Thread: American agents shot in Mexico, UPDATE 1 Dead

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

The clock is ticking. Pay close attention. The drug cartels have ALREADY BROUGHT THEIR MURDERING RAMPAGE to (fill in the blanks) every county in the United States.

We are at war. Or are we?

Is Calderon about due another prime-time standing ovation in our U.S. Congress?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6nP5dPgC5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg0T7iYk87I


The lawlessness in Mexico, blamed on the drug cartels, appears to leave the US with two alternatives.

1. End the cartels by legalizing street drugs in the US. This would eliminates the profit motive in smuggling drugs and, thus, the cartel's reason for existing.
2. Wage war by putting US troops on the Mexican-US border and forbidding all traffic. This would entail deporting illegal aliens and detaining other Mexican nationals, who might be deemed agents for an enemy power.

Third alternative anyone?

I'm not sure legalization is the answer ( but not exactly opposed to it either), but I do know that Calderon got real nervous when California was trying to legalize marijuana last election. Could it be that legalization would cut into his drug profits?

I can see the idea of legalizing weed in the US. But far as heroin, cocaine and so forth very bad idea.

The real way to stop it would be militarizing the southern border. If the military is on the border and in the waters really what solid way do they have to get it into the US? Soon as the border is secured with armed force the drug money starts to dry up. Cut off all aid to Mexico and basically ban anything to do with Mexico until the issue is cleaned up. This means NO remitances, no imports/exports, no cash from the US, no Mexicans crossing into the US (but we still kick illegals back across the border).

If the Mexican Government when it starts crying wants to come and beg us for help they can pay us our costs for our heavy handed military support and we'll come in and wipe out the cartels with extreme prejudice.

Placing the military on our southern border would solve many problems, including much of the drugs entering this country. But our government refuses to do so because (choose best answer):
(a) They have no intentions of stopping the drugs and illegals entering this country.
(b) Terrified of offending mexico (we all know what a "proud" people they are) with such action.
(c) Afraid of displacing millions of new voters flowing across the border who are heavily dependent upon government entitlements to survive and raise their anchor babies. You can decide which party they might prefer, but it has something to do with "hope and change" I suspect.
(d) All of the above.

1 U.S. Immigration Agent Killed, 1 Injured in Mexico

Published February 16, 2011
FoxNews.com
Comments (94

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was killed and another wounded while driving through northern Mexico Tuesday, in a rare attack on American officials in this country which is fighting powerful drug cartels.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said one agent was critically wounded in the attack and died from his injuries. The second agent was shot in the arm and leg and remains in stable condition.

ICE Director John Morton late Tuesday identified the slain agent as Jaime Zapata, who was on assignment from the office in Laredo, Texas, where he served on the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit as well as the Border Enforcement Security Task Force. The injured agent, who was not identified, remains in stable condition, Morton said.

"I'm deeply saddened by the news that earlier today, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents assigned to the ICE Attache office in Mexico City were shot in the line of duty while driving between Mexico City and Monterrey by unknown assailants," Napolitano said.

U.S. and Mexican officials said they were working closely together to investigate the shooting and find those responsible. They did not give a motive for the attack.

"Let me be clear: any act of violence against our ICE personnel -- or any DHS personnel -- is an attack against all those who serve our nation and put their lives at risk for our safety," Napolitano said. "We remain committed in our broader support for Mexico's efforts to combat violence within its borders."

The two agents were driving in the northern state of San Luis Potosi when they were stopped at what may have appeared to be a military checkpoint, said one Mexican official, who could not be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. Mexican military officials said they have no checkpoints in the area.

After they stopped, someone opened fire on them, the official said.

San Luis Potosi police said gunmen attacked two people a blue Suburban on Highway 57 between Mexico City and Monterrey, near the town of Santa Maria Del Rio, at about 2:30 p.m.

Police said one person was killed and another was flown to a Mexico City hospital, though they couldn't confirm the victims were the ICE agents.

A U.S. law enforcement source who was not authorized to speak on the case said the agent who died was on loan from Laredo, Texas.

