M3: GAO confirms environmental laws hinder border security

GAO confirms environmental laws and land managers hinder securing border; Body counts at various mass graves increase
m3report | April 22, 2011 at 2:35 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pg2Ga-1mK

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.

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PROPOSAL FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION
ENFORCEMENT AND REFORM
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El Universal (Mexico) 4/21/2011


Durango Narco Graves Count Now 30 Bodies


Attorney General Ramiro Ortiz Aguirre announced the discovery of 4 more bodies, bring the total so far from the clandestine graves to 30. He said the search will continue. There is not adequate refrigeration available for the body storage, and no funds to get more, thus they have asked adjoining states for support. He also reported the burning of 3 homes, and 6 vehicles plus an ATV. Lastly, he reported the execution of a prison officer Thursday morning, finding .45 Cal and 9mm casings.




http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/760628.html
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Shorts:


ENSENADA, BAJA CALIFORNIA: Gary Lynn Astleford, 62 years old, from San Diego County, California, was arrested after a short foot chase. A U.S. arrest warrant for drug offenses, theft, human trafficking and parole violation had been issued. U.S. Marshal and the MX state police worked together to capture this felon.


ACAPULCO: Five killed, a home and vehicle burned, 3 arrested, with 3 guns(AK 47 & Uzi) and a vehicle all seized. A gunmen got out of a truck, approached tourists watching burning car, and sprayed gunfire into the air over their heads.-Milenio

COAHUILA: Rains on Wednesday have aided wildland fire fighters, who now have about 85% of one fire in El Bonito controlled. However, other reports say the 100+ degree temperatures are slowing progress on others.-OEM
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Blog del Narco (http://www.blogdelnarco.com/)

SAN FERNANDO, MEXICO: Mass graves body count now up to 177, and investigators say it is likely to increase. A San Fernando municipal police officer has been arrested in the abduction of the bus passengers and killings.


TEMIXCO, MORELOS: Two members of PSC (Cartel de Pacifico Sur) in safe house taken down. Four gunmen had carjacked an SUV. Police investigating found the safe house, stolen vehicle, AK 47, AR 15 rifle, drugs and military-style uniforms.


ANGOSTURA, SINALOA: Gunmen traveling in 10 trucks attacked city hall and the municipal police station to issue a challenge. Two people were executed, and a police officer wounded. Extensive damage was done to police vehicles, homes and businesses.


ATOTONILCO EL ALTO, JALISCO: Clash between 2 rival groups with rifles and grenades, killed two and burned 2 cars and a motorcycle.



CARRILLO PUERTO, JALISCO: Gunmen attacked military when spotted. In the shootout, 2 gunmen killed, 1 soldier seriously wounded, 6 gunmen captured, and seized 12 GA shotgun, two AK-47 rifles, two AR-15’s and two 9 mm pistols.

CIUDAD JUÃ

Mexican Drug Cartels Operating in at Least 1,286 U.S. Cities

Written by Kelly Holt
Tuesday, 19 April 2011 11:03

On April 13, All Headline News reported that the influence of Mexican drug cartels operating in U.S. cities is growing because cartel members are becoming residents. Roberta Jacobson, Deputy Secretary of State for Mexico and Canada, brought this information to a political forum in Washington, D.C., quoting a March 27 report from the Justice Department. The findings are also being widely disseminated in the Mexican media.

The National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) report, according to Jacobson, listed the cartels with the most influence in the U.S. as follows: the Sinaloa cartel, operating in 75 U.S. cities; the Gulf and Zetas cartels, both in 37 cities; the Juarez, in 33 cities; the Beltran Leyva Organization, in 30; La Familia, in 27; and Tijuana, in 21. This list contains the largest and most widely known cartels; the Zetas organization, comprised mostly of Mexican Army special forces soldiers, is considered to be one of the most vicious. The unnamed cities are all said to have seen a substantial increase in drug sales and violence.

