drug-producing nation; cultivation of opium poppy in 2005 amounted to 3,300 hectares yielding a potential production of 8 metric tons of pure heroin, or 17 metric tons of “black tar” heroin, the dominant form of Mexican heroin in the western United States; marijuana cultivation decreased 3% to 5,600 hectares in 2005.

Mexico continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America, with an estimated 90% of annual cocaine movements towards the US stopping in Mexico; major drug syndicates control majority of drug trafficking throughout the country; producer and distributor of ecstasy.

Illegal aliens are NOT necessarily coming here to work. Lou Dobbs recently reported that 33 percent of our prison population is now comprised of non-citizens. Plus, 36 to 42 percent of illegal aliens are on welfare. So, for a good proportion of these people, the American dream is crime and welfare, not coming here to work.

SEE ALSO

Mexico Part II: Government Corruption, Drug Cartels and Illegal Immigration (June 2008)

Mexico Part III: Government Corruption, Drug Cartels and Illegal Immigration (June 2008)

A few years back as I watched America’s Most Wanted I began to notice that as each week passed more and more of the criminals wanted for violent crimes in America were illegal immigrants that have committed crimes in the United States. As I hear often, sure many of the illegal immigrants from Mexico are here only to work and support their families. The problem with this statement is that many illegal immigrants are not. Many are here to be involved in crimes that include drug smuggling, rape, murder, human trafficking and a host of other violent crimes that have created a huge burden on the American legal system and law enforcement. U.S. prisons most notably in California, Arizona, Texas and other southwestern states are filling up with illegal immigrants that have committed violent crimes. It appears the problem is spreading to many parts of the country that traditionally did not have large numbers of illegals in the past.

The Illegal Immigrant Crime Foot Print

It doesn’t take a genius to come to the conclusion that America is in the midst of an illegal immigration crime wave. Watch America’s Most Wanted, turn on the local news, or pick up a newspaper and you can see the ever growing number of illegal immigrants that are committing violent crime in America. Even in the Midwest, far from the border with Mexico it is becoming commonplace to see the list of illegal Mexican immigrants that are being sought or already arrested for crimes. I am sure that these numbers have grown as the illegal immigration boom in the past two years has but, here are the best available statistics for the illegal immigrant crime wave that is changing America daily as politicians and the wealthy business owners continue to push the “benefits” of illegal immigration as the average American spending power is becoming less and less in the new global economy. I guess they are not feeling the pain that many American communities are feeling trying to deal with this growing epidemic that is creeping North and East of the border.

Study Released On Illegal Immigrant Gangs Committing Crime In America October 1, 2008  View Report

Since 2005, ICE has arrested more than 8,000 immigrant gangsters from more than 700 different gangs under an initiative known as Operation Community Shield.

Transnational immigrant gangs have been spreading rapidly and sprouting in suburban and rural areas where communities are not always equipped to deal with them.

A very large share of immigrant gang members are illegal aliens and removable aliens. Federal sources estimate that 60 to 90 percent of the members of MS-13, the most notorious immigrant gang, are illegal aliens. In one jurisdiction studied, Northern Virginia, 30 to 40 percent of the gang task force case load were removable aliens.

MS-13 activity was found in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

The immigrant gangsters arrested were a significant menace to the public. About 80 percent had committed serious crimes in addition to their immigration violations and 40 percent were violent criminals.

The ICE offices logging the largest number of immigrant gang arrests were San Diego, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Dallas. Some cities with significant gang problems, such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Houston, had few arrests. These cities had sanctuary, or “don’t ask, don’t tell,” immigration policies in place over the time period studied.

While many of the immigrant gangs targeted were neighborhood operations, others were ethnic-based, such as Armenian Power, Kurdish Pride, or Oriental Killer Boys. But nearly half of the aliens arrested over the period studied were affiliated with MS-13 and Surenos-13, two of the largest and most notorious transnational gangs with largely immigrant membership.

Nearly 60 percent of immigrant gangsters arrested by ICE were Mexican citizens, 17 percent were Salvadoran, and 5 percent were Honduran. In all, 53 different countries were represented.

Immigrant gang members rarely make a living as gangsters. They typically work by day in construction, auto repair, farming, landscaping and other low-skill occupations, often using false documents. Some gangs are involved in the production and sale of false documents.

Failure to adequately control the U.S.-Mexico border and to deter illegal settlement in general undermines the progress ICE and local law enforcement agencies have made in disrupting criminal immigrant street gangs.

Examples Of The Illegal Immigration Crime Spree:

PHOENIX — The ex-girlfriend of the man arrested in connection with the Chandler serial rapist case said she was shocked to learn Santana Batiz Aceves had been arrested.
“I never imagined,” said Maria Penuelas. “Never imagined he could be the serial rapist.”
Aceves was booked into a Maricopa County jail on 25 counts of kidnapping, sexual assault and trespassing in connection with the assaults. Police said that DNA positively links the man to the case. All of the attacks in the Chandler rapist case happened within a two mile radius of the home, an area densely populated with young girls, which police said the Chandler rapist targeted Jan. 2008

GUADALUPE, Ariz. — An illegal immigrant has been arrested on suspicion of raping and kidnapping a 15-year-old girl at her Guadalupe home, Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies said.
The MCSO Special Victims Unit arrested Jose Dolores Montoya Sanchez, 24.
Sanchez was booked into the Maricopa County jail late Wednesday on one count of sexual assault, one count of kidnapping and two counts sexual abuse.Sheriff’s deputies said they began investigating the case when the victim disclosed that Sanchez sexually assaulted her at a Guadalupe home. The 15-year-old was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, MCSO said. A forensic evaluation confirmed an assault, according to sheriff’s investigators. Sheriff’s deputies said Sanchez has been in the country illegally for the past 10 years. “This suspect sexually assaulted a young innocent girl and this is yet another example of a violent crime committed by an illegal alien in Maricopa County,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. “The deputies working in Guadalupe did a professional and thorough investigation.”

