From: Michael Cutler <MCutler007@aol.com>Date: December 17, 2010 7:14:35 PM PSTTo: Michael Cutler <Mcutler007@aol.com>Subject: Two disturbing news reports: Border Patrol agent killed by smugglers while on duty in Arizona and 8 members of Mexican drug cartel arrested on the east coastHi Gang:I have attached two news reports that appeared in the Washington Times a couple of days ago.Both articles are related because both articles report on the failures of our nation to secure the borders of the United States with devastating results.The first of the news reports deals with how members of the extremely dangerous Mexican-based drug cartel known as “La Familia” (The Family) have set up shop in the Washington, DC area.Here is the excerpt from that news report I want you to pay particular attention to:The indictment says the drug operation was tied to La Familia, a violent Mexico-based gang that has killed 20 Mexican federal police and military officers in attacks this year. According to an affidavit in the case, the cartel is known to distribute large quantities of cocaine, marijuana and crystal methamphetamine.
Based in the Mexican state of Michoacan, about 100 miles southeast of Guadalajara, La Familia has quietly moved its drug operations into the United States. It is one of the Mexican government’s highest priorities in its often deadly war against drug-trafficking gangs. Formerly allied with the infamous Gulf cartel, it split off on its own in 2006.
In highly publicized incidents last year, La Familia members launched a series of attacks against Mexican federal police officers and military members after the arrest of some of the gang’s high-level members.
In one incident, the gang killed a dozen federal anti-drug agents in an ambush and dumped their bodies on a mountain highway with a note saying, “We will be waiting for you here.” Six federal police officers and two soldiers also have died in cartel attacks on police stations and at hotels where the agents were staying.
Last week I watched the Fox News program, “Geraldo at Large” when JD Hayworth, the former Arizona member of the House of Representatives ran, unsuccessfully to unseat Arizona’s Senator John McCain, debated Silvestre Reyes, the outgoing Democrat Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on the Issue of the violence along the border that is supposed to separate the United States from Mexico. Reyes will lose his chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Intelligence when the House of Representatives comes under the control of the Republican Party. Reyes was a Border Patrol Chief and often sounds more like an apologist for our nation’s failures to secure our nation’s borders than someone who had once been sworn to make certain that the border has real security!What was interesting about the debate is that Geraldo managed to keep the focus of the debate on the border region- showing that the violence from Mexico has not crossed into the United States. To bolster this point, the extremely low homicide rate of El Paso, Texas was contrasted with the incredible violence to be found on the other side of the border in the Mexican city of Juarez.What was not discussed was that the violence from Mexico does not only have a direct impact only on border cities of the United States but impacts our entire nation! (Of course it was certainly disconcerting to read that several weeks ago, bullet fired from Mexico struck City Hall in El Paso!)As I have noted on many previous occasions, when you pay a visit to the border region, you will not find any tents. Illegal aliens and smugglers do not conduct themselves the way that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did when they landed on the moon back in July of 1969. Our astronauts landed on the moon, set up an American flag and several science experiments, grabbed some lunar rocks, never having wandered more than a few hundred yards from the lunar lander and then quickly blasted off to rendezvous with the command module left in orbit around the moon with Astronaut Mike Collins on board and then headed back to a successful splashdown on planet earth.The illegal aliens and the criminals among them, are not seeking to simply cross the border, grab some rocks and be photographed on the United States side of the border and head back to Mexico! They head for the rest of our country and the criminals, like those members of La Familia seek to establish themselves in cities clear across our nation!Janet “The system worked” Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Surrender, has conceded that some 230 American cities from coast to coast and border to border have been infested by the members of the La Familia cartel. Other cities now play “host” to members of MS 13, Jamaican drug posses, members of Asian Organized Crime, Traditional Organized Crime and other criminals and terrorists from the four corners of the globe!
It has been estimated that 75% of crime in the United States is directly or indirectly linked to the drug trade. The issue is not whether or not the violence from Mexico has spilled into the United States into border cities but rather whether or not the violence has spread into the United States into every one of our nation’s 50 states!
