Tagged: U.S.-Mexico border

Mexican cartel gunmen murder toddler, family in shooting spree

(BREITBART) — CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — Cartel gunmen murdered a two-year-old boy and his family in the most recent execution in a trend of violence without end.

On Sunday early morning, a team of gunmen stormed a home in the Infonavit Aldama neighborhood, a housing project in the city.

The gunmen went around the perimeter shooting the four family members, including a two-year-old boy.

A series of graphic photographs obtained by the Cartel Chronicles project reveal in gory detail how the gunmen killed Jose Esteban Huerta, 37, his wife Yolanda de la Cruz Urbina (40), their daughter 19-year-old Yahaira Elizabeth Huerta de la Cruz and two-year-old Jose Ramiro Huerta de la Cruz.

As Breitbart Texas reported, Ciudad Victoria is ground zero for a fierce war between Los Zetas Cartel factions. Through executions, kidnappings, shootouts and other violent means, the rivals continue to fight for lucrative drug distribution territories and trafficking routes to the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Initially, the war was between the Cartel Del Noreste faction that primarily operates in Nuevo Laredo and the border state of Coahuila and the alliance of Vieja Escuela Z and Grupo Bravo. Since then, Grupo Bravo (now using the name Z) and Vieja Escuela have disbanded their alliance and now the three factions continue a war on separate fronts.

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Ranking Mexican official busted at border smuggling marijuana, cocaine, heroin and meth

(RIGHT WING NEWS) — It’s no surprise that another drug runner/smuggler has just been nabbed on the US/Mexico border. Edgar Veytia is the Attorney General of the state of Nayarit in Mexico. He’s been a bad, bad boy. He’s evidently been running drugs for a very long time.

Veytia was just arrested in San Diego with quite a haul… 1,000 kilos of marijuana, five kilos of cocaine, one kilo of heroin and 500 grams of methamphetamine. He’s being charged with conspiracy to manufacture. I’m sure there are other charges forthcoming as well.

Veytia, who is also known as “Diablo,” “Eepp” and “Lic Veytia,” was indicted on charges including international conspiracy to illegally import, manufacture and distribute heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine. He’s going away for a long, long time. No diplomatic immunity for this guy. He’s been at this since January 2013. Evidently, the DEA, DHS and the FBI were all involved in bringing this ‘bad hombre’ down. Isn’t it interesting that it didn’t happen under Barack Obama?

From Western Journalism:

One prominent Mexican official learned the hard way that he isn’t above the law in the U.S., having allegedly operated outside it for quite some time.

Edgar Veytia, 46, attorney general of the state of Nayarit, has been arrested in San Diego, Calif., and charged with conspiracy to manufacture cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine and distribute them in the U.S. between January 2013 and February 2017.

Veytia has reportedly used multiple aliases including “Diablo,” “Lic Veytia” and “Eepp.”

The indictment, which was filed in New York earlier in March, states that a minimum of 1,000 kilos of marijuana, five kilos of cocaine, one kilo of heroin and 500 grams of methamphetamine were involved in Veytia’s alleged activities.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said the arrest occurred Monday at the Cross Border Xpress bridge, which connects the Tijuana airport with the U.S.

Following his arrest, Veytia was placed in a federal facility in San Diego awaiting an April 11th hearing to determine whether he will be extradited to New York. The feds were investigating and watching this guy for quite some time before they nailed him. Authorities did say that they snagged him as soon as they could.

Defense attorney Guadalupe Valencia said it was “a brand-new case. No one has any info other than the indictment.” The Mexican media is reporting connections between Veytia and a drug cartel. Big surprise there. A rival cartel allegedly attempted to assassinate him in 2011, approximately two years before he became attorney general.

The arrest comes at a time when multiple state officials in Mexico are under investigation for corruption, with two recent governors now being fugitives. The whole government in Mexico is rampantly corrupt. This official though is now in US custody and will face justice here in the US. Told ya illegal immigration was a bad idea guys

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Report: Overstays outnumber number of undocumented immigrants

(NEWSMAX) — The number of immigrants with expired temporary visas living in the U.S. have outnumbered undocumented immigrants by half a million since 2007, says a report published in the Journal on Migration and Human Security.

The report, issued by the Center for Immigration Studies, took aim at President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a project it said, “does not reflect the reality of how the large majority of persons now become undocumented.”

