Patterico's Pontifications

10/6/2009

Southern Border Status

Filed under: Crime,Government,Immigration,Obama — DRJ @ 7:50 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

El Paso, Texas, businesses are being threatened by Mexican cartels or victimized by scam artists imitating the cartels:

“This week alone, at least two El Paso businesses reported to police calls they had received from a man identifying himself as a Zetas commander working for the Gulf cartel.

One man, in a “bullying voice,” called an El Paso businessman and demanded “$50,000 immediately, or the next time we’ll see you, it will be at the funeral of a loved one,” the businessman said.

The businessman spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concerns for his safety and that of his family. The family said it reported the incident to police.

Police said the caller may have been someone posing as a cartel member, hoping to use the fearsome reputation of the drug-trafficking groups operating across the border in Ciudad Juárez to extract money from businesses in El Paso.”

Police won’t say how many businesses have received calls but it raises concerns that El Paso, like its sister city Juarez, is at risk of becoming a Mafia town:

“But as Mexicans flee the growing insecurity and move to U.S. border cities, American business owners have said they fear that the cartels, with members living on both sides of the border, will also prey on them and demand “protection” fees.

Such demands have wrecked hundreds of businesses across Mexico, particularly in cities such as Ciudad Juárez, where the cartels are most active.

Juárez is considered the most dangerous city in the Americas. So far this year, more than 1,800 people have been killed in criminal violence, including more than 300 in September alone.

But the destruction in Juárez is measured in more ways than body counts.

In downtown Juárez, burned-out businesses have become a common sight, many of them victims of organized crime carrying through on threats to destroy shops of owners who refused to pay protection fees, authorities say.”

The Obama Administration announced last month it is reducing the number of Border Patrol agents on the Southern border. According to the Border Patrol, only 697 miles of the 1,954 mile U.S.-Mexico border is under “effective control” while 1,257 miles are not.

— DRJ

9 Responses to “Southern Border Status”

  1. The Obama Administration announced last month it is reducing the number of Border Patrol agents on the Southern border.

    There’s a perfectly good explanation for that. As we all know, the Obama Administration is a very careful guardian of public funds, very frugal with the federal budget, and doesn’t want to have too many people employed by the government and on the dole.

    BTW, I saw a photo of Obama the other day and his ass is where is crotch is, and visa versa.

    Mark (411533)

  2. nothing to see here, so just move along, gringo.

    only a racist would try to make something out of this effort by the poor downtrodden masses trying to achieve some of the good life you have achieved by robbing and exploiting them over the years.

    what’s wrong with you people? have you no shame?

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  3. He’s reducing the number of agents? Good grief!

    Canceling money for Iranian human rights workers.

    Supporting a leftist revolutionary in Honduras.

    Snubbing the Dalai Lama.

    Know what? He’s as bad as the wingnuts say he is.

    Patricia (c95a48)

  4. The Obama Administration announced last month it is reducing the number of Border Patrol agents on the Southern border.

    How many people in this nation’s border-towns (like my birthplace of Laredo, Texas) will have to die before someone in Washington starts to give a damn about the rising violence along the US-Mexico border?

    Mike LaRoche (445f08)

  5. There is a problem with advanced technology – cell phones – being available to anyone at anytime with no ‘linkage’ back to the consumer. This allows the criminal element to have protected lines of communication.
    Something has to change. Either blanket trapping of all calls in areas where there are criminal activity, or suppression of signals, or linking each call by some identifier to the originator.
    Throwaway cell phones should never have been allowed. The telephone number assigned within the NPA is thus unavailable. That is why more and more locations have to dial the ten digit area code, NPA and NNNX to complete their call.
    The cat may be out of the bag, but it can be re-bagged with the introduction of new cell phone technology which makes old phones obsolete and unusable.
    Thus, the merchants could not be threatened by anonymous and untraceable calls …

    just a thought
    tom

    tomw (65ad20)

  6. Bush, of course, allowed prosecution of the two border patrol officers for the crime of shooting at a drug smuggler. The open borders people of both parties have much to answer for. Auto insurance in Tucson is double that in Orange County, CA. A lot of that is uninsured other driver coverage and a lot is for auto theft. A guy I know had his car stolen in Tucson. He figured it wasn’t too bad because he had Lojack. By the time they activated the Lojack, the car was well into Mexico. Bye Bye.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  7. The Obama Administration announced last month it is reducing the number of Border Patrol agents on the Southern border.

    Not to worry. He’s increasing the number of ATF agents in southern Texas, in attempt to lend a veneer of authority to the lie that the Mexican cartels use straw buyers as a major avenue to get guns.

    So he’s on the job. Not only weakening border security. But addressing the urgent need to do everything he can to make sure a US citizen threatened by any cartel members have a tougher time getting a gun.

    As a an aside the Mexican cartels do not get many guns north of the borders. You only have to take a look at the smuggling routes for their drugs, the countries where those routes originate or pass through, to figure things out. Especially if they’re using RPGs, which you can’t buy even in a well-stocked Houston gun store.

    Actually, most guns used in crime in general don’t come from the US. They only ask the US to trace a small percentage of guns used in crimes, only the ones they suspect of coming from here. Of that small subset of firearms, a large percentage do come from the US.

    But they don’t bother asking for a trace on the vast majority.

    I’m convinced the lobotomy comes with the journalism degree, given how hard is for the press to figure things out.

    Steve (bb9090)

  8. Next up will be the DHS redefining the terms of the “agreement” they have with local law enforcement to enforce immigration law. This just happened in Arizona. The former govenor Janet Napolitano (now Director at DHS)just jerked the agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to enforce immigration law in Phoenix. Despite the sheriffs receiving the highest recommendation from ICE on the job that they were doing.

    PRM (310ebf)

  9. […] Well said!  It is patently clear that this administration has no desire whatsoever to secure our borders as this recent report fromPatterico’s indicates, […]

    Gazzer’s Gabfest » Shurf Joe vs Jimmy Napolitano…round 416… (b98ad6)


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