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan spoke with Morton to express Mexico's condolences, according to a spokesman.

"Please keep Special Agent Zapata's family, friends, and colleagues close to your heart during this difficult time. May the work we continue to do as an agency be worthy of a sacrifice as great as the one made by Special Agent Zapata," Morton said in a statement Wednesday.

Zapata, who joined ICE in 2006, had also served as a member of the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona. He was a native of Brownsville, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2005. No age was given for Zapata.

Though Mexico is seeing record rates of violence from warring drug cartels and a crackdown on organized crime, it is rare for U.S. officials to be attacked. The U.S. government, however, has become increasingly concerned about the safety of its employees in Mexico amid the escalating violence.

In March, a U.S. employee of a consulate, her husband and a Mexican tied to the American consulate were killed when drug gang members fired on their cars as they left a children's party in Ciudad Juarez, the city across from El Paso, Texas.

The U.S. State Department has taken several measures over the past year to protect consulate employees and their families. It has at times authorized the departure of relatives of U.S. government employees in northern Mexican cities.

In July, it temporarily closed the consulate in Ciudad Juarez after receiving unspecified threats.

In 1985, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar was tortured and killed in Mexico. Mexican trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero is serving a 40-year prison term for Camarena's slaying.

ICE, the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government, enforced immigration laws and is primarily responsible for arresting, detaining and deporting people who are in the U.S. illegally. It also investigates drug cases in the U.S. and Mexico and other types of trafficking.

It was created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service and has more than 20,000 employees in offices in all 50 states and 47 foreign countries.

Mexico is fighting heavily armed and powerful drug cartels that supply the U.S. market. Since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown against drug trafficking shortly after taking office in December 2006, almost 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence.

Fox News' Mike Levine and the Associated Press contributed to this report

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/15/im ... ed-mexico/

3 Deputy U.S. Marshals Shot in West Virginia

Published February 16, 2011

FoxNews.com

DEVELOPING: Three deputy U.S. marshals were shot Wednesday while serving an arrest warrant at a West Virginia home, Fox News confirms.

"This morning at approximately 8:30 a.m., several Deputy U.S. Marshals from the Northern District of West Virginia were serving an arrest warrant at a residence in Elkins, W. Va.," U.S. Marshals Service Spokesman Jeff Carter said in a statement.

"Immediately upon entry into the residence, three Deputy U.S. Marshals were fired upon by a shotgun blast and struck," Carter said. "Two deputies were taken to a local hospital for treatment while the third deputy was transported by helicopter. The condition of the deputies is not known at this time."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/16/de ... -virginia/

Obama calls parents of US agent killed in Mexico

By The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 9:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has expressed condolences to the parents of a federal immigration and customs agent killed in Mexico.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro says Obama telephoned Special Agent Jaime Zapata's parents on Wednesday. Obama said their son served the United States admirably and that his country was grateful for his selfless service.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was killed Tuesday after gunmen fired on the vehicle he was riding in. Zapata was on assignment in Mexico City from his post in Laredo, Texas.

The second agent riding in the car was shot in the arm and leg and is in the hospital.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011 ... in-mexico/

The second agent riding in the car was shot in the arm and leg and is in the hospital.

Possibly, Agent in the hospital will give us a lead way, so we can get to work quickly!!!

Zapata was a graduate of the university of texas at brownsville and is a former Border Patrol Agent, as well

Originally Posted by redpony353

What? We have ICE offices in 44 countries. Wait a minute. Does this mean ICE is providing law enforcement for other countries? I am afraid to ask who is paying for all of these offices in 44 countries. Who is paying for this? Is this all paid for by the American taxpayer?

Exactly, why is it the tax payers are paying for law enforcement and military to be on foreign soil? Immigration and Customs Enforcement's job is inforcing immigration and customs in the USA. Not Mexico or any of the other 43 countries. Agan, how would US citizens feel if we foriegn law enforcement and military operating on our soil. Get these people out of foreign countries and problems like this won't happen.

I am truly sorry for the families of these two who died.

Yet the ONLY place I see this front page is here.

The media is evil