Thread: Border Patrol bust in Southern New Mexico yields 6 tons in drugs

Border Patrol bust in Southern New Mexico yields 6 tons in drugs

By Daniel BClick photo to enlarge
(Courtesy U.S. Border Patrol)


orunda \ El Paso Timeselpasotimes.com
Posted: 01/25/2013 09:55:42 PM MST

U.S. Border Patrol agents made one of the region's largest drug busts when the agents seized more than 6 tons of marijuana after intercepting a vehicle convoy on a remote road in Southern New Mexico.

"In the last five years, we had not had a seizure of this amount," said Fernando Escabi, an acting supervisory Border Patrol agent and spokesman for the agency in El Paso. The case was announced Friday.

Border Patrol officials said the bust took place Monday night after agents saw five vehicles traveling together on NM County Road 1 in Hidalgo County, in the New Mexico Bootheel.

Escabi said agents were able to stop four of the vehicles after smugglers tried to escape by driving through the desert.

The stopped vehicles were filled to the roof with large bundles of marijuana weighing a total of 13,700 pounds. The Border Patrol estimated that the marijuana has a street value of more than $10.9 million.

Two men from Mexico were arrested, but the other drivers escaped.

Leonardo Ortiz Chavez, 39, and Samuel Garcia Miranda, 29, were handed to Homeland Security Investigations agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An ICE spokeswoman said an investigation continues.

During the bust, Border Patrol agents were helped by Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies and by aircraft from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air and Marine.

"We are extremely proud of this seizure," Escabi said. "This is the result of
inter-agency cooperation."It is unknown where the marijuana was being taken.

Officials said that Border Patrol agents from the Lordsburg station regularly stop marijuana-smuggling attempts in the southwestern corner of New Mexico but that the size of Monday's bust was unusual.

Lordsburg is part of the agency's El Paso sector, which covers all of New Mexico and the westernmost part of Texas.

In recent years, law-enforcement officers have said that narco-smugglers in the El Paso region had moved away from large-scale drug loads and switched to transporting smaller amounts, which lessened the risk of being discovered.

Escabi said that smugglers continually change their tactics to try to elude authorities.

"There are always trends, and trends change," he said.

Monday's marijuana seizure was bigger than some of the biggest pot busts in El Paso in recent years, which were of 9,000 pounds of marijuana found in a tractor-trailer in 2009 at the Zaragoza Bridge and 12,620 pounds of marijuana in a trailer at the Bridge of the Americas in 2003.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102. Follow him on Twitter @BorundaDaniel.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_22451473/feds-6-tons-marijuana-seized-at-new-mexico?source=most_viewed

DHS is playing games with the release of the FY2012 stats

Forums for Justice - government of the people, by the people, for the people - Border Drug Intercepts http://bit.ly/dVkcwD

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Originally Posted by Buzzm1

DHS is playing games with the release of the FY2012 stat

12/21/2012

http://www.alipac.us/f12/fy-2012-ice...umbers-269174/

FY 2012: ICE announces year-end removal numbers, highlights focus on key priorities and issues new national detainer guidance to further focus resources

Removal Statistics

Removal Statistics - Charts and Graphs
Criminal Aliens
　
Recent Border Crossers
Repeat and Egregious Immigration Law Violators and Immigration Fugitives
Resources
　
　
　
　
Methodology

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

12/21/2012

http://www.alipac.us/f12/fy-2012-ice...umbers-269174/

FY 2012: ICE announces year-end removal numbers, highlights focus on key priorities and issues new national detainer guidance to further focus resources

Removal Statistics

Removal Statistics - Charts and Graphs
Criminal Aliens
　
Recent Border Crossers
Repeat and Egregious Immigration Law Violators and Immigration Fugitives
Resources
　
　
　
　
Methodology

JohnDoe2, perhaps you are unfamiliar with the Excel spreadsheets that DHS produces during the fiscal year, and then releases at the end of the fiscal year, but as of this date, they haven't released them, and as I mentioned, DHS also refuses to release any additional monthly sector apprehension totals, or drug interception stats, until such time as they formally release this end-of-the-fiscal-year report.

http://forumsforjustice.com/forums/s...65&postcount=1

Use this link and click on the info you want at the bottom of the page.
(The graphs and charts won't copy here.)
All of the info is there, just in a different form from what you have been using.