When I was assigned to the Unified Intelligence Division of the New York Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New York City from 1988 until 1991 I decided to do an analysis of the arrest records of the DEA and the DEA Task Force. I found that nationally some 30% of the individuals that were arrested by the DEA for drug trafficking and related crimes, were identified as being “foreign born” while in New York City, some 60% of those arrested for those crimes were identified as being “foreign born.”Yet ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that is supposed to enforce the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States has about 6,500 special agents for the entire United States of America and it is estimated that at least half of those agents are dedicated to enforcing the customs laws and not the immigration laws! I have been told that there is greater concern at ICE about those who produce counterfeit Gucci wallets then counterfeit passports!To put that number of ICE agents into perspective, the NYPD has about 35,000 police officers just to protect the City of New York and its residents!Perhaps the outgoing Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee was comfortable in claiming that there was no violence spilling into the United States from Mexico. I am, however, comforted by the knowledge that Mr. Reyes will no longer be chairing the House Intelligence Committee in just a couple of weeks!Now we come to the second of the two stories that I have provided you with copies of below. This story is about how three United States Border Patrol agents were fired upon by smugglers with the result that one of those valiant Border Patrol agents, Brian A. Terry was shot and killed. These officials of the government of the United States were attired in readily identified uniforms and the smugglers were so brazen and aggressive to engage the agents in a fire fight with tragic results. I want you to consider the following quote from the news report:Mr. Terry, who joined the agency three years ago and was a member of the Border Patrol’s elite Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) team, died early Wednesday. Four of the suspected shooters were taken into custody. A fifth is still being sought.
BORSTAR is an elite unit that often saves the lives of illegal aliens who get lost in the desert and will die if not for the efforts of the BORSTAR teams.
Please consider this other passage from the news report:“By all accounts he was a fine agent,” Mr. Judd said. “This is one more example of the sacrifices made by front-line agents, and it’s a major reason we are continually outraged by activists and self-serving politicians in Washington, D.C., who sell us out with incessant talk about ‘amnesty’ for illegal aliens.?
?”While they play games, our country continues to be invaded and Border Patrol agents continue to pay the price,” he said.??
Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican and chairman-elect of the House Judiciary Committee, said 28,000 people, including 1,000 law enforcement officers, have been killed over the past five years in the war on drugs along the southwest border. He called the Terry death a “sad reminder of the real-life dangers that Americans and our law enforcement agents face along the southwest border.”??
“The Obama administration‘s lax enforcement of immigration laws, coupled with calls for mass amnesty, only encourage more illegal immigration,” he said. “Our border remains porous and the Obama administration has done nothing to stop the steady flow of human and drug smuggling from Mexico.”??Mr. Smith noted that earlier this year, Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was killed on his own property and that the suspect in the case is thought to have been an illegal immigrant.??
“What will it take to make the Obama administration realize that we must do more to secure our border and keep Americans safe? Last night, Border Patrol Agent Terry lost his life for simply doing his job,” he said. “How many more Americans will die before the Obama administration wakes up and starts taking illegal immigration seriously?
I am greatly encouraged that Rep. Lamar Smith, the former Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration is about to become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. In considering his statement and his tireless efforts to protect our nation and our citizens, I think you will agree with me that Mr. Smith truly “gets it!”
As you read the news reports I have provided you today, do you believe that those who engaged in the shootout with the Border Patrol agents would react with any greater level of respect for any law enforcement officer anywhere else in the United States?
