Thread: South Padre Island / Precinct One Corruption & Border Wa

What amazes me is how blind so many are, the citizen workers blame the illegals when it is the resort and resturant owners on South Padre Island who hire the illegals--often the same mens Rea who support the illegal casinos--and probably some way involved with all of the other illegal activities going on.

My opinion is you could probably find the greatest offenders against our economy and our society at the most exclusive of the charity balls held on the Island--they wouldn't miss an opportunity to show themselves off, "Look at us: The Haves and The Have Mores--We are so beautiful."

Laguna Heights should annex itself to South Padre Island, they the actual workforce would also benefit from all of those sales tax and hotel tax dollars generated--but they mostly can't vote because they aren't citizens, and many don't speak English, and few would understand the political process with their limited educations: South Padre Island own your illegal immigration problem--which you aid and abet and contribute to the rest of America's problem.

But you only care about yourself. . .

. . .your profit margins. . .

. . .collaboraters and Col. Fanninites, lest we forget it was Goliad which convinced the rest on to San Jacinto, and your mascot was caught with his pants down with our Yellow Rose.

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Relatives worry about loved ones' fates amid Mexico violence
April 26, 2010 - 1:16 PM
Valley Freedom Newspapers


Mexico’s drug war has hit home for some people north of the Rio Grande.

Relatives of missing residents in northern Tamaulipas rely on little more than scant news reports for information about their loved ones. Police and military officials in border communities south of the Rio Grande remain virtually unreachable over the phone, while Americans say authorities there seem to dismiss pleas for help in locating missing people.

A surge in drug violence has left dozens of Mexicans dead along the Texas border in recent weeks. Brazen attacks by masked gunmen have become a part of life for many. Raw images of violence posted via social media show bodies splayed across bloody streets. Confusion reigns in northern Tamaulipas, where information about killings is hushed amid a media blackout and authorities remain notoriously tight-lipped about incidents of violence.

“The Zetas are here, heavily armed,â€

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Some RGV police leaders skeptical of border lawmakers' emergency request
April 26, 2010 - 1:15 PM
Valley Freedom Newspapers


In a recent letter to U.S. congressional leaders, nine federal lawmakers along the U.S-Mexico border requested:

>> $202.2 million to hire hundreds of additional U.S. Border Patrol agents and inspection agents at ports of entry to alleviate understaffing.

>> $200 million to go toward improving an antiquated communications infrastructure used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection along remote stretches of the border.

>> $39.6 million to screen all CBP agents to prevent infiltration and corruption efforts by cartels.

>> $10 million to compensate border region health care providers as they treat individuals wounded in Mexico who cross the border to seek treatment at U.S. hospitals.

>> $50 million to go toward Operation Stonegarden, a federal program that assists local law enforcement in fighting violence and drug and weapon trafficking.

+ + +

Some Rio Grande ValleyÂ*law enforcement leaders said they question border lawmakers’ latest push to bring emergency federal funds to the region, saying the proposed spending would focus highly on federal priorities while doing little to address local crime.

Members of Congress from districts along the U.S.-Mexico border — including all in the Rio Grande Valley — asked for at least $500 million in emergency funding to fight narcotics and organized crime across the southern frontier.

Most of the funds requested would boost federal law enforcement agencies governed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But lawmakers have also asked for $50 million to go toward Operation Stonegarden — a federal initiative launched in 2004 that gives money to local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration and drug laws. The federal government has already granted $60 million to go toward Stonegarden initiatives this year.

Many local law enforcement agencies in the Valley have not taken the Stonegarden funds since its inception, including the McAllen and Edinburg police departments.

McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said he welcomes any talk of additional funds to the border region. But he said the lawmakers’ request was hastily sent with little consultation from local police chiefs and he doubts how much the request would actually quell rising crime rates seen in some Valley jurisdictions.

“Stonegarden doesn’t do anything for my community,â€

Is an “iron riverâ€

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's drug cartels have changed tactics and are turning more attacks on authorities, rather than focusing their fire on rivals gangs, the country's top security official said Sunday.

Interior Secretary Fernandez Gomez-Mont said at a news conference that two back-to-back, bloody ambushes of government convoys — both blamed on cartels — represent a new tactic.

"In the last few weeks the dynamics of the violence have changed. The criminals have decided to directly confront and attack the authorities," Gomez-Mont said.

"They are trying to direct their fire power at what they fear most at this moment, which is the authorities," he said.

Officials here have long said that more than 90 percent of the death toll in Mexico's wave of drug violence — which has claimed more than 22,700 lives since a government crackdown began in December 2006 — are victims of disputes between rival gangs.

Mexican drug gangs have been known to target security officials. The nation's acting federal police chief was shot dead in May 2008 in an attack attributed to drug traffickers lashing back at President Felipe Calderon's offensive against organized crime.

