Posts

Army’s Response to Incident With Mexican Soldiers?

Two weeks ago, active-duty soldiers at the border were detained and disarmed by a group of Mexican soldiers on the U.S. side of the border. In addition, last week, five men armed with AK-47s were caught on camera in Lukeville, Arizona, escorting an illegal alien woman through a low border barrier with full confidence that neither Border Patrol nor the military would do anything about it – other than completing their criminal smuggling conspiracy by processing and releasing the illegal immigrant. The president promised to get tougher and send “ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border.” Well, the military has now announced a surge … of lawyers and cooks.

Yes, America is not allowed to engage in military operations to repel armed invaders at our own border; the best the military can do is help Border Patrol with cooking meals and transporting illegal immigrants to further facilitate catch-and-release. Over the weekend, the L.A. Times reported that the Pentagon “is moving to loosen rules that bar U.S. soldiers from interacting with migrants on the southern border.” The government is sending 300 additional soldiers, to include “military lawyers who can help Customs and Border Protection agents process migrants, drivers to help transport detained migrants and cooks to provide meals for them.”

Undoubtedly, the move is designed to free up more border agents. But free them up to do what? Border Patrol most certainly will not go after the cartels and repel violent invaders even right at our border, per long-standing rules. Nor are agents turning back the migrants. Thus, if they are going to engage in catch-and-release anyway, what is the point of marshalling the military into that business as well? Shouldn’t the military at least be freed up to patrol the frontier against an invasion, something Border Patrol was clearly never empowered to do?

Responding to this announcement, Col. Dan Steiner, a retired Air Force veteran who coordinated military operations at our border for the Texas government, told CR that “the military attempted to answer a logistical issue for Border Patrol, but not the tactical issue of force protection” arising from the incident with the Mexican soldiers last week. “I’m not sure how sending extra lawyers, extra drivers, and extra cooks addresses the issue of preventing the next ‘confusion’ incident with Mexican soldiers or the cartels,” said Steiner. “Does it help put more Border Agents back on the line? Yes. Does it make the troops safer? No.”

Steiner, who warned on my podcast last week of a coming Arab Spring-style collapse in Mexico, noted that this is part of an overall approach to the border that is built upon processing and adjudicating mass migration rather than deterring it. “Helping to reduce the burden logistically on Border Patrol is not addressing the issue of mass migration or the cartel and smuggler incursions at our border.”

Funny enough, per the L.A. Times article, the administration is getting accused of pushing the boundaries of the Posse Comitatus Act by having the military interact with migrant processing. In reality, the military would be on more solid legal ground executing its core mission of defense against external threats rather than dealing with internal immigration laws, if it were freed up to strike out against the cartels and smugglers approaching our border. That is the quintessential use of the military.

The Posse Comitatus law was signed by President Grant in 1878 to prohibit the military from being used to enforce domestic Reconstruction-era laws against American citizens in the southern states, absent direct authorization from Congress. To repel an invasion at our border — any invasion — is actually the quintessential use of our military that our Founders had in mind. Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution tasks the federal government with guaranteeing states’ protection against invasion, and we owe it to Arizona and Texas to secure their territory. And unlike “offensive expeditions” that George Washington felt required congressional authorization for deploying troops, the use of the military to fight the drug cartels and smuggling is part of “the power to repel sudden attacks” that James Madison and Elbridge Gerry promised at the constitutional convention would be left to the executive.

Between the diseases, drugs, crime, labor, sex trafficking, and belligerent acts of rogue Mexican soldiers and dangerous cartels, why won’t this administration finally treat our border as the consummate national security issue rather than some domestic policy issue? The blueprint for stopping this is obvious, but nothing will change until the administration closes the border to immigration and begins arming our soldiers with weapons of war to combat the brutal cartels rather than with lawyers and cooks. (For more from the author of “Army’s Response to Incident With Mexican Soldiers?” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Despite Trump’s Threat to Close Border, Mexico Won’t Militarize Its Southern Border to Stop Caravans

Mexico will not militarize its southern border to prevent Central American migrant caravans from moving through the country on their way to the United States, said Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero, according to The Hill.

Why is this an issue? President Donald Trump has threatened to completely close the border between the United States and Mexico if Mexico doesn’t do more to stop the large groups of illegal immigrants that travel through the country to the U.S. seeking asylum or illegal entry. . .

