Mexico Trucker Online

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff,  responding to a report today in the WASHINGTON POST regarding border and port security, had this to say!

According to a report in today’s Washington Post, two recent Congressional reports claim that our Department lacks a comprehensive strategy to protect the American people from the threat of nuclear and radiological weapons and materials, and that our efforts to guard against biological threats are poorly coordinated and have “unclear benefit.”

While we welcome Congressional oversight and thoughtful, balanced recommendations and even criticism, these reports and comments widely miss the mark. They are based on outdated and incomplete information.

Far from lacking a strategic plan or clear goals, the Department, in cooperation with federal, state, local, and international partners, has developed and is implementing a comprehensive Global Nuclear Detection Architecture to prevent the entry of radiological and nuclear weapons or materials into the United States. This architecture is intelligence-driven, and built around a multi-layered strategy that starts overseas, continues at our borders, and is maintained within the U.S. interior.

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NUEVO LAREDO - A gunfight between military forces and alleged drug traffickers that lasted more than an hour in the predawn hours Wednesday left one soldier dead and at least three others injured, authorities confirmed Thursday.An unknown number of traffickers also were killed and injured, authorities said.

The assault occurred in Ciudad Mier, about 60 miles east of Nuevo Laredo, at about 1 a.m. Wednesday, said Gen. Rigoberto García Cortés, head of the border military forces headquartered in Nuevo Laredo, at a news conference Thursday.

The national Defense Department reported that after the gunfight, soldiers searched two sport utility vehicles abandoned at the scene and found 29 assault rifles, nine handguns, more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition, 175 magazines, $138, 58 pesos, 16 cell phones, 10 walkie-talkies, seven Nextels and seven cartridge belts. Another four vehicles left at the scene also were confiscated.

García Cortés said gunmen went down, but their bodies were picked up by their companions and taken away, so exact numbers were not available.

According to officials, about 20 suspected drug traffickers riding in a convoy of five vehicles approached a checkpoint set up by soldiers on the highway going through Ciudad Mier.

Asked to stop, the men riding in the convoy instead attacked, sparking a major crossfire between the soldiers and the suspected traffickers.

Shortly after the gunfire ended, about an hour an a half later, the gunmen fled, taking their dead and/or injured companions with them. Meanwhile, the soldiers sought to take care of their own wounded.

Antonio Hernández Montalvo died of a bullet wound to the head while he was being transported to a local hospital, authorities said. Soldiers Mauricio Encino Pérez, Juan López Montalvo and José Demecio Martinez Pérez suffered unnamed injuries and were taken to a military hospital in Monterrey under heavy protection.

“The (traffickers’) vehicles were abandoned at different points, where we found enough blood that we know there were serious injuries,” the general said. “We did not arrest anyone. As they fled, they were covered by other groups.”

García Cortés brushed aside rumors that the battle was between rival Mexican military men.

“We understand that they are trying to conduct a campaign to disparage our military forces,” the general said. “But the truth is that we have vigorously pressed our campaign against organized crime. We are decimating their forces, their money and their drugs.”

He noted that while no arrests were made in this particular case, hundreds of people involved in illegal activities have been arrested across the nation.

“Our battle is direct. We are not going to cede territory that we have gained,” García Cortés said. “We are reaching the most important cells in these organizations.”

Webb County Sheriff\'s Office - Laredo Texas
More than 14 hours after the recount of the ballots cast in the April 8 runoff for the Webb County sheriff’s race began, a new victor has emerged.Sheriff Rick Flores was declared the winner over challenger Martin Cuellar by 133 votes. Flores garnered 13,128 votes to Cuellar’s 12,995. Flores initially was reported to have lost the contest by 37.

A packed house at the Webb County Justice Center waited until well past 10 p.m. for any sign that the more than 26,000 ballots cast had been finished being recounted when a smiling Flores eventually emerged from the Central Jury room, claiming victory. He was followed out of the Justice Center by a crowd of cheering supporters.

Meanwhile, a calm but disappointed Cuellar remained behind thanking supporters and thinking over his options.

“We’re kind of disappointed, but I want to thank the voters for their support,” he said. “They’ve been very, very supportive, and we’re going to make it. I’ll talk to my attorneys and look at my options. I want to make sure and protect the will of the voters.”

