Thread: Sheriff Babeu: Pinal County is top smuggling corridor in U.S

Sheriff Babeu: Pinal County is top smuggling corridor in U.S.

by Lindsey Collom - The Arizona Republic
Apr. 7, 2011 02:47 PM

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu testified before a U.S. Senate committee that he's heard secondhand accounts of Border Patrol agents being ordered not to arrest illegal immigrants as they cross into the United States.

• Border Patrol disputes Cochise sheriff's no-arrests claim

The sheriff reported that Border Patrol agents told one of his lieutenants and a former federal agent about the prohibition, corroborating statements Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever made last week to Fox News.

Babeu spoke Thursday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. The hearing was webcast live from Washington, D.C.

The sheriff was one of four scheduled witnesses in a hearing titled Securing the Border: Progress at the Local Level.

Other panelists included El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar, Sheriff Raymond Loera of Imperial County, Calif., and Sheriff Raymond Cobos of Luna County, N.M.

All panelists but Babeu hailed from a county sharing a border with Mexico. Pinal County, between Phoenix and Tucson, is roughly 70 miles north of the border.

Babeu repeated his long-time claim that Pinal is "the No. 1 pass-through county for drugs and human smuggling in all of America."

And he repeated examples of cartel-related activity often shared with members of the Arizona press: lookouts perched on mountaintops to help guide cargo through the terrain; persons breaking into homes to steal survival items; suspected cartel members and their victims being found injured or dead in the desert.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, a committee member, also weighed in, saying that while "there aren't many citizens in the southern part of my state...they should have the right to drop their kids off at the bus stop without being in fear of danger."

The Arizona Daily Star reported that Babeu appeared at the hearing in lieu of Dever, although Dever's written testimony was entered into public record Thursday. A committee spokeswoman said Tuesday the sheriff could not make the hearing due to a scheduling conflict.

In the interview with Fox News, Dever said a Border Patrol supervisor repeatedly told him of orders to reduce apprehension numbers by scaring illegal immigrants back into Mexico instead of taking them into custody.

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fischer described Dever's claim as "100 percent false" in a letter to the sheriff earlier this week.

"Law enforcement and border security decisions made at the operational level require the apprehension and arrest of every illegal border crosser," Fischer wrote. "Your unwarranted allegation to the contrary is just wrong. It only serves to encourage those who are planning to enter this country illegally to continue to try to do so, with obvious damage to border security."

Staff writer Dennis Wagner contributed to this report.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/pina ... z1IsWEPsSy

Border hearing: Escobar, McCain spar on security

by Aileen B. Flores \ El Paso Times
Posted: 04/08/2011 06:57:18 AM MDT


Federal funding has not met growing demands for law enforcement agencies along the U.S.-Mexico border to meet the appetite for a secure border, County Judge Veronica Escobar said Thursday.

Escobar was part of a delegation that testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in Washington, D.C.

During her testimony, she and committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., disagreed on the value of a border fence.

Escobar said, "While federal law enforcement has gone on the record to praise the border wall, it is, to me and others, an example of considerable federal dollars being spent on a rusting monument that makes my community look like a junkyard.

"We are indeed on the front lines, and a safe border means a safe nation," she said. "But vilifying immigrants, building expensive, ugly walls, and encouraging hysteria and xenophobia only hurts our border communities, our commerce and the economy of the nation."

McCain said her comments do not apply to Arizona's citizens.

"I don't view ranchers who live in the southern part of my state who had repeated home invasions as xenophobic," he said.

McCain talked about several violent incidents in southern Arizona. He also mentioned signs posted along the Arizona border warning residents against traveling in certain areas because of potential drug and human smugglers.

He said drug smuggling has changed the jobs of border law enforcement. McCain said sheriff's deputies' jobs in border communities are more difficult, more challenging and more dangerous than ever before.

He repeatedly said he does not believe the U.S. border is immune to being affected by Mexico's violence.

"There is no logic associated with that," he said.

McCain said he appreciated the fact that U.S. border cities are safe but, to him, the statement is not logical when Mexico's violence is increasing.

McCain added that the National Guard's presence along the U.S.-Mexico border is "indispensable." He said the National Guard supplements the U.S. Border Patrol.

Escobar said the federal government has supported local law enforcement agencies through programs, funds and grants. But funding has not grown along the border over the years to meet law enforcement's needs.

"The federal funds coming into my community are critical and are not enough," she said. Escobar also said this has caused property taxes to increase and law enforcement agencies to make operational cuts.

Escobar said El Paso County has requested money from the Merida Initiative, a multiyear program that helps the governments of Mexico, Central American nations, the Dominican Republic and Haiti to confront criminal organizations.

But the U.S. government has not given the county any money from Merida, Escobar told the panel.

Specifically talking about Juárez, Escobar said the continuing pattern of violence has led to an increase in people seeking treatment at El Paso's University Medical Center trauma center.

Since 2008, El Paso County has spent close to $5 million in trauma care for victims of the Juárez violence -- of which only $1.2 million has been collected -- Escobar said.

Escobar credits El Paso's safety to a good relationship between law enforcement officials and residents.

"We depend on that relationship to keep us safe," she said. She added that El Paso has achieved its designation of America's safest city despite its proximity to Juárez -- called by many the world's most dangerous city.

Escobar voiced her support for comprehensive immigration reform and was clear that El Paso officials are against local law enforcement enforcing immigration laws.

Escobar asked for better technology and equipment for the international ports of entry and said it would speed up crossing times.

She was one of four witnesses in Thursday's hearing, which focused on illegal immigration and border-related crime in border communities.

Other witnesses were Imperial County (Calif.) Sheriff Raymond Loera, Luna County (N.M.) Sheriff Raymond Cobos and Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Paul Babeu.

Cobos testified that Mexico's violence has affected his community in an indirect way.

He talked about a recent incident in which the Columbus, N.M., police chief, its mayor, a village trustee and eight others were charged with trafficking firearms to Mexican cartels.

Cobos also voiced his support of the border fence and said it has deterred women and children from crossing illegally.

The delegation's testimony was part of a series of hearings that will study progress made during the past 10 years as a result of substantial federal support to secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_17792139? ... ost_viewed

Escobar said El Paso County has requested money from the Merida Initiative, a multiyear program that helps the governments of Mexico, Central American nations, the Dominican Republic and Haiti to confront criminal organizations.

But the U.S. government has not given the county any money from Merida, Escobar told the panel.

Ms Escobar must not know that the Merida Initiative gives hardly any money what so ever to american border counties or states. surely she is not that misinformed.

"We are indeed on the front lines, and a safe border means a safe nation," she said. "But vilifying immigrants, building expensive, ugly walls, and encouraging hysteria and xenophobia only hurts our border communities, our commerce and the economy of the nation."

first of all WOMAN, its illegal immigrants, not legal immigrants who are the problems. Even the legal immigrants KNOW THIS. its not xenophobe to expect the government of the US or any state to protect its citizens.

and when its citizens are being killed by illegals, what do you call that Ms Escobar?

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Border Patrol Chief Michael Fischer described Dever's...is just wrong.

Wow, that came strait from the top. How many times have you heard Obama say those exact words or "that just isn't so"???

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fischer described Dever's...is just wrong.

Wow, that came strait from the top. How many times have you heard Obama say those exact words or "that just isn't so"???

Dixie

we have heard it TOO MANY TIMES. if its so damn safe, robert krentz would not have been killed on his own ranch. and brian terry might still be alive today

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http://www.alipac.us/article6214.html