But such high-profile attacks were rare in comparison to inter-gang warfare. But after the large-scale attacks on officials Friday and Saturday, "casualties among the authorities are beginning to increase in this battle," Gomez-Mont said.

On Saturday, gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked a convoy carrying the top security official of the western state of Michoacan, in what appeared to be a carefully planned ambush.

The official survived with non-life-threatening wounds — she was traveling in a bullet-resistant SUV — but two of her bodyguards and two passers-by were killed. Of the other nine people wounded, most were bystanders, including two girls ages 2 and 12.

Gomez-Mont said the attack was carried out by a group known as "The Resistance," an outgrowth of the Michoacan-based La Familia drug cartel.

It came a day after, gunmen ambushed two police vehicles at a busy intersection in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing seven officers and a 17-year-old boy caught in the crossfire. Two more officers were seriously wounded.

Hours after that attack, a painted message directed at top federal police commanders and claiming responsibility for the attack appeared on a wall in downtown Ciudad Juarez. It was apparently signed by La Linea, the enforcement arm of the Juarez drug cartel. The Juarez cartel has been locked in a bloody turf battle with the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

"This will happen to you ... for being with El Chapo Guzman and to all the dirtbags who support him. Sincerely, La Linea," the message read. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified.

Gomez-Mont, who is responsible for domestic security affairs, said the United States has to do more to stop cross-border gangs and illicit trade in weapons and money.

He said some gangs "find a certain kind of sanctuary on the other side of the border," referring to Los Aztecas, a Ciudad Juarez gang that also operates in the United States, where it is known as the Barrio Azteca gang.

"They (the United States) contribute very important components in the dynamic of violence," Gomez-Mont said.

"We need the Americans to step up and recognize the fact that it is their money, their drug demand, that foments and encourages the violence in Mexico. We need the Americans to assume their responsibility," he said.

The U.S. has supported Mexico's offensive, providing helicopters, dogs, surveillance gear and other law-enforcement support through the $1.3 billion Merida Initiative. "That is not a small amount, but it is not sufficient," Gomez-Mont said.

A few hours before his comments, the military reported that Mexican soldiers killed five men Saturday in a shootout with assailants in a town near the northern city of Monterrey and detained six police officers on suspicion of helping the attackers. The Defense Department alleged the police tried to interfere with the troops during the confrontation.

Drug cartels are known to operate in the area, and many members of local police forces are suspected of aiding the gangs.

In the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, a drive-by shooting killed the local leader of the tiny Labor Party outside his home Sunday, state police reported. Former legislator Rey Hernandez Garcia was hit by seven gunshots.

Police did not offer any information on a possible motive in the attack.
http://www.spislandbreeze.com/articles/ ... tacks.html

Mexican authorities confirmed a shootout in San Fernando, a murder in Valle Hermoso and a seizure of a weapons cache and police uniforms in Tampico over the weekend.

According to the Tamaulipas Timely Information Center, on Sunday afternoon in San Fernando a Mexican army soldier responded to a shootout between armed civilians along the highway to Mendez. San Fernando is located approximately 86 miles south of Brownsville. The military engaged the armed civilians; the firefight left one civilian combatant dead and another injured.

On Saturday afternoon, Mexican marines seized two vehicles and a weapons cache at an abandoned house in Tampico.

After receiving intelligence of illegal activities at a house on Universidad Poniente neighborhood, the marines conducted a search where they made the seizure, but didn’t find anyone inside, states a press release from the Mexican navy. The marines seized a Mazda CX-9 and a GMC Acadia in addition to seven assault rifles, two handguns, two fragmentation grenades, one artillery round, 33 ammunition magazines, 832 ammunition rounds, several communication devices and two paddles.

The marines also found 60 hats and 25 uniforms belonging to various law enforcement agencies.

The seizure was turned over to the attorney generals office — PGR — for further investigation, the release states.

On Friday morning state authorities found the body of a male with several gunshot wounds in Valle Hermoso, according to the state’s Timely Information Center. Additional information on the murder wasn’t available. Valle Hermoso is located 29 miles south of Brownsville.
http://www.spislandbreeze.com/articles/ ... nando.html

Nearly one year has passed since more than 350 people planted budding jasmine vines along the 10-foot U.S.-Mexico border wall flanking University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College in an act to commemorate the campus border security agreement reached between the institution and the federal government.

For about a year, UTB-TSC found itself embroiled in a legal battle with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which threatened to build an 18-foot fence that would bisect the campus and likely cut off access to the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. In the agreement reached in late July 2008, federal officials agreed to upgrade an existing fence rather than erect a new one through the campus and scaled the height of the barrier back.

On Monday, university officials hosted a panel conference at the university to remember Brownsville’s spirited plight against the government and discuss the economic, environmental and social issues the fence has raised.