Asked if he thought any fraud or corruptive element was behind the swing, Cuellar’s campaign manager, Colin Strother, said the numbers indicated something peculiar.

“That big of a change is highly unusual, and there are considerable questions about the process,” he said.

Tensions ran high after the announcement, with Cuellar’s supporters claiming that the election judge who oversaw the recount, Jose Salvador Tellez Sr., should not have been selected.

Tellez told supporters that they were out of line and warned them to be careful of what they said.
Read the rest of the story from the Laredo Morning Times

The best man retains the office. Felicidades Rick! We certainly didn’t need a Cuellar dynasty in Webb County

TUCSON, Ariz. — A program that has rotated thousands of National Guardsmen along the Mexican border to augment U.S. Border Patrol agents comes to a close in four months, despite calls by at least one border governor to extend the Guard’s mission.

Operation Jump Start began in mid-2006, deploying up to 6,000 troops at a time during the first 12 months in non-enforcement roles that freed up Border Patrol agents for front-line duty.

Through January, the National Guard Bureau spent more than $1 billion on the program — nearly $212 million in the 2006 fiscal year, $687 million in fiscal 2007 and $136 million during the first four months of fiscal 2008.

The guardsmen have built roads and fences, maintained equipment, provided aviation support and monitored cameras. They’ve also spent months at border outposts, calling in Border Patrol agents to capture illegal immigrants and drug runners they spot entering the country.

Jump Start was designed as a stopgap to give the Border Patrol additional help while the agency ramped up its numbers.

The Border Patrol had just under 12,000 agents when the program began, and President Bush said at the time that another 6,000 would be hired over the next two years. But the Border Patrol has hired only about half that many and now has 15,550 agents, although it says it hopes to reach the goal by the end of this calendar year.

“We have a really aggressive recruiting campaign going on,” said Lloyd Easterling, a Border Patrol spokesman in Washington. “We’re committed to hitting that 18,000, no doubt.”

Bush said when he announced the program that the troop numbers would be cut in half after the first year, and the military followed through. Since last July, an average of 3,000 troops have been deployed in the four Southwest border states, though numbers fluctuate daily.

As of mid-March, there were 2,842 deployed, including 1,063 in Arizona and 1,779 in Texas, New Mexico and California.

The mission will wind down to a July 15 finish, though some Guard personnel will remain to finish up paperwork and account for equipment.

Border Patrol and National Guard officials hailed the National Guard’s performance and contributions as a resounding success.

“Being a short-term bridge, it helped us get staffed up,” Easterling said. “It’s been fantastic.”

Easterling said it enabled 500 agents to return to active patrolling.

“If you ask anybody from the National Guard or Customs and Border Protection, they would all tell you that this has been a huge success as far as freeing up CBP for the ‘back to the borders’ aspect of the mission,” said 1st Lt. Amanda Straub, a spokeswoman at National Guard Bureau headquarters in Washington.

The Guard helped in the arrests of 140,000 illegal immigrants and seized more than 143 tons of drugs, mostly marijuana, Easterling said.

Military engineers also built 111 miles of border fencing and more than 18 miles of new all-weather roads, while maintaining or improving more than 570 miles of existing roads.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wants the soldiers to stay.

The Democratic governor wrote a letter this month to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, urging him to “reconsider the drawdown of Operation Jump Start, and instead retain National Guard personnel strength in numbers necessary to maintain the hard-won improvements in operational control of the international border.”

She said ongoing problems with a high-tech “virtual fence” on the border mean it won’t be operational before 2011, and keeping the military on the border until then is clearly needed.

Chertoff’s spokesman said the Border Patrol hopes to have 18,000 agents by the end of 2008 and has asked Congress to approve funding for an additional 2,000. He also said they’re sticking with the drawdown plan.

“We’ve been abundantly clear since Day One about the intent and timeline for Operation Jump Start,” spokesman Russell Knocke said.

National Guard support on the border will continue, with units using border duty as part of their training.

“We will be down there,” Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said recently. “Operation Jump Start will end, but it doesn’t mean the Guard’s support for the Border Patrol and counter-narcotics … along the Southwest border will not continue.”

Editor’s Note: It is amazing watching these kids strutting around acting as they are doing something important when all this money has been wasted on people that have no power. Not to mention the Guard members who were caught smuggling illegals and drugs on the side. We can take care of our own problems down here.