How is Mexico responding? Sanchez Cordero stated Mexico’s intention to “regulate and provide security to migrants from Central America,” The Hill reported, saying Mexico’s government is “not repressive.”

After President Trump made the border closing threat, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador did not take part in a war of words, saying “we’re not going to argue” and expressing a desire to maintain a good relationship with the U.S.

Lopez Obrador’s passive response drew criticism from political opponents in Mexico. National Action Party leader Marko Cortes called Lopez Obrador’s attitude “submissive, timid and cowardly.” (Read more from “Despite Trump’s Threat to Close Border, Mexico Won’t Militarize Its Southern Border to Stop Caravans” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

U.S. Child Reported Missing in Mexican Border City

Mexican federal authorities in the border city of Reynosa issued an Amber Alert over the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl described as a U.S. citizen.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office revealed that 10-year-old Dulce Maria Hernandez was last seen on Tuesday in Reynosa and there is a strong possibility that she could be the victim of a crime.

The information released by the Amber Alert officials in Tamaulipas did not reveal the circumstances of the girl’s disappearance nor additional details on the case. Authorities also did not disclose if Hernandez lived in Mexico or in the U.S. at the time of her disappearance. Hernandez was last seen wearing a short sleeve gray shirt, a black jacket, blue jeans, and black sneakers with fuchsia letters. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Mexico’s Amber Alert unit at 01 800 00 854 00 or the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office at 01 834 31 861 50. (Read more from “U.S. Child Reported Missing in Mexican Border City” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Another 10,000+ Caravan Hits Mexico and Requests Asylum

As Congress continues to feud over the construction of a border wall, another Central American caravan of 10,000-plus migrants entered Mexico and intends to reach the U.S.

The caravan, which first departed Honduras on Jan. 15, began as a smaller group of around 2,000 people, WaPo reported. However, the caravan ballooned in size as it continued to travel across Central America. Numerous foreign nationals from Guatemala and El Salvador, eager over the possibility to apply for humanitarian visas in Mexico, joined along the way. . .

Many of the migrants are attracted by a new policy recently enacted by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The new left-wing president, who has criticized Mexico’s past treatment of migrants, is allowing many of them to apply for humanitarian visas, allowing them to stay in the country legally as they try to gain access into the U.S.

Historically, migrants would reach the border and apply for asylum within the U.S., allowing them to disappear into the country without ever appearing to their immigration court date. The Trump administration has worked to prevent this by pressuring the Mexican government to keep migrants in their country as they wait for their asylum cases to work through the U.S. courts — a policy known as “remain in Mexico.”

Mexico’s National Immigration Institute reported it had processed a total of 10,343 migrants. About 75 percent were from Honduras, with the rest coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, and a small number of Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Brazilians. (Read more from “Another 10,000+ Caravan Hits Mexico and Requests Asylum” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Mexicans Are Paying in Blood for Our Central American Amnesty Policies

Evidently, it’s not in vogue for politicians to care about the ill effects of illegal immigration on Americans, but perhaps it’s politically correct to finally take action based on what our open border is doing to Mexico.

According to information released this week by Mexico’s interior ministry, a record 33,341 murder probes were opened in Mexico last year. That in itself is a 15 percent increase from 2017’s record of 28,866. In 2014, the number of murders in Mexico stood at 16,108 after peaking the previous years during the decade-long drug war between the Mexican government and the cartels. Why has the number of homicides doubled since 2014? The rival cartels are fighting with each other to gain control over the lucrative smuggling routes, because of the DACA amnesty driving the smuggling from Central America.

What has happened over the past few years? In fiscal year 2012, before Obama enacted his illegal DACA program, in which Central Americans were encouraged to come here with children and never be deported, the number of family units caught at our border from the northern triangle countries (El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala) was 1,489. By FY 2014, that number surged to 61,334. In FY 2018, it was up to 103,509, but most of the surge was in the latter part of the year, a trajectory that has only grown this year without any plateau. The numbers will likely top 200,000 for FY 2019.

Likewise, the number of UACs in FY 2011 from those same three countries was 3,912. It exploded to 51,705 just three years later, a baseline that has held steady the past year and a half.

The rise in UACs grew with DACA, and the rise in family units with kids rose with recent court opinions on top of the promise of “dream” amnesty.