"This story is long and it is arduous and some of it is still secret," said UTB-TSC President Juliet V. Garcia, referring to months of negotiations behind closed doors. "But there are parts of it to discuss that will benefit us."

The panel titled "Seeds of Hope, The Border Wall, One Year Later," in connection to the flowers planted along the campus fence, consisted of professors Terence Garrett, Helmut Langerbein and Jude Benavides, all of whom have conducted extensive research on the varying civic, economic and environmental effects of the fence on the border. It also included Dr. Eloisa Tamez, who became one of the community’s leading voices of opposition against the barrier, as she fought for her property in El Calaboz, a rural community that shadows the Rio Grande 10 miles west of Brownsville.

"We did make the world know about El Calaboz through this endeavor," said Tamez, who flashed photographs through a projector of her family on the land they have owned and tended since 1784. "It is a very proud place to be from."

In his short speech, Langerbein compared the U.S.-Mexico border fence to other walls around the world. Like the Great Wall of China, he said, the fence in South Texas has cost a lot of resources and was built to keep out foreigners and the undesirable.

"Unlike the Great Wall of China, though we have planted all these plants there, it will not become a tourist attraction. …" he quipped. But it also will "not stop the flow of ideas, information and cultural exchange."

http://www.spislandbreeze.com/articles/ ... ampus.html



It will also fail to protect us from the corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on the American side of the border who collaborate with criminals to enrich themselves at the expense of American Workers and Families.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/rico2147?fmt= ... 9.0.0.2162

Let's put a check point on the newly renamed Lt. George C. Kimble Bridge (previously known as the Queen Isabel Bridge), and we will check all workers' identifications going to the Island in the mornings to cook and clean the resorts and resturaunts--and dare to have drug dogs present--see what happens then.

(They'll move more through Ochoa's fiefdom in Port Isabel--satrical lexicon.)

[mobile edition]

Texas immigration groups vow to fight 'draconian' law
April 28, 2010 - 7:09 AM
Valley Freedom Newspapers


Immigration groups in Texas have pledged to work in solidarity to challenge what civil rights leaders and coalitions in Arizona have dubbed a "draconian immigration bill" signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer last week.

The primary reaction from opponents is fear that state legislators will follow Arizona’s lead and attempt to pass comparable anti-immigration laws that criminalize the undocumented, as at least one Texas lawmaker has already indicated he would.

A television station in Austin reported Tuesday that State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has said he would propose a bill similar to that enacted in Arizona, which would include one of the most controversial provisions of the new law—requiring local law enforcement authorities to check the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally.

"We should probably be prepared that in the Texas session, which starts in 2011, there will be some extremists with the same agenda. We should start make sure we have the necessary coalitions in place not only to react to this nonsense, but also to put forward our own agenda," El Paso City Council Representative Susie Byrd said in a statement to The Border Network for Human Rights, a community organizing group with about 4,000 members in El Paso and Southern New Mexico.

In South Texas and along the border, opponents of the bill worry that heightened violence in Mexico and focus on border security would influence Texas to pass legislation akin to Arizona’s law. After 9/11, people have confused issues of immigration reform with issues of national security, which harms the trust between law enforcement authorities and the community, opponents said.

Dotty Griffith, public education director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, cited as an example programs like Operation Border Star, a security program launched under Gov. Rick Perry in September 2007 that heightened law enforcement presence along the border.

Such initiatives "are supposed to be for crime fighting but what they amount to is wholesale racial profiling. They have done little to stop crime and cost a lot of money.... We are poorer not safer."

Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia said he would not be in favor of an immigration bill similar to Arizona, as it would put a "big burden" on local police agencies and on an already overcrowded jail system.

"We do not have the personnel, and who is going to provide the funding for training?" asked Garcia, who also cited racial profiling as a negative effect for counties were the majority of the police force is not Hispanic.

There is also the issue of hurting trust with the community, Garcia said. If officers had the authority to request immigration papers, undocumented immigrants would not be willing to report crimes, he said.

But although not as vocal, not all Texas residents are welcome to throwing out Arizona’s law. The measures in Arizona were tough because people were fed up, proponents of the bill said.

"That is what happens when the federal government doesn’t take the leadership role that they should in addressing critical issues of the time, particularly our border security and instead they spend their time on how to spend more money and how to tax the average tax payer to pay for their programs," said Frank Morris, chairman of the Cameron County Republican Party.

But some positive did come from Arizona passing such a stringent immigration bill, it put humane, comprehensive reform back on the map, said Michael Seifert, network weaver for the Equal Voice For America’s Families in the Rio Grande Valley.

"The actions in Arizona are absolutely regrettable, unconstitutional and a great example of taking advantage of the unfounded fears of people, but perhaps it brings back the attention of the majority of reasonable people to this issue that got lost with the healthcare bill and the financial crisis."

http://www.spislandbreeze.com/articles/ ... a-law.html