Editors Notes: What utter crap! With our economy in the crapper, Bush’s Iraq fiasco. And now this meaningless piece of legislation, which with luck, will never clear committee.

Let’s see, 2 years imprisonment for crossing the border a second time, as if our prisons are not already overcrowded. Can’t open bank accounts when most don’t have bank accounts and have no desire for one, and the kicker, speak English when dealing with a Federal Agency, as if they have any dealings with Federal Agencies other than the Border Patrol? 

And one wonders why the GOP is getting their ass kicked in the elections. But, I guess pandering to the right wing zealots is about the only trick they have left in the playbook.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are set to announce today the hardest-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet — one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies.

Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but the move by some of the Senate’s leading Republicans underscores how potent the issue of immigration remains, particularly during a presidential election year.

The bills give Republicans a way to put pressure on the presidential candidates of both major parties to take a tougher stance on immigration.

They also reflect a shift toward harsher immigration rhetoric and legislative proposals from both parties since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul in 2007.

The package, an enforcement smorgasbord assembled by at least eight lawmakers, consists of 11 bills but could expand to include as many as 14. Some elements echo House bills, but others go beyond House proposals.

One would discourage states from issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants by docking 10 percent of highway funding from states that do. Another would extend the presence of National Guard on the border. A third would end language assistance at federal agencies and the voting booth for people with limited English ability.

A bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who is leading the effort, would impose a maximum two-year jail sentence on someone caught crossing the border for a second time.

“The point is to reinforce the idea that most of us here feel that we need to make enforcement and border security a first step to solving the overall problem,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., one of three Senate sponsors.

A border wall does nothing but represent racism and fear, said David Almaraz, president of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, at a protest Saturday morning.Almaraz was one of approximately 75 Laredo residents who marched from San Agustin Plaza to City Hall in protest of a border wall. Alongside the residents were several city and county officials, all of whom expressed strong opposition to the federal government’s move to build a fence.

“All the walls we know in history have come tumbling down,” said District III Councilman Michael Landeck.

As the protesters marched their way down the streets of Laredo, they held signs reading “Duro contra el muro” and chanted “No border wall.”

Jim Earhart, executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center, said the wall will not only be ineffective, but will cause environmental damage to the Rio Grande, which serves as a 1,200-mile border with Mexico.

He said the river is contaminated enough as it is, and recommended involving the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Fabiola Flores, the rally’s coordinator, said she was glad Laredo was the first city to pass a resolution opposing the proposed wall. But, like Earhart, she said the city could be doing more.

She suggested the city or county could implement a border security task force, which would study proposals in the area and then offer recommendations to local officials.

She further said the federal government should not be dictating policies to areas it is not familiar with.

“If you don’t live here, you don’t know how it works,” she said. “You have to keep your ear to the ground.”

She said if the government wants to fix the border security problem, it should not “treat the symptoms, but cure the cause.”

“They need to replace the ‘F’ in NAFTA with ‘fair trade,’ ” she said. “They could fix it so people weren’t forced to leave their homes.”

Flores was referring to the trade bloc agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada, which came into effect in 1994. It has been criticized for putting many Mexican farmers out of work in addition to causing local businesses in Mexico to close.

Almaraz, a lawyer, said NAFTA put 2 million workers out of a job and caused a 25-percent drop in wages. As a result, he said, Mexican residents have come flooding into the United States in search of a higher standard of living for their families.

“People are going to go to where they have to go,” he said.

Among the city and county officials in attendance were Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas, Pct. 4 Commissioner Sergio “Keko” Martinez and Webb County Judge Danny Valdez.

Salinas said building the wall would “squander away billions of taxpayer dollars.”

“(A wall) is not going to work,” he said. “My question is whose going to get rich off this?”

He said the money budgeted for a border wall should instead go toward technology. Martinez, on the other hand, said the money should be given to border communities for economic development.But across the board, the protesters said nothing good could come from a border fence, saying the government needs to “build bridges of friendship, not walls of separation.”

Salinas said because Mexico is a neighbor and trading partner, its people should not be disrespected by a border wall.

“We need to have dialogue, and we need to be friends,” he said. “We need to be united by a river, not divided.”

Salinas also encouraged Laredo residents to vote and express their opinions.

“We’re not going to be taken for granted anymore,” he said