The trip northward is no picnic. Every Central American must pay $5,000-$10,000 to be smuggled through Mexico and eventually over our border. They either have to pay the money to whichever cartel controls that given plaza, or they have to work it off by doing drug smuggling or other work for the cartels. The women are forced to pay either by being raped by those in charge or by serving in brothels.

As Jaeson Jones, retired captain in the Texas Department of Public Safety, said on my podcast earlier this month, “Children and people are now a commodity to the drug cartels.” He explained that the way the cartels make their money is “through controlling the plazas throughout Mexico.” “Once you’re in control of a plaza, everything that moves through is paid for,” he said. “That’s why they battle for control of that space. It’s also why you are not going to enter the United States without working and contracting with the Mexican cartels.”

Thus, the Central American wave of migration spawned by unique magnets in our legal system has now forced the Mexican people to deal with the cascading effects of hundreds of thousands of migrants coming through their territory and empowering the cartels. Not only does the promise of amnesty for “children” empower evil-doers, it also creates endless bloodshed between the cartels both at Mexico’s southern border and its northern border, competing for the business of the migrants. Much of this bloodshed spills over to innocent victims not engaged in cartel warfare.

Consider this tragic absurdity of the amnesty-driven migration. The political class and the media lie to us by suggesting that bogus asylum helps people escape violence (which is not synonymous with persecution, the legal requirement for asylum). As I’ve explained before, violence in Central America, while is still high by our standards, has plummeted since before the migration of Central Americans. Overall, while asylum petitions have spiked by 1,744 percent since 2009, homicide has dropped 16 percent in El Salvador, 35 percent in Honduras, and 43 percent in Guatemala.

But it gets even more absurd. Migration from Mexico to the U.S. is actually down, even as violence skyrockets there. The number of family units crossing from Mexico is down almost 50 percent since FY 2015. So this has absolutely nothing to do with violence and everything to do with Central Americans coming for economic reasons and to “reunite” with illegal family members already here.

Pelosi and Schumer are selling their policies as compassionate to those suffering from violence, yet their policies are actually inducing unimaginable violence upon the Mexicans while the Mexicans aren’t even coming here any more in large numbers. Yet violence is down in Central America, and Central Americans are more likely to experience violence while making the trip.

American blood from the endless criminal alien crime doesn’t seem to motivate our politicians to act, but will the blood of Mexicans make it fashionable for them to care? (For more from the author of “Mexicans Are Paying in Blood for Our Central American Amnesty Policies” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Hush Money: Witness Reveals How Much El Chapo Allegedly Paid Mexican President

On Tuesday, Columbian drug lord Alex Cifuentes Villa testified in the Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera trial. During his testimony, Villa said El Chapo paid former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto $100 million in bribes, The New York Times reported.

According to Villa, Nieto reached out to El Chapo first and asked for $250 million to call the manhunt off for the wanted drug lord. El Chapo counter offered $100 million and Nieto accepted. . .

There have been other allegations of other government officials receiving bribes from El Chapo but the news of Nieto, if true, would be the most shocking. It would mean the drug cartels truly do have a hold on Mexican officials.

After testifying about the two presidents, Mr. Cifuentes rattled off other bribes that Mr. Guzmán and his allies had paid to Mexican officials. On at least two occasions, he said, the kingpin gave the Mexican military between $10 million and $12 million to launch operations to “either kill or capture” associates of the Beltrán-Leyva brothers during his war with them.

Mr. Cifuentes also said the Mexican federal police not only turned a blind eye to drug trafficking, but occasionally took part in it. Once, he told jurors, traffickers gave the police photographs of several suitcases packed with cocaine that were sent by the cartel on an airplane from Argentina to Mexico. The police picked up the suitcases from the baggage claim, Mr. Cifuentes said, and sold the drugs themselves.

(Read more from “Hush Money: Witness Reveals How Much El Chapo Allegedly Paid Mexican President” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Mayor Was Shot to Death Hours After Being Sworn In

The mayor of Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca in Mexico, Alejandro Aparicio Santiago, was shot to death two hours after being sworn into office, The Independent reported. Santiago was on his way to Tlaxiaco’s city hall when a gunman open fire on him and his colleagues. He had been touring local city offices and was surrounded by his supporters when the attack occurred.

