Thread: Chertoff Calls For Crackdown On Smugglers

http://www.wral.com/apnationalnews/5885774/detail.html

SAN DIEGO -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has declared a crackdown on immigrant smugglers at two California border crossings from Tijuana, Mexico.

Chertoff promised more prosecutions of smugglers who tried to enter the United States at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa crossings in San Diego, as well as more jail space to hold them, though he did not say on how much the effort would cost.

In a potentially controversial twist, Chertoff said Thursday state and local officials would participate in the crackdown. Proponents of tougher enforcement have long advocated a larger role for local law enforcement, but critics say local agencies should stick to fighting crime, not enforcing immigration laws.

Border Patrol agents thwarted 60,000 attempted illegal crossings at San Ysidro and Otay Mesa last year. Smugglers once stuffed a baby inside a gasoline tank, Chertoff said.

"It is remarkable the lengths to which smugglers will go to try to get people into this country," he said at a news conference. "They simply want to make money at the expense of human misery."

The federal government has also increased border enforcement in Arizona, which has surpassed California as the nation's busiest corridor for illegal immigrants. Arizona accounted for more than half the Border Patrol's 1.1 million arrests last year.

Border Patrol arrests in the San Diego sector plummeted to about 110,000 last year from 528,000 in 1995, when the state had stepped up security.

but critics say local agencies should stick to fighting crime, not enforcing immigration laws.

Human smuggling and illegal immigration isn't a crime? Since when? Who are these critics anyway? Probably a bunch of illegal alien supporters who need to be rounded up and jailed anyway.

Chertoff launches California crackdown on immigrant smugglers

http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4328376

Jan 6, 2006, 11:02 AM EST

SAN DIEGO -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Thursday declared a crackdown on migrant smugglers at two California border crossings, even as the federal government increasingly focuses border enforcement in Arizona.

Chertoff said he didn't have a precise dollar figure on how much would be spent on the crackdown at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa crossings in San Diego, across the border from Tijuana, Mexico.

He said the effort will result in more prosecutions of smugglers and more jail space to accommodate them. It also involves deploying canines trained to detect illegal crossers.


Agents detected 60,000 illegal crossings attempts last year at San Ysidro and in the Otay Mesa passenger lanes, Chertoff said.

He said smugglers once stuffed a bottle-sucking baby inside a gasoline tank and crammed 200-pound woman into the dashboard of a small car.


"It is remarkable the lengths to which smugglers will go to try to get people into this country," Chertoff said at a news conference. "They simply want to make money at the expense of human misery."

In a potentially controversial twist, Chertoff said state and local officials would participate in the crackdown. Proponents of tougher enforcement have long advocated a larger role for local law enforcement, but critics say local agencies should stick to fighting crime, not enforcing immigration laws.

Matt Bettenhausen, director of California's Office of Homeland Security, said state agencies including the California Highway Patrol would share information with federal authorities.

"We're not going to be specifically enforcing immigration laws," Bettenhausen said, appearing alongside Chertoff.

Arizona surpassed California as the nation's busiest corridor for illegal immigrants after a crackdown in the California that was launched in the 1990s.

Border Patrol arrests in the San Diego sector plummeted to about 110,000 last year from 528,000 in 1995. Arizona, meanwhile, accounted for more than half the Border Patrol's 1.1 million arrests last year.


Chertoff declined to comment on last week's death of a Mexican man shot while sneaking across the border in San Diego by a Border Patrol agent. A Border Patrol spokesman has said Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, 18, was a longtime migrant smuggler and that the agent fired in self-defense after someone threw a large rock.

The shooting has sparked outrage in Mexico. President Vicente Fox has demanded that the United States provide "a rapid and complete explanation."

While declining to discuss specifics of the shooting, Chertoff noted there has been a sharp increase in attacks on Border Patrol agents.

"Anybody who assaults a Border Patrol or law enforcement agent is asking for trouble," he said.

This was an Associated Press story. Looks like the tv version left out a couple of goodies.

I don't guess the 208 lb lady in the dash board fit too well with the general theme of "starving immigrants", eh?

I haven't seen ANY that looked like they were starving to me. PROPAGANDA!

As a matter of fact, they all look better, have more time on their hands and more money in their pockets than half of the Americans I see struggling every day. When I go out to eat, at least a third of the place is filled with illegals eating, having fun in the middle of the day, and kids, kids, kids, kids.



So all this "dribble" about "slave wages" "sun-up to sun-down" jobs is a bunch of bunk and/or a pack of lies. They are robbinb US blind right in front of our faces, right under our noses.



I always have indigestion after eating out. I'm sure ya'all can understand why.

Grrrrr!!!

Oh, I KNOW IT! And, you will ride by their homes in THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY and there will be a ----LOAD sitting on the porch rocking away. I guess that's why the older people called unemployment "ROCKING CHAIR MONEY"! It's always a BUNCH OF YOUNG WOMEN and a dozen or more little kids running around the place. Now, WHY are they not out working rather than sitting on their porches rocking away while WE are paying for those anchor babies that are running the neighborhoods????

Because their "husbands" have the jobs American used to do.

BUT, of COURSE. AND, getting paid "under the Table". AND, getting that money TAX-FREE. AND, taking care of their "husbandly duties" so they can pop out some more of those anchor babies. WHAT A LIFE!