What do you think Lawmakers told border crime getting out of hand?

[THE GREATEST GODDESS JILL]

Along the newly fenced Mexican border, dangerous and heavily armed groups are increasingly smuggling people as well as dope — and U.S. border investigators must dedicate more time to dismantle their organizations, according to a Government Accounting Office report released to Congress Thursday.

Though Congress has increased the Border Patrol to an all-time high of 20,000 officers, a small cadre of specialized federal investigators assigned to Immigration & Customs Enforcement devotes 16 percent of its time to probing the netherworld of border smuggling. And some border specialists have gotten stuck shuffling detainees instead of pursuing criminal leads, according to the GAO report presented Thursday to the U.S. House's border subcommittee.

Zetas branch out
The U.S-Mexican human smuggling business generates billions, but ICE agents have never managed to seize more than $17 million a year in smugglers' assets, Richard M. Stana, director of the GAO's Homeland Security and Justice Issues office, told the committee. He called those results "tepid."

A decade ago, 90 percent of Mexicans and other would-be illegal migrants crossed into the U.S. without using so-called coyotes, Stana said. But with a new wall and twice as many border agents, they increasingly use professional smugglers. That has meant higher prices charged by the smugglers, which attracted organized crime gangs to a business once dominated by less-violent operations rooted in migrant communities.

On the Texas border, the Zetas, the vicious former enforcers of the Gulf Cartel narcotics smuggling organization, have branched into the human smuggling trade.

"As we've done more to secure our borders, alien smuggling organizations have increasingly become more bold, violent and dangerous," subcommittee chairman Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said Thursday. "Particularly troubling is the potential for these organizations to smuggle terrorists into our country."

Signs of sophisticated, highly armed and well-financed smuggling operations and related kidnapping and extortion rings have emerged in all U.S.-Mexico border towns, as well as large cities like Houston and Phoenix.

In Arizona, a pre-dawn battle between human smugglers and gangsters killed 21 people on July 1 in the Sonoran desert south of Nogales.

In Houston, agents rescued 11 immigrants held at gunpoint in a house by one violent group of coyotes in 2009 and later dismantled a network of 14 illicit transportation companies used by smuggling rings.

Inspiration from Arizona
The GAO report suggests the U.S. government look to Arizona for inspiration on how to disrupt smugglers' financial networks. At the hearing, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard described how he's worked to cut off money to criminal groups, successfully targeting used car lots, money transfer agencies, travel agents, drop houses and other businesses linked to smuggling and money laundering.

In an interview, Tre Rebstock, an ICE agent who is president of the local officers' union in Houston, said agents would "love to see more resources" for smuggling operations across the Southwest.

"Anyone in investigative work will tell you 'Follow the money' anytime you want to know what's going on," he said. "I would love to see them track these people by their money. No one likes to be separated from their money."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/7120928.html

[Don]

That's your problem! you listen to crooked law makers and not actual reports and analysts.


Violence is not up on Arizona border despite Mexican drug war
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2...z0uXhRXtrw

Arizona crime is down - Arizona Crime Reports.
http://www.azdps.gov/About/Reports/Crime_In_Arizona/

[?]

I agree with Don. Go and see actual crime reports because there are a lot of lies out there on illegal immigration, especially in Arizona. They keep telling us that "crime is spilling over", but crime reports and Sheriff's near the border say the opposite.


Crime Rates Down in Arizona

According to ABC News, federal statistics show that crime is decreasing in most valley cities and across the United States. The recently released 2009 statistics show the crime rates for all the various types of crimes. Valley cities in particular have seen a large drop in the number of murder crimes and the number of robbery crimes.
http://phoenixcriminallawnews.com/2010/0...izona.html

[Insanetoes525]

Mexican soldiers fought late-night gunbattles with gangs who forced citizens from their cars and used the vehicles to block streets in a city across the border from Texas.

The Nuevo Laredo city government posted messages on Facebook warning citizens to stay indoors as the battles erupted at several intersections Wednesday night. City officials on Thursday said they could not immediately confirm witness reports that several gunmen were killed.

Gangs used stolen cars and buses to block several main avenues in the city across from Laredo, Texas. Several residents called local newspapers to report thefts.

"For your security, stay in your homes until the alert has passed," the city government wrote on Facebook.

When the violence subsided, the government urged citizens to come forward and reclaim their stolen vehicles.

Nuevo Laredo is among several northern cities under siege from a turf battle between the Gulf cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas gang of hit men. Violence has surged along the northeastern border with the United States since the two gangs split earlier this year.

Gangs have frequently blocked streets in the middle of the cities to thwart soldiers coming to the aid of colleagues under fire.

In the northern state of Chihuahua, a banner appeared on a bridge threatening violence against "innocents" unless the state government fires its chief of police intelligence, Fernando Ornelas, the Diario de Juarez newspaper reported Thursday.

The banner appeared in the state capital, also called Chihuahua.

Last week, drug gangs introduced a new threat to Mexico's drug war, detonating their first successful car bomb. The attack killed a federal police officer and two others in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua's largest city.


Yes nobody in these border towns are worried and dismiss the Gulf cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas gang of hit men. Violence has surged along the northeastern border with the United States since the two gangs split earlier this year.I don't know what planet these people live in but this is reality and it already has spilled over into the US.To say the the entire border is safer than fort knox is truly living in denial.They say it is so safe because none of them live in these areas. they go talk to the people at the border and ask them what they think.its easy to say no problems when supporters live thousands of miles away from it all.Of course all the kidnappings, drophouses, people held against their will is simply the norm to those who support Mexico as this is an accepted practice and people must do what they must do to feed their familes

[Tirebiter]

Well .. the videos from the border patrol cameras kind of tell the story without saying a word. Drug packs being smuggled in with gun toting Hispanic Nationalists leading and following to make delivery certain.

I would say they told the story about border crime for certain. If, in fact, the AZ law doesn't fly, the appeals court may be a little more concerned, hopefully. Most Americans have not seen these videos, but have been told of them. Seeing is the key to believing.

[Joel W]

With the Mexican Government supporting the smuggling processes, and the Obama Administration, (like the Bush Administration before it) NOT enforcing the laws, we got the rewards.

Someone is going to control the Mexican Border.

The U.S.
The Mexican Mafia.
A combination of the Mexican Mafia and the corrupt Mexican Government.

YouTube on Mexican Illegals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7gFbQgCeDc

Video 1 http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438021/index.html
Video 2 http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438712/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh1OvXTpx...re=related