According to CNN, a Facebook live video was streaming when the shooting occurred and supporters appeared confused after the attack took place. Some held down the man they believed was responsible for the shooting.

Santiago and three others were taken to a nearby hospital. Santiago was shot in the chest, where the bullet punctured his right lung. He suffered internal bleeding and eventually succumbed to his injuries, CNN reported. Two others also died. . .

The state prosecutor’s office believes drug gangs were behind the attacks. They’re also believed to be responsible for injuring four other people, including another politician. (Read more from “Mayor Was Shot to Death Hours After Being Sworn In” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Mexican President’s Immigration Plan Could Be Game Changer

By Fox News. In a bid to reduce migration to the U.S. and attract investment, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has proposed the creation of economic “free zones” along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Tax Incentive Decree for the Northern Border Region, which Lopez Obrador announced Saturday, would create a free zone that would stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Coast and be more than 15 miles wide, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Inside the zone, income taxes would be reduced by a third and Value Added Taxes on imported goods would be slashed in half, the minimum wage would increase 100 percent, and fuel prices would equal U.S. prices, the report said.

“It’s going to be the biggest free zone in the world,” Lopez Obrador said. “It is very important to project for winning investment, creating jobs and taking advantage of the economic strength of the United States.”

Lopez Obrador, a self-styled left-wing populist, took office Dec. 1 with the promise to help the country’s poor, noting that the nation’s minimum wage had lost 70 percent of its purchasing power in recent decades after devaluations and economic crises. (Read more from “Mexican President’s Immigration Plan Could Be Game Changer” HERE)

___________________________________________________

US, Mexico Seek to Stem Migration From Central America by Funding Development in Region

By USA Today. The United States and Mexico will be cooperating closely to convince thousands of potential Central American migrants to not risk the perilous journey to the U.S. border by investing money into some of the region’s poorest areas.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said up to $10.6 billion in existing U.S. funding would fund “institutional reform” and “good government” initiatives in Central America, along with regional development in southern Mexico – where new Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promised to pull the region out of poverty through projects ranging from railways to refineries to planting thousands of hectares of trees.

Cross-border cabinet meetings would be convened, Ebrard said, and private sector participation would be included in the plan.

“Both countries recognize the strong links between economic growth in southern Mexico and successfully promoting prosperity, good government and security in Central America,” Ebrard told reporters.

“We’re committed to promoting strong regional economic growth, better-paying jobs and better opportunities for all our citizens.” (Read more from “US, Mexico Seek to Stem Migration From Central America by Funding Development in Region” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Trump Points to ‘Wall’ Built Around Obama’s Home During Fight for Border Wall Funding

President Trump pointed to the wall former President Obama built around his Washington D.C., home as a reason Congress should fund his barrier on the southern border.

The former president and his wife, Michelle, bought the 8,200-square-foot mansion for $8.1 million in 2017, according to reports.

The house is in the Kalorama section of Washington, an exclusive enclave for diplomats, lobbyists and politicians, including Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared, as well as Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

The Obamas bought the house after leasing it when Obama left office in 2016. . .

The president wants $5 billion for the barrier, but Democrats are offering only $1.6 billion for border security — and nothing for a wall. (Read more from “Trump Points to ‘Wall’ Built Around Obama’s Home During Fight for Border Wall Funding” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

WATCH: Mexican Drug Cartel Ambushes Police in Brutal Gun Fight

The Mexican government announced they are investigating the leak of a video that showed an October 2018 ambush by a Mexican drug cartel on a truck that was transporting four police officers.

“The video depicts the ambush killing of four officers of the Secretariat of Security of the State of Mexico (SSEM),” Robert Arce of Breitbart’s Border and Cartel team reported. “They were traveling on a mountain road in the municipality of Almoloya de Alquisiras on October 28 of this year at the time of their deaths.”

The first half of the video shows the suspects, who are believed to belong to La Familia Michoacana,” socializing and playing with their phones as they waited for the attack to happen. . .

“Roughly one police officer was killed daily on average in Mexico throughout most of 2018, according to a study conducted by Causa en Común,” Arce added. “The study was conducted up to December 9 and accounted for 388 officer deaths, but due to delays in reporting, was revised to 404.” (Read more from “WATCH: Mexican Drug Cartel Ambushes Police in Brutal Gun Fight” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.