The authors, Robert Warren and Donald Kerwin, write “two-thirds of those who arrived in 2014 did not illegally cross a border, but were admitted (after screening) on non-immigrant (temporary) visas, and then overstayed their period of admission or otherwise violated the terms of their visas.”

CMS found the following, with information on overstays for 2015 derived by the Department of Homeland Security:

42 percent of the total undocumented population (about 4.5 million U.S. residents) in 2014 were overstays
Overstays have exceeded the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. every year since 2007
600,000 more overstays than undocumented immigrants have arrived in the U.S. since 2007
California has the largest number of overstays with 890,000, followed by New York (520,000) and Texas (475,000)

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Trump administration unveils first step in building border wall

(ZERO HEDGE) — In the first tangible step toward delivering on Trump’s campaign promise to halt unauthorized immigration from Mexico, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday released plans for picking vendors for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, issuing a preliminary request for proposals saying it plans to release a formal solicitation around March 6 “for the design and build of several prototype wall structures in the vicinity of the United States border with Mexico.”

In a document on the federal government’s website for business opportunities, the CPB said it would release a request on or about March 6 asking companies for prototype ideas for a wall to be built near the U.S.-Mexican border. Vendors were asked to submit prototype concepts by March 10. After reviewing the ideas submitted by vendors, the agency will evaluate and select the best designs by March 20, then issue a request for proposals by March 24 in which vendors would be asked to price out the cost of building the proposed wall.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Reuters the solicitation published on Friday had “everything to do” with the wall that Trump has proposed. The spokesman said the initial request for information was to give industry the opportunity to tell the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, what is possible in constructing a border wall. “Once we get feedback from the vendors, we’ll look at the ones that are most feasible,” the spokesman said. That would be followed by the request for proposals to firm up exactly how much constructing the wall would cost.

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Non-stop gun battles spark fear, uncertainty in Mexican border city

(BREITBART) — REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — The ongoing hunt for the leader of the Gulf Cartel in this border city has led to more than nine days of continuous gun battles. The clashes resulted in the deaths of at least 14 individuals –including most of the gunmen. Anecdotal accounts by residents place the death toll much higher.

As Breitbart Texas reported, Mexican authorities have been targeting the leadership of the Gulf Cartel in this city. Officials focused their efforts on capturing or killing Gulf Cartel leader Julian “Comandante Toro” Loisa Salinas, also known as Juan Manuel Loisa Salinas.

Law enforcement’s efforts to apprehend Loisa met heavy resistance from Gulf Cartel troops who continue to fight against military forces. Breitbart Texas reported that the intensity of the clashes escalated to the point where Mexican military forces deployed helicopters with mini-guns and other artillery weapons to fight off the cartel forces. During the gun battles, cartel gunmen continue to use hundreds of makeshift road spikes in an attempt to slow down authorities.

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Trump border ‘wall’ could cost $21.6 billion, take 3.5 years to build

(NBC NEWS) — President Donald Trump’s “wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion, and take more than three years to construct, based on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report seen by Reuters on Thursday.

The report’s estimated price-tag is much higher than a $12-billion figure cited by Trump in his campaign and estimates as high as $15 billion from Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The report is expected to be presented to Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in coming days, although the administration will not necessarily take actions it recommends.

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Govt. audit: “Elevated” terrorism threat to U.S. from Mexico

(JUDICIAL WATCH) — A new government audit confirms what Judicial Watch has been reporting for years, that Islamic terrorists are operating in Mexican border towns and infiltrating the United States to carry out attacks. In a report issued this month by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency notes that the state faces a full spectrum of threats and “due to the recent actions of lone offenders or small groups affiliated with or inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other foreign terrorist organizations, we assess that the current terrorism threat to Texas is elevated.”

Safety officials in the Lone Star State also write in the 86-page document that they are “especially concerned about the potential for terrorist infiltration across the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly as foreign terrorist fighters depart Syria and Iraq and enter global migration flows.” They also express worries about Syrian refugees that have been sent to Texas under President Obama’s settlement program because the government doesn’t have a system to properly vet them. Judicial Watch has also reported extensively on that national security crisis. Read the latest stories here and here. “We see a potential that these challenges may leave the state exposed to extremist actors who pose as authentic refugees, and who are determined to later commit violent acts,” the Texas report states.