In the 1980’s many of us were concerned that terrorists might strike within the United States. Among those of us who had those concerns were the INS special agents I worked with along with other federal agents including members of the FBI, DEA and ATF. Back then the “conventional wisdom” was that terrorists would only use the United States as a source for funding of terrorist activities they engaged in around the world. We did not concur with what we believed was an incredibly myopic and optimistic assessment.Fueling our concerns were the hijacking of airliners in the 1970’s owned by American companies including one incident where an American navy seal was shot and killed when the airliner in which he was a passenger was hijacked and flown to the Middle East. We had also seen many instances, in the 1980’s, where terrorists and those supportive of terrorism were buying grocery stores to commit coupon fraud. When they tired of running this multi-million dollar scam that provided funding to terrorist organizations, those who bought or rented the stores set fire to the buildings that housed the stores. Many times the stores were located on the first floor of apartment houses and often these fires resulted in the occupants of the apartments above the stores being badly burned or even killed in the fires.Of course in 1993 our nation was attacked at the CIA and the World Trade Center but still, our nation’s “leaders” told us not to worry. One of my contacts on Capitol Hill told me I needed to not be so adamant about voicing my concerns because, he told me, “You are starting to sound like Chicken Little- running around and telling people the sky is falling!”On September 11, 2001 the sky did not fall but airplanes did fall out of the sky and crash into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania!Today I am concerned about the continuing threats posed by terrorists and I am also extremely concerned the extreme violence plaguing Mexico will start playing out in the streets of our nation from coast to coast and border to border!A country without secure borders can no more stand than a house without walls!The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to far too many politicians. I implore you to get involved!The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.
If our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same. We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”If our nation’s continuing failures to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has real integrity concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
Border security and the creation of an immigration system that possesses real integrity are neither a “Conservative” issues, nor “Liberal” issues- simply stated, these are most certainly AMERICAN issues!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-Please check out my website:Check out my radio show:“Bordering on Insanity!”=
Click on the links below to RePatriot Radio and listen to the internet radio show I host on Friday evenings from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time:Listen Live! www.repatriotradio.com or www.libertyandfreedomradio.netAudience email questions/comments repatriotradio@comcast.netI am also happy to tell you that I also host my program on Tuesday afternoons from 5:00 PM until 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Tuesday’s show is also broadcast on 1460 AM in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If you cannot listen on the radio, this program can be heard live online on the internet at: www.wifi1460am.com or www.repatriotradio.comYou can call in on Tuesdays at 609-447-0236http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/15/ice-dc-drug-plan-tied-to-cartel/
ICE: D.C. drug plan tied to cartel
Nine indicted; police ‘cut off a pipeline’ from Mexico
ASSOCIATED PRESS Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier is joined Tuesday by ICE Special Agent John Torres (left) and U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in announcing that a Mexican cartel’s plan to sell large quantities of crystal methamphetamine in the District ended with a major drug seizure and nine indictments.A federal grand jury in Washington has indicted nine people on charges of conspiring to sell large quantities of crystal methamphetamine in the nation’s capital as part of an operation directed by drug-cartel bosses in Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Wednesday.The indictments were returned Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following the arrest of eight of the nine suspects at various locations in Atlanta and Winston-Salem, N.C. The ninth person remains at large.“This was an extremely dangerous operation, and I applaud the officers from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Narcotics and Special Investigations Division for their selfless and heroic actions,” said MPD Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier. “With the assistance of our federal partners, we are happy to send the resounding message that this city will not tolerate the proliferation of drugs, and anyone who tries to do so will be arrested and prosecuted.”Authorities seized more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine, 6 pounds of marijuana, three firearms and $35,000 in cash during searches last week. In addition, 5 pounds of methamphetamine, 2.2 pounds of cocaine and 5 pounds of marijuana were recovered in the weeks leading to the arrests.According to Metropolitan Police estimates, the street value of the seized drugs was more than $3.5 million.The indictment says the drug operation was tied to La Familia, a violent Mexico-based gang that has killed 20 Mexican federal police and military officers in attacks this year. According to an affidavit in the case, the cartel is known to distribute large quantities of cocaine, marijuana and crystal methamphetamine.
Based in the Mexican state of Michoacan, about 100 miles southeast of Guadalajara, La Familia has quietly moved its drug operations into the United States. It is one of the Mexican government’s highest priorities in its often deadly war against drug-trafficking gangs. Formerly allied with the infamous Gulf cartel, it split off on its own in 2006.