Removal Statistics

Removal Statistics
12/21/2012

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has adopted common sense policies that ensure our immigration laws are enforced in a way that best enhances public safety, border security and the integrity of the immigration system. As part of this approach, ICE has adopted clear priorities that call for the agency's enforcement resources to be focused on the identification and removal of those that have broken criminal laws, recently crossed our border, repeatedly violated immigration law or are fugitives from immigration court.
Over the past four years, through the use of targeted enforcement tools this approach has fundamentally shifted ICE's removal efforts to focus on criminal and other priorities.
In FY 2012, ICE removed 409,849 individuals. Ninety-six percent of these removals fell into one of ICE's enforcement priorities, a record high.


Removal Statistics - Charts and Graphs





Criminal Aliens

55 percent, or 225,390, of the people removed in FY 2012 were convicted criminal aliens – almost double the removal of criminals from FY 2008, and the largest number of criminal aliens removed in agency history.

ICE remains committed to maximizing the removal of those who pose the greatest threat to public safety or national security. ICE will continue to evaluate its enforcement policies, operations and programs to ensure that they are focused on our highest priorities, making adjustments when necessary. On December 21, 2012 ICE issued a new national detainer policy restricting the use of detainers against individuals who have been arrested or convicted of minor traffic offenses or other petty offenses, helping to ensure that available resources are focused on apprehending felons, repeat offenders and other ICE priorities.

Recent Border Crossers

As part of the Department of Homeland Security's unprecedented efforts to secure our nation's borders, ICE prioritizes the identification and removal of recent border crossers. ICE also conducts targeted enforcement operations with the U.S. Border Patrol. These historic results along the Southwest Border are attributable to the joint efforts of U.S. Border Patrol agents and ICE officers and agents, and the emphasis ICE places on the removal of recent border crossers.

In FY 2012, ICE removed 69,957 recent border crossers.

Repeat and Egregious Immigration Law Violators and Immigration Fugitives

Individuals who return to our country after having been previously removed, those who engage in immigration fraud, and those who flagrantly ignore an immigration court's order to leave the country remain an enforcement priority. Prioritization of these individuals also enhances border security and promotes the integrity of the immigration enforcement system.


In FY 2012, ICE removed 96,828 aliens who were either repeat immigration violators or immigration fugitives.

Resources

• Learn about Secure Communities
• Securing America's Borders Fact Sheet
• Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Fact Sheet
• ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations

Methodology

ICE makes every effort to count removals or returns in the year in which they occur. This is the case for the overwhelming majority of removals and returns. However, when a removal or return occurs near the end of a fiscal year, it sometimes cannot be confirmed as completed until the early part of the following fiscal year. When this happens, the removal or return is counted in the year it is confirmed rather than the previous year when it actually occurred. In addition, there are a small number of cases, such as voluntary departures, where ICE is not present when the individual leaves the country. To capture these departures, ICE periodically conducts data base searches such as airline manifest records to confirm the date. These departures are also counted in the year confirmed. Regardless of whether the removal or return is counted in the year it occurred or the year confirmed, each removal or return is only counted in one fiscal year.

