Thread: KPRC TV Houston - Mexico's Violence Spills Into Texas- pt1

Mexico's Violence Spills Into Texas
By Robert Arnold

POSTED: Tuesday, March 17, 2009
UPDATED: 5:46 am CDT March 18, 2009
HOUSTON -- Kidnappings, murders, extortion, violent acts no longer contained south of the border. Local 2 Investigates traveled to the border and talked with those who said the trail of drugs and violence goes all the way to Houston.

On a cool January day in 2006, Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Deputies chased two black SUVs near the border about an hour outside of El Paso. One of the SUVs has a blow out. When deputies searched the car, they found dozens of tightly packed bundles of marijuana.

A few miles away, sheriff's deputies chased the second SUV back to the Rio Grande. An officer's dashboard camera captured video of the SUV stuck in the river. The video showed deputies in a shootout with the smugglers as they tried to offload the marijuana.

During the firefight, a military Humvee is seen pulling up to help the smugglers. Deputies snapped a picture of a Mexican military soldier trying to hide in the bushes. Both the U.S. and Mexican governments have denied a military soldier was involved in the skirmish.

"There ain't no allegation to this. This was the damn military," said Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West. "The military incursion we had wasn't the first one. We've had that several times."

From Hudspeth County to just outside of Houston -- an hour-and-a-half south on Highway-59, Local 2 Investigates rode shotgun with Jackson County deputy Joel Price.

"We're getting a lot of gang activity," said Price. "For me it's very apparent, I'm seeing more now than I've seen in the years past headed northbound to Houston and it's a border gang. It appears they're trying to set-up shop in Houston."

As Mexico steps up its crack down on the cartels, sending thousands of troops and federal police into border cities like Juarez, raiding compounds, seizing drugs and patrolling the streets, the effort is forcing a new level of aggression by the cartels and smugglers on our side of the border.

"Now they're being told, 'If you're pursued by officers, shoot back.' They're obviously better armed then we are," said West.

"They'll fight you now. They'll flee from you whereas before they used to surrender," said Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo.

West said the violence even prompted four families in his county to move away because they were threatened and attacked by the drug runners for giving law enforcement information about what they saw crossing their properties.

"It's hard to get information from them because of the retaliation," said West. "They know if they see them talking to us they're marked."

Responding to the growing threat, Texas Border sheriffs joined together to share information and resources. Local 2 Investigates was there during a recent dessert operation spearheaded by Hudspeth County. The operation used an 18-wheeler seized from drug runners used as sleeping quarters for deputies, a bus was outfitted as a command and dispatch center, prison trustees were brought along to cook meals and keep the generators running. Deputies from neighboring counties, along with Department of Public Safety troopers, run saturation patrols through the area.

Since Hudspeth County has so much wide open, desolate terrain, the sheriff's department is also employing bush teams -- deputies who set-up camp in the desert and scan the oceans of blackness using night-vision goggles then track smugglers on four-wheelers and motorized carts. These teams became necessary because smugglers use a network of roads running through the desert as a way to circumvent internal checkpoints.

"The drug cartels have more money, have more foot soldiers than the Mexican Army does and we're naive to think that's all going to stay on that side of the border," said Houston Congressman Ted Poe.

Poe has made several trips to this part of Texas and agrees with the sheriffs that more federal resources need to be devoted to our southern border to deal with the violence coming across.

"If people in Washington actually knew the truth, that means they would have to do something about it and right now I think we're just playing games," said Poe.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the National Drug Intelligence Center lists the Houston region as a significant area of drug shipment and distribution for those aligned primarily with the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels.

Wednesday on Local 2 at 10 p.m., our investigation continues as we talk with admitted drug smugglers who have been arrested in Texas.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/18951 ... html#story

VIDEO
http://www.click2houston.com/news/18951 ... html#video

The Price Of Smuggling
By Robert Arnold

POSTED: Wednesday, March 18, 2009
UPDATED: 6:02 am CDT March 19, 2009

HOUSTON -- Local 2 Investigates traveled to a Texas jail filled with smugglers and other criminals coming across our Southern border. We also sat down with one admitted smuggler who said the Cartels and gangs have control on both sides of the Rio Grande.

Hudspeth County is about an hour outside of El Paso. There are roughly 3,400 people in the entire county, but the jail is always full. Sheriff Arvin West said those filling his jail cells are not locals.

"It's drugs," said West. "The majority of them is drugs."

Local 2 talked with one inmate who admitted to smuggling 22 kilograms of cocaine into the United States from Mexico. About an hour after conducting the interview, the inmate called West to say he was fearful of retaliation and asked Local 2 not to reveal his identity.

"You gotta (sic) to do what they say when they say," the inmate said.

He then showed us the scar from a knife wound in his back. The inmate told us the wound was a warning from a Mexican gang called the Aztecas that found out he was dealing drugs without permission in El Paso.

"I was like, 'Damn, that must be some real good organized people to be doing that on this side of the border,'" the inmate said.

The inmate said after being charged with smuggling the cocaine he fled to Juarez. Eventually the Mexican military discovered he was wanted in the U.S.

"Dragged me out of the house, had me for seven days, cut a piece out of my tongue," the inmate told Local 2. "They put you in a bathtub of water, beating you, ice pick in my feet."

He said the troops kept trying to find out if he was working any specific drug organization.

"(They kept saying) 'Tell us where the money's at, we'll let you go. Tell us where the money's at, we'll let you go,'" the inmate said.

The inmate said when the Mexican troops realized he had no money, they escorted him to the International bridge in Juarez and left him with a warning.

"Get the (expletive) out of here. If we see you come back, we're going to pop you in the head," the inmate said.

The inmate said he had no choice but to walk across the border and surrender to U.S. authorities.

West said this inmate's story is another example of drug violence coming across our border. West has chastised the federal government for not devoting more money, weapons and resources to protect our Southern border.

"The politicians in Washington haven't a clue. Let them come down here and breathe the air we breathe, let them deal with what we have to deal with and then see if they've got the same attitude," said West. "I guarantee the first time they have to deal with some of this stuff, they'll stick their tail between their legs and they will beat cheeks right straight to Washington, D.C. and get behind their condominium doors up there and lock their doors and have 911 on speed dial."

Responding to the wave of violence, the Mexican government sent 7,000 troops and 2,300 federal police officers to the border city of Juarez in attempt to crack down on the cartels and gangs that have a foothold in that city.

Gov. Rick Perry demanded the federal government send troops to the border to protect Texas against the growing level of violence. However, officials with the Department of Homeland Security said troops would be sent to the border only as a last resort.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/18961 ... ail.html#-

VIDEO
http://www.click2houston.com/news/18961 ... html#video