Idaho. It’s an unbelievable story that has an entire community shocked. According to a credible source, a 10-year-old St. Anthony girl has given birth to a baby. Court documents confirm that a St. Anthony man is in jail for raping the 10-year-old girl. According to Idaho’s Bureau of Vital Statistics, this is the first 10-year-old to give birth in Idaho for at least 20 years. Guadelupe Gutierrez-Juarez has been charged with raping the young girl. Gutierrez-Juarez has been in the Fremont County Jail since April 29. May 2008

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — After a review driven by three brutal slayings, the state attorney general on Wednesday ordered New Jersey law enforcers to notify federal immigration officials whenever someone arrested for an indictable offense or drunken driving is found to be an illegal immigrant.
Attorney General Anne Milgram reviewed the state’s policy in light of the execution-style killings Aug. 4 of three Newark college students and the wounding of a fourth victim. One of the six suspects was an illegal immigrant who had been granted bail on child rape and aggravated assault charges without immigration officials being alerted to his existence. August 2007

The case of Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, an illegal Mexican drifter, seems to have crystallized public fears. Ramirez, wanted in an FBI manhunt in the brutal murders of at least eight people near railroad tracks in Texas, Kentucky, and Illinois, surrendered himself to Texas Rangers at a border crossing near El Paso in July 1999. What especially aroused public ire was not just the magnitude of Ramirez’s crimes, but that he previously had been in federal custody. A check with the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Border Patrol computer identification files showed he was a repeat offender who reentered the U.S. after three deportations, and who voluntarily returned to Mexico at least nine times following apprehensions. In fact, four of the murders took place in the weeks following his release by the U.S. Border Patrol back to Mexico. Ramirez eventually pled guilty in Texas state court on multiple murder charges, and at his own request, received the death penalty. He currently is awaiting execution.

Phoenix Police officer Nick Erlie was shot and killed by Erik Jovani Martinez, an illegal who previously was deported and had an arrest warrant. Martinez was shot and killed by police after taking a hostage. He had been arrested eight times. September 2007

Joycelyn Gardiner, 22, was killed when a drunk driving illegal alien, Victor Benitez, ran a red light in Nashville, TN and broadsided Gardiner’s car. Gardiner, a Texas native, student at Tennessee State University and a track star, was pronounced dead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center one hour and 15 minutes after her Pontiac Grand Prix was demolished by Benitez’s Ford Expedition. Investigators said Benitez was drunk and did not touch the brakes of his Ford Expedition before hitting Gardiner’s car. Police said Benitez was driving without a license and that he didn’t have paperwork verifying that he was in the United States legally. In February 2006, Benitez was arrested on three counts of car burglary and two counts of attempted theft. Nine months later, he was arrested on charges of public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

A Mexican national who attempted to kidnap a seven-year-old girl from a local Laundromat is one of 25 persons arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles during the past three days as part of a joint enforcement effort with the United States Attorney’s Office targeting foreign nationals with prior convictions for sex offenses, many of them involving children. Aug 2006

Indiana, The second of two men charged in the 2006 rape of a 14-year-old girl pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Friday. Three other charges against Eleazar Renteria, 17, are dismissed.
Renteria appeared before Circuit Court Judge Judith Proffitt to plead guilty to one Class D felony count of sexual battery. He was initially charged with Class B felony rape, Class D felony criminal confinement and a Class B misdemeanor battery charge in addition to the sexual battery charge.
Under terms of the plea agreement, Renteria will serve one year in prison, six months on work release and six months on home detention followed by one year of probation if the judge accepts the agreement. Renteria also will have to register as a sex offender.
“He’s not allowed to have contact with any children under 16 except in his own family,” said Hamilton County Deputy Prosecutor Stephanie Smith.
Renteria was arrested in July 2006 after the victim identified him as one of two men who raped her at a party in a home in the 10700 block of East 166th Street in Noblesville. Miguel Gutierrez is already serving a 10-year sentence for the crime. An illegal alien from Mexico, Gutierrez will be deported after his release September 2007

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A train-hopping serial killer linked to at least 15 murders near railroad tracks around the country said “I deserve what I am getting” before he was executed Tuesday night. Angel Maturino Resendiz mumbled a prayer in Spanish, saying “Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive me,” and acknowledged the presence of relatives watching through a nearby window. “I want to ask if it is in your heart to forgive me,” he said as he looked toward the relatives of victims in another room. “You don’t have to. I know I allowed the devil to rule my life.”"I thank God for having patience for me. I don’t deserve to cause you pain. You did not deserve this. I deserve what I am getting,” he said. Resendiz, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT. – (Newsroom) – (crime) – (Invasion!)
The Mexican drifter known as the “Railroad Killer” was executed for the slaying of physician Claudia Benton 7 1/2 years ago. She was killed during a deadly spree in 1998 and 1999, which earned Resendiz a spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as authorities searched for a murderer who slipped across the U.S. border and roamed the country by freight train. Benton, 39, was stabbed with a kitchen knife, struck 19 times with a 2-foot-tall bronze statue and raped in her home eight days before Christmas in 1998 in the Houston enclave of West University Place, just down the street from a railroad track. May 2007