ICE Priority Chart Hierarchy
If an alien was identified by more than one priority, ICE defaults that individual to the highest priority based on the following hierarchy (ordered highest to lowest):

• Criminal Offender
• Immigration Fugitive
• Repeat Immigration Violator
• Border Removal
• Other Removable Alien

Definitions of Common Terms
Criminal Offender: An alien convicted for one or more crimes. This category includes individuals who, in addition to have been convicted of a crime, also may have been immigration fugitives, border removals, or were previously removed or returned.
Immigration Fugitive: An alien who is subject to a final order of removal and has absconded instead of complying with the order.
Repeat Immigration Violator: An alien previously removed or returned who has re-entered the country illegally again.
Border Removal: An alien apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at or near the border or a port of entry and referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE only counts this type of removal if CBP referred the alien to ICE for detention, administrative prosecution or removal.
Other Removable Alien: An alien who is not confirmed to be within any of the above definitions. Removals in this category may include aliens removed on national security grounds or for general immigration violations.

"Border Patrol bust in Southern New Mexico yields 6 tons in drugs"

Crackdown on the smugglers in Arizona and they just move over to New Mexico.

JohnDoe2;

Use this link and click on the info you want at the bottom of the page.
(The graphs and charts won't copy here.)
All of the info is there, just in a different form from what you have been using.

JohnDoe2, you are confused, the information isn't there, and you obviously aren't familiar with the DHS/CBP Excel spreadsheets, or the end-of-the-fiscal-year report, and you aren't the one who has been in contact with DHS/CBP in Washington DC and receiving these spreadsheets, updated monthly, for the last 6 years.

CBP Busts $779 Million Worth of Cocaine

Texas-based CBP P-3s detect two drug vessels

(Monday, March 12, 2012)

Washington— In two separate incidents in a 24-hour period, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Air and Marine (OAM) P-3 operating out of National Air Security Operations Center-Corpus Christi (NASOC-CC), detected two go-fast vessels carrying more than 10,000 pounds of cocaine with a combined value of more than $779 million.

CBP P-3s

On March 2, a P-3 operating in the Western Caribbean spotted a go-fast vessel loaded down with suspicious bales. The 35-foot twin-engine vessel was spotted speeding north off the coast of Colombia and appeared to be loaded with numerous packages when the Texas-based CBP P-3 began tracking the vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard was vectored in to board the vessel and after inspection, 4,400 pounds of cocaine worth more than $329 million were recovered.

The next day, two P-3s conducting routine patrols in the Western Caribbean detected a four-engine, open-hull go-fast vessel loaded with rectangular bales off the coast of Costa Rica. Local law enforcement officials were called in to pursue, and the vessel ran aground in Nicaragua, where the four crew members fled into the jungle, leaving behind approximately 6,000 pounds of cocaine worth more than $450 million.

These two seizures are in addition to an $82 million seizure detected by the CBP P-3s operating out of Jacksonville, Fla. In the last week, CBP P-3s have accounted for $861 million in cocaine seizures.

During fiscal year 2011, the CBP P-3 fleet continued its anti-smuggling success by seizing or disrupting more than 148,000 pounds of cocaine valued at more than $11.1 billion, totaling 20.6 pounds seized for every flight hour, valued at $1.5 million for every hour flown.

CBP OAM P-3s have been an integral part of the successful counter-narcotic missions operating in coordination with the Joint Interagency Task Force – South (JIATFS). The P-3s patrol in a six million square mile area of the Western Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, known as the Source and Transit Zone, in search of drugs that are in transit towards U.S. shores. The P-3s’ distinctive detection capabilities allow highly-trained crews to identify emerging threats well beyond the land borders of the U.S. By providing surveillance of known air, land, and maritime smuggling routes in an area that is twice the size of the continental U.S., the P-3s detect, monitor and disrupt smuggling activities before they reach shore.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/national/03122012_3.xml

A breakdown of CBP enforcement actions by state along the U.S. southwest border is below:

Enforcement Actions	Arizona	Texas	New Mexico	California
Apprehensions	124,631	172,335	5,661	54,246
Drug Seizures	1.1M pounds	1.7M pounds	43.4K pounds	285.6K pounds
Currency Seizures	$5.6M	$12.5M	$715K	$15.9M
Inadmissible	6,011	27,392	489	28,167

http://www.alipac.us/f12/cbps-2012-f...review-271824/