In the same manner that ISIS deployed operatives to their targets in European capitals, the terrorist group could implement the same tactics to infiltrate operatives across the Texas-Mexico border, the new report points out. “Human smugglers, working along established Latin American routes, have long transported Syrians, Iraqis and other immigration from countries where terrorist groups operate to our land border with Mexico,” Texas safety officials write in the report. The U.S. government calls them Special Interest Aliens (SIA) and in past few years they have come from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt and many other “countries of interest” in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia where terrorist groups are active.

The southern border has become a hotbed of Islamic terrorism in recent years and Judicial Watch has exposed the national security disaster as part of an ongoing investigation into the dangerously porous region. In 2015 Judicial Watch reported that Mexican drug cartels are smuggling SIAs from countries with terrorist links into a small Texas rural town near El Paso. Sources on both sides of the border confirmed to Judicial Watch that the smugglers use remote farm roads—rather than interstates—to elude the Border Patrol and other law enforcement barriers. Once they clear the border, the SIAs are transported to stash areas in Acala, a rural crossroads located around 54 miles from El Paso on a state road – Highway 20. Then the SIAs wait for pick-up in the area’s sand hills just across Highway 20.

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Border Patrol union: Trump’s border plan ‘gives us the tools we need’

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz

As President Donald J. Trump prepares to kick off his new border security plan, various news outlets have begun to criticize the effort by focusing on the border wall. However, members from the union representing the men and women from the U.S. Border Patrol stated that the proposal comes from listening to agents instead of politicians.

Various outlets have continued to question the notion of building a border wall and have focused on the perceived challenges of such an enterprise. Other outlets have criticized the effectiveness of the measure claiming that it does not address the current immigration crisis. The various news organizations have failed to mention the complete control that Mexican drug cartels have over human smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and other illicit activities along both sides of the border.

The executive orders that President Trump will be signing provides border security agents with the tools that they have been denied for too long, said Hector Garza, a U.S. Border Patrol agent and the President for the Local 2455 of the National Border Patrol Council. As part of the union’s leadership, Garza is able to speak about issues affecting the men and women that he represents.

Despite the many misconceptions by pundits and individuals who have not been to the border, a wall with the addition of new manpower, surveillance technology and other equipment will be an effective tool in slowing down illegal immigration and drug smuggling, Garza said.

“We know we won’t have a wall along the 2,000 miles of border,” he said. “What we will have is a wall where it is needed. That barrier with proper manpower, resources, technology and other tools will be effective. But most important, for the first time we have a president that wants to secure the border.”

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Donald Trump: Wall construction will start ‘as soon as we can physically do it’

(BREITBART) — by Charlie Spiering

President Donald Trump vowed to start his “big beautiful” wall on the Southern border of the United States immediately during an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir.

When asked for the construction date, Trump said that he would begin the project “as soon as we can physically do it” and confirmed that planning would start “immediately.” He predicted, however, that the actual construction process might take a few months to begin.

The president will travel this afternoon to the Department of Homeland Security to sign several executive orders that deal with border security.

Trump confirmed that ultimately Mexico would pay for the wall, but that the government would get the project started.

He also dismissed Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto for insisting that his country would not pay for the wall.

“I think he has to say that,” Trump replied, vowing that future negotiations with Mexico would ensure payment from the country.

But he suggested that the wall would be good for Mexico too.

“What I am doing will be good for the United States; it’s also going to be good for Mexico,” Trump said. “We want to have a very stable, solid Mexico.”

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Can Donald Trump really build a border wall to Mexico?

(THE DAILY DOT) — By Kristen Hubby —

President-elect Donald Trump has a big league agenda for his first 100 days in office, including one of his most concrete—and controversial—plans: to build a wall between the U.S.–Mexico border with full reimbursement from Mexico.

The construction of a wall was one of his earliest promises to the American people. At Trump rallies, supporters chanted “build the wall, build the wall,” as Trump backed his proposal with a promise. When announcing his run for president, Trump assured his supporters that he will “build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better” than him. He added that he will “build them very inexpensively.”

Of course, campaign trails are for boasting, and the promise of the wall may be too bold given the challenges Trump will face—including those from Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

After his presidential win, Trump still stands firmly with his decision to build the wall. Below is the outline for Trump’s plans for immigration from his first 100 days outline, which includes the construction of Trump’s wall:

End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.

With few details on how this agenda will actually be accomplished, the assumption that Trump will actually be able to keep his promise to build the wall between the U.S. and Mexico border remains debatable. Here’s what you need to know.

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