March 02, 2006

More Americans Abducted Along Mexico Border Than In Iraq

Laredo, Texas, on the border with Mexico.

Perhaps Mexico hopes that with the U.S. addressing the dangers of Islamofascism, this is a good time for Mexico to encourage illegal immigration:

LAREDO, Texas - This border area is one of the least publicized international crisis zones. More Americans have been kidnapped just in this area than in all of Iraq by Islamic terrorists.

Twenty-six Americans are now officially listed as missing in the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo region of the U.S.-Mexico border-in addition to the more than 400 Mexicans reported to be suffering a similar fate.

The number of American civilians missing or kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning of the war is 23 as of last September, the latest figure released by the State Department.

And then there are the executions.

Unlike Muslim jihadists, enforcers from the feuding Gulf and Sinaloa Mexican drug cartels favor off-camera basement executions and oil-drum burials.

"I've seen these barrels with bodies stuffed into them," said a U.S. law enforcement official, who, like most here, spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's horrible, but it is really happening."

..."The Mexican government has lost control along the border," fumes Rick Flores, the youthful Webb County sheriff.

"They had 176 murders in Nuevo Laredo last year, and none of them have been solved. In the first less than six weeks of this year, there were another 27 murders. Again, none solved. At the rate they are going, the death toll will be over 300 by year's end."

If anything, Mr. Flores said, the cartels have become more brazen, more willing to reach for their guns.

Fortunately, the U.S. government is not ignoring this. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas appears to among those taking the lead in addressing this subject:

U.S. Senators Tackle Border Security

Posted By: Lauren Jenkins

Miles away from the Texas-Mexico border a debate is underway that is crucial to South Texas and border security.

At the nation's Capital on Wednesday, senators began discussing the increase in border violence and how it can be stopped. To make sure the Senators understand just how big of a problem the violence and illegal immigration is, a group of Texas ranchers are in D.C. to speak out.

"We must now live with the constant possibility we could be attacked or killed on our own properties," Lavoyger Durham, testified today to the senate panel.

Durham, a rancher from Falfurrias County, knows that the violence isn't just on the Mexican side. New information shows assaults on U.S. Border agents have more than doubled in the last year. Assaults aren't the only thing that has increased; human and drug smuggling operations are a big business now and their methods are increasingly sophisticated.

"Smugglers are, on a daily basis, violently and ruthlessly exploiting human beings," says U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton. Durham says the smugglers are using technology similar to that of the Border Patrol.

"As inconceivable as it may be, coyotes are often equipped with technological devices that are equivalent or superior to those of our own border patrol," says Durham.

U.S. Senator John Cornyn, (R) Texas, says the nature of immigration has completely changed, and since Mexico has become a stopping point for human smuggling, it's time to provide more manpower and better resources at the border. Cornyn's point is all too familiar with Val Verde County Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan. He says he's dealing with a whole new class of border crosser.

"They are determined, they're going north one way or the other, come hell or high water," says Jernigan. "They're going north."

It's not just Mexicans who are taking the chance and sneaking into Texas.

"The border patrol has told me that within 5 miles of my ranch, 200-300 illegal immigrants move thru every night," says Durham. "The trails and tracks are there."

What scares Durham and others who live, and work, along the border is who is exactly crossing the border. Of the millions stopped at least 10% have criminal records and many of them are not Mexican; known as OTM (Other Than Mexicans), many illegals are from Iraq, Iraq and North Korea.

Sharon Stark from Little Rock emails:

Whoops! What is missing out of my morning paper? No news about the Guestworker debate in Congress.

Google using all the keywords like, guestworker, amnesty, Congress bills, etc and find how many news stories there are. If it weren't for the online Immigration Organization, we wouldn't have a clue that debate is going on in Congress on the subject of illegals.

Sharon also observes:

Mexican government expressed anger toward the provision of H.R.4437 which provides for building a fence on the border. "Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall," said Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez. (Gee, we can't build a fence on our own land).

The Mexican government appears to be so strongly in favor of illegal incursions by its civilians into the U.S., that it not only opposes a fence, but also doesn't seem to be seeking to control the criminal activities of drug gangs operating along our border.

Fortunately, Derbez is in no position to dictate to the U.S. regarding potential U.S. actions to control the border.