In highly publicized incidents last year, La Familia members launched a series of attacks against Mexican federal police officers and military members after the arrest of some of the gang’s high-level members.
In one incident, the gang killed a dozen federal anti-drug agents in an ambush and dumped their bodies on a mountain highway with a note saying, “We will be waiting for you here.” Six federal police officers and two soldiers also have died in cartel attacks on police stations and at hotels where the agents were staying.
The Washington indictment was announced by Chief Lanier, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., and John P. Torres, who heads ICE’s homeland security investigations.“These arrests and seizures cut off a pipeline for trafficking dangerous narcotics from Mexican drug traffickers into the Washington, D.C., area and along the Northeast Corridor,” Mr. Machen said. “Our success in shutting down this operation was the result of rock-solid partnerships among federal and local law enforcement. Together, we will continue to disrupt and dismantle drug-trafficking organizations that threaten our community.”Mr. Torres said drug-trafficking organizations such as La Familia must be attacked aggressively at all levels – from the street dealer to the international supplier and cartel leaders.“Through the coordinated efforts of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, we have effectively stopped this organization from expanding its market into the Washington, D.C., area,” he said.One of the suspected smugglers, Esteban Almontes Rodriguez, 25, most recently of Temple Hills, Md., is described in the affidavit as a major cocaine and marijuana trafficker and is purported to be the main supplier of drugs for the Washington area. Another, Alberto Garcia Calderon, 36, is described in the affidavit as the leader of the distribution route into Washington and the supplier of the drugs for Mr. Rodriguez.Rodriguez, Calderon and seven others were indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. If convicted, they face up to life in prison. Arrested in Winston-Salem, they have been ordered held without bond after court hearings in Georgia and North Carolina but will be brought to Washington for future proceedings.Also arrested in Winston-Salem were Alejandro Quintana Cardenas, 25, and Moises Ramirez-Perez, 19. In Atlanta, authorities arrested Alfonso Martinez-Cruz, 39; Jesus Bustos-Penaloza, 52; Felipe Alvarado-Ponce, 36, and Sergio Garcia-Virelas, 24. The ninth defendant is referred to in the indictment only as Jorge, because his last name is unknown.The case is being prosecuted in Washington by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karla-Dee Clark, Vincent Caputy and Nihar Mohanty.© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/15/border-patrol-agent-killed-ariz/
Bandits who prey on illegals gun down Border Patrol agent** FILE ** A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle sits along the U.S.–Mexico border in Nogales, Ariz., on Tuesday, July 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)A U.S. Border Patrol agent attempting to arrest bandits who prey on illegal immigrants was killed during a gunfight about 10 miles north of the U.S.–Mexico border near Rio Rico, Ariz., 60 miles south of Tucson.
Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, was waiting with three other agents in a remote area north of Nogales late Tuesday when the gunbattle with the bandits erupted. None of the other agents was injured, but one of the suspects was wounded.
Mr. Terry, who joined the agency three years ago and was a member of the Border Patrol’s elite Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) team, died early Wednesday. Four of the suspected shooters were taken into custody. A fifth is still being sought.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano described the shooting as “an unconscionable act of violence” against those who serve and defend the country.
“Agent Terry was killed in the line of duty while confronting several suspects near Rio Rico, Ariz. It is a stark reminder of the very real dangers our men and women on the front lines confront every day as they protect our communities and the American people,” she said.
“We are working with other federal, state and local authorities to ensure those responsible for this horrendous act are held responsible,” she said. “We will leave no stone unturned as we seek justice for the perpetrators. We will honor his memory by remaining resolute and committed to the serious task of securing our nation’s borders.”
A Homeland Security official said Ms. Napolitano will travel to Arizona on Thursday and Friday to meet with Border Patrol agents and employees in Nogales and Tucson.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said the state was “shocked and saddened” by the shooting. She said federal and state authorities, including those in Arizona, would “continue to investigate and attempt to bring to justice those who are responsible for this heinous crime.