AHN reported that the U.S. government plans to cut spending for drug interdiction under the Mérida Initiative next year by $250 million. The Initiative is a 2008 treaty under which the U.S. government pledged to contribute $1.5 billion to Mexico, along with drug-fighting equipment and personnel.

Jacobson explained that the Initiative is entering a new phase in which achievements will likely take longer and progress will not be as obvious. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims that since 2009, its agents have doubled the amount of time they spend in breaking up cartel influence.

Borderland Beat (BB), referencing the same NDIC report on April 11, reported that the expansion of cartel operations into the United States has predictably resulted in increased violence. According to BB, the Intelligence Center information indicated that the Mexican cartels are now operating in at least 1,286 American cities in nine regions — with 143 of these operations controlled directly by cartel members in Mexico.

The report was sent to embassies and border entry points to aid officials in identifying cartel members regularly crossing the border or settling in the United States. Law enforcement personnel have been warned to check for tattoos and jewelry bearing the various symbols used by the cartels.

The LA Times for April 17 carried the report of a Columbia, South Carolina police sting that captured Sinaloa cartel member Frediberto Pineda, who had settled in the state capital to manage one of the cartel’s U.S. outposts. According to the Times, cartel members living in America are trained in Mexico, with cartels claiming territories for their markets and developing routes. Many kkfear that the posturing by the gangs for routes and territories in the United States will soon produce the same result as in Mexico — savage, all-out turf wars.

When the FBI targeted Pineda, they finally had a direct connection to the cartel; however Pineda refused to cooperate with authorities for fear of cartel retaliation against his children in Mexico. The Times reported, “[Lead FBI agent Michael] Stansbury said the FBI tried to draw Pineda out in an interview to learn more about the cartel, but the discussion went nowhere. In the back of a car heading from the FBI office to jail, Pineda resisted. 'You know what happens in Mexico if I start talking,' he said. 'You know what they will do.'"

Pineda had been deported twice before settling in Columbia, South Carolina. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for heading a cocaine operation there.

Photo: Senate Crime and Drugs subcommittee Chairman Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. during a hearing on law enforcement responses to the Mexican drug cartels, March 17, 2009: AP Images

Comments:


Jim Gilchrist said:

Deployment of U.S. Army into northern Mexico
The time to deploy U.S. Army Airborne Rangers into Mexico to eliminate the criminal cartels headquartered there is long overdue.

We do not need permission from the Mexican government, much of which is as corrupt as the criminal cartels harbored there,to launch a military incursion into that country. All that is apparently necessary for a unilateral decision to insert U.S. troops into a foreign country is that such country is deemed a clear and present danger to the United States.

Mexico, the hub of both the lethal drug distribution throughout North America and the importation of millions of illegal aliens into our communities, has been a "clear and present danger" to the domestic tranquility of the United States for several decades.

Because Mexico has been unable or unwilling to stop the exodus of illegal aliens and criminal drug cartels from its country into the United States, our nation's domestic tranquility, its coveted governance by rules of law, and economic well-being are at serious risk of becoming fading principles of a fading civilized society.

Any sincere political office holder would defend our homeland and its heralded way of life and not succumb to "mob rule"...that "mob" being about 30 million illegal aliens (mostly from Mexico and Central America)who currently occupy U.S. territory.

This blatant invasion and defiance of our laws has proliferated rapidly over the past two decades against the will of the electorate and with the cooperation of incompetent, cowardly, collaborating politicians who have no leadership skills and no business holding public office.

It is time to deploy the Army Rangers into Mexico if we want to preserve ourselves as a sovereign nation with justice for all.

Jim Gilchrist, Founder and President, The Minuteman Project



http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/cr ... ness-in-us

Three accused of smuggling aliens

LISBON BEACH BOAT LAUNCH: Men from U.K. brought by boat from Ontario in apparent cash transaction

By BRIAN KELLY
TIMES STAFF WRITER
THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2011
LISBON — Three Canadians face allegations that they tried to smuggle three United Kingdom residents into the United States by boat Friday night at Lisbon Beach.