“Although we needed no reminder of the ever-increasing dangers along our southern border, this tragedy serves as stark notice that the threats facing all who serve in protecting our state and nation are real, and are increasing on a daily basis,” she said. “We need to pray for all those in uniform who perform duties that allow us to live in a safe and secure land.”<t-2>
U.S. Customs and Border Protection described the killing as a “tragic reminder of the ever-present dangers” CBP agents, officers and inspectors face as they protect the nation’s borders.
The shooting is being investigated by the FBI and the Santa Cruz County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Office. Bandits, usually Mexican nationals, have long roamed border areas, robbing and sexually assaulting illegal immigrants as they cross into the U.S.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Terry family for their tragic loss,” said CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin. “Our commitment to Agent Terry and his family is that we will do everything possible to bring to justice those responsible for this despicable act.”
?Mr. Terry is the third Border Patrol agent to die in the line of duty this year. Agent Michael Gallagher, 32, died in July when his patrol vehicle was struck by another vehicle near San Miguel, Ariz., and agent Mark Van Doren, 40, was killed in May when his patrol car collided with a bull and a tree on a rural road near Rachal, Texas, while responding to a call.
Brandon Judd, president of Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents non-supervisory agents in the Tucson sector, including Mr. Terry, said the union believed the agent was killed by “illegal alien bandits north of Nogales during a shootout.
“By all accounts he was a fine agent,” Mr. Judd said. “This is one more example of the sacrifices made by front-line agents, and it’s a major reason we are continually outraged by activists and self-serving politicians in Washington, D.C., who sell us out with incessant talk about ‘amnesty’ for illegal aliens.?
?“While they play games, our country continues to be invaded and Border Patrol agents continue to pay the price,” he said.??
Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican and chairman-elect of the House Judiciary Committee, said 28,000 people, including 1,000 law enforcement officers, have been killed over the past five years in the war on drugs along the southwest border. He called the Terry death a “sad reminder of the real-life dangers that Americans and our law enforcement agents face along the southwest border.”??
“The Obama administration‘s lax enforcement of immigration laws, coupled with calls for mass amnesty, only encourage more illegal immigration,” he said. “Our border remains porous and the Obama administration has done nothing to stop the steady flow of human and drug smuggling from Mexico.”??Mr. Smith noted that earlier this year, Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was killed on his own property and that the suspect in the case is thought to have been an illegal immigrant.??
“What will it take to make the Obama administration realize that we must do more to secure our border and keep Americans safe? Last night, Border Patrol Agent Terry lost his life for simply doing his job,” he said. “How many more Americans will die before the Obama administration wakes up and starts taking illegal immigration seriously?
Rep. Brian P. Bilbray, California Republican and chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, said the shooting was a “somber reminder of the dangers the men and women who safeguard our borders encounter day and night as they shield us from violence.”
“Each day, Congress and the Obama administration fails to address the brutal reality of our southern border is another day the American people are bereaved by senseless acts of violence and innocent lives are taken on our soil,” he said. “Washington must act now to secure our border by giving U.S. Customs and Border Protection the resources they need to defend us and end the incentives that breed violence and attract those willing to break our laws.”
For more than two years, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have been warning that the dramatic rise in violence along the southwestern border could spread and eventually target U.S.citizens. The violence posed what the officials called a “serious threat” to law enforcement officers, first responders and residents along the 1,951-mile border.
The numbers bear out those concerns, according to the State Department: 79 U.S. citizens were killed last year in Mexico, up from 35 in 2007. In Ciudad Juarez, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, 23 Americans were killed in 2009, compared with two in 2007.
Last year, the Justice Department identified more than 200 U.S. cities in which Mexican drug cartels “maintain drug distribution networks or supply drugs to distributors” [-] up from 100 three years earlier.
The department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, in its 2010 drug threat assessment report, described the cartels as “the single greatest drug trafficking threat to the United States.” It said Mexican gangs had established operations in every area of the United States and were expanding into more rural and suburban areas.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Border Patrol agent killed by smugglers while on duty in Arizona and 8 members of Mexican drug cartel arrested on the east coast
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