Kenneth S. Reid, Wilma W. Winter and Michael A. Richard, ages and addresses not available, were each charged by U.S. Border Patrol agents with bringing in and harboring aliens after agents halted a boat traveling on the St. Lawrence River without navigational lights.

According to a criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court, agents saw a boat traveling between Galop Island and Red Mills about 8:20 p.m. and began to follow it because of the lack of lights. It is alleged the boat landed at the closed Lisbon Beach boat launch for about 30 seconds, then backed away and returned to the river.

At the same time, agents on the water and on land observed a car in the beach parking lot drive away as the boat left. Agents stopped the boat and observed four passengers and three large duffel bags.

Agents questioned the boat's operator, Mr. Reid, who told them he was from Johnstown, Ontario, and the people in the boat were his friends, although he knew the name of only one of the other occupants, according to the complaint. He allegedly told agents the passengers had been staying with him for a week and were from "Ireland or the U.K. somewhere, I think." He said he met them online.

When asked why he was operating without lights, he allegedly said the lights "just blink on and off so I shut them off." When asked why he made landfall, Mr. Reid allegedly said his boat "isn't running properly" and he was meeting his girlfriend, Ms. Winter, who was shopping in Ogdensburg and "has some tools in her car and I thought maybe I could fix it."

The agents doubted the explanation, according to the complaint, because at the point they began observing the boat operating without lights it was about the same distance from Johnstown as it was from Lisbon Beach and "the logical action" would have been to return to Johnstown.

Mr. Reid also allegedly tried to reach into a small compartment on the boat, but was told to keep his hands where agents could see them. A subsequent search of the boat allegedly found the compartment contained $4,960 in Canadian cash.

Despite Mr. Reid's claim his passengers had been staying with him for a week, a baggage claim ticket on one of the duffel bags allegedly showed it had arrived at a Montreal airport the day before. Mr. Reid then told agents, "They flew in yesterday," according to the complaint.

A passenger, Roddy M.A. Teelan, then allegedly told agents that he and fellow passengers Shaun L. Stevens and John A. Teelan had flown into Montreal the day before from London and had taken a taxi from Montreal to Brockville, Ontario, where Mr. Reid picked them up after a night in a hotel.

According to the complaint, Mr. Teelan told agents each man had paid Mr. Reid $1,600 Canadian to take them by boat from Prescott, Ontario, to Lisbon Beach. He allegedly said he was heading to Yonkers, where his father lives, but then refused to sign a statement or talk further about the case.

Agents on land arrived at Lisbon Beach and observed a vehicle with Ontario plates leaving the area. The driver, Mr. Richard, allegedly told agents he had crossed the international bridge at Ogdensburg about 7 p.m. and was planning to meet a friend to go to the casino. He said he "was just going to hang out" until the friend arrived. He allowed agents to search his vehicle, where $1,500 was found under a floor mat.

Agents also observed a second vehicle parked in the beach lot, facing the water, and asked the operator, Ms. Winter, why she was there. She allegedly told agents she "has been going through a rough patch" and came to Lisbon Beach to "relax" before visiting Walmart. Agents determined that her vehicle had crossed the Ogdensburg bridge just 13 minutes before, indicating she had driven directly to the beach.

Upon seeing Ms. Winter, agents said, Mr. Reid "acted surprised" to see her and asked what she was doing there, despite his earlier claim that he was to meet her there to perform boat repairs. A search of Ms. Winter's vehicle allegedly revealed no tools to fix a boat, according to the complaint. Agents said they tested the lights on Mr. Reid's boat and they "worked fine."

Mr. Reid is being held by federal marshals without bond, while Ms. Winter posted $10,000 bond Wednesday and was released. A bond hearing for Mr. Richard had not been held as of Wednesday. Each has been assigned a federal public defender.

Roddy Teelan and Mr. Stevens are in U.S. Border Patrol custody, charged with concealing facts about their entry into the United States as they had not passed through a port of entry. Court documents show that John Teelan was initially detained at Ogdensburg, although there is no record of any charge against him.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/arti ... /304219968