Free Republic

The federal government has started surveying land along the border in Texas and announced plans to start construction next month. Rather than surrender their land, some property owners are digging in, vowing to reject buyout offers and preparing to fight the administration in court. "You could give me a trillion dollars and I wouldn't take it," said Cavazos, whose land sits along the Rio Grande, the river separating the U.S. and Mexico in Texas. "It's not about money." Congress in March funded 33 miles (53 kilometers) of walls and fencing in Texas. The government has laid out plans that would...

The cartel-related drug violence in Tijuana continues to rage into 2019 with 18 killed in as many hours this past Monday and Tuesday, leaving at least 68 dead in the new year. The figures were provided by the state attorney general’s office, according to local reports. A total of eight victims were also found wounded during the time period. Tijuana set a new record for homicides in a single year in 2018 with 2,508 thanks to an alarming number of cartel-related murders–most tied to the street-level distribution of drugs. This violence continues despite numerous measures taken by Mexico City to...

[PHOTO] Cartels are not just for drugs. This is fiction—a simple distraction to draw away your scrutiny. Cartels do not advertise what they are, or welcome your examination. They can be politically structured, or for profit, or both. They are usually clandestine. Cartels are international, domestic, or a combination. They exist to improve their own money intake, cloak their activities, and restrict any competition with them. A cartel controls output of its products or services. A cartel controls access, identity, and cooperation. A cartel is never good for the consumer or group being controlled. A cartel exists for its own...

Border Patrol agents tracked an ultralight aircraft as it crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and made it 30 miles into the country early Tuesday morning — and when they got to the landing spot, they found two Chinese men who had been smuggled in by the aircraft. The ultralight had escaped, lifting back off and returning to Mexico, but agents say they did manage to nab a Mexican man waiting in a vehicle near the landing zone in southern California, apparently ready to pick up the Chinese men and deliver them to their destination. Experts said they had seen ultralights, small...

Despite the capture of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the criminal group continues to export "wholesale" quantities of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl through crossing points located along the Mexican-California border: AZ, NM, and W. Texas.... the Sinaloa cartel "maintains an international expansionary footprint" in comparison with other groups, says the Drug Control Administration (DEA) in its annual report on drug trafficking which was published this Friday. SINALOA- continues to export "wholesale" amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl through crossing points located along the Mexican border .... These drugs are distributed in cities such as Chicago, Phoenix, Los...

The meeting between top Mexican federal police officers and the head of the violent Beltran-Leyva drug cartel took place at a quiet ranch in central Mexico. The officers, including then-Cmdr. Ivan Reyes Arzate, told the cartel leader of an informant in his operation who'd been arrested in Miami and was providing information to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, leading to the seizure of several boatloads of narcotics on the open seas, according to testimony Thursday in a federal courtroom in Chicago. The officers then identified the informant and handed his photo to an irate Arturo Beltran-Leyva. Within days, the informant...

Homeland Security Spokesperson Katie Waldman said Mexican cartels yield $2.5 billion per year by smuggling people into America at a rate of about $5,000 per person. She offered her remarks on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday in an interview with Breitbart News Deputy Political Editor Amanda House. Waldman’s comments were made in the context of a discussion related to a growing caravan of migrants — originating in Central America — demanding entry to America. Waldman said, “We have an entire southwest border that is controlled by Mexican cartels. You can’t gain access to the U.S. illegally without paying a smuggler $5,000...

Environmental groups filed another lawsuit Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s use of waivers to speed up construction of a border wall, this time in Texas. Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security, a week after the agency waived environmental laws along a roughly 25-mile (40-kilometer) stretch of border in the Rio Grande Valley, which is the southernmost point of Texas. […] In Texas, the government wants to connect existing sections of fencing on river levees in Hidalgo County and to close other gaps in fencing in neighboring Cameron County. […] Environmental groups say DHS is wrongly using authority that...

Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke, who is seeking to unseat Incumbent Senator Ted Cruz, has been linked to a family that has had skirmishes with law enforcement, as well as the federal government over the past few decades, as well as covering potential ties to aiding drug cartels in El Paso since the 1980s, evidence shows. O’Rourke, who is playing up a “family man” and “good boy” picture, is quickly trying to scrub or censor any mention of his family’s wrongdoings, as well as his ethical violations from public view on social media. The criminal-like behavior and history dates back to...

In the high-profile Senate race between incumbent Ted Cruz and challenger Beto O'Rourke, there are numerous ways in which their unique relationships with the Hispanic community have already intersected.

In 2016, the ex Russian ambassador alerted Argentine officials to 12 suitcases found hidden in an embassy annex. The problem? They were packed full of drugs. After the tip-off, Argentine police got into the room with an embassy key in the dead of night, and replaced the cocaine with flour. They also tagged the cases with GPS tracking devices. The plan was to wait for the owners to collect their cases, then swoop. But police were in for a very long wait, as Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich explained. "The operation took 14 months and at one point we thought...

Out of Control: The incoming president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador — a.k.a. AMLO — will have his hands full when he formally takes office in December as more of his country is besieged with cartel violence. As Breitbart News reports, the violence is getting so bad that Mexico is deploying hundreds of security forces and military elements to once-peaceful resort beaches: More than 200 federal and state police personnel supported by elements of the Mexican army were deployed to once tourist-friendly Guaymas amid escalating violence and threats of a cartel war...

Disadvantaged workers in San Francisco could get training for jobs in the cannabis industry under a proposed government program that would require businesses to hire the graduates. The program, dubbed CityGrow, is modeled after CityBuild, an existing government program overseen by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, that provides training for disadvantaged residents to land jobs in the construction industry. Supervisor Ahsha Safai introduced the legislation last week for “advancing workforce equity.” He told the San Francisco Examiner Tuesday that the intent is “to make sure everyday San Franciscans are able to take advantage of these opportunities.” He noted...

Experts say the opposite is happening. Before US immigration authorities detained him and took his son, the Honduran migrant said he spent three days in the hands of armed men who identified themselves as members of the Gulf Cartel. Christian, who did not want his full name used, said he was traveling to the US border with his 7-year-old ..."They told us if we didn't pay that they were going to kill us," recalled Christian, who said he was freed three days later after relatives wired money {snip} . The smugglers prefer migrants with family in the US. They know...

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has given his future interior minister "carte blanche" to explore the possibility of legalizing drugs in a bid to curb violent crime, she said Tuesday. Olga Sanchez Cordero, a former Supreme Court judge tapped to lead the interior ministry, drew applause when she made the comment at a university seminar on addressing brutal violence fueled by Mexico's drug cartels...

Federal immigration agents stationed in Laredo, Texas, uncovered approximately $43 million of counterfeit clothing and accessories in a single bust in June. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency largely known for deporting illegal immigrants, said its Homeland Security Investigation agents found more 181,615 fake designer items that were being moved by a criminal organization in Laredo.

Yesterday on Face the Nation, I responded to questions about the migrant separations from their children under the Trump Administration’s policy announced last month by trying to shift the focus to what drives these migrations in the first place – something that can’t be addressed by a simple band-aid piece of legislation paving the way for more lax border requirements.

The ongoing fight for territorial control between rival cells of the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN or Northeast Cartel) and Zetas Vieja Escuela escalated over the weekend in the capital of this border state. Officials found six women — executed at the hands of the cartel and subsequently thrown into a deep ravine. Two of the victims were pregnant. The women had been kidnapped by a team of gunmen from the restaurant where they worked. The restaurant is located on a road called Rumbo Nuevo in the southeastern part of the Tamaulipas capital of Ciudad Victoria. Ciudad Victoria is disputed by...

Over the last decade, short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, HomeAway, and VRBO have expanded and provided an economic boom to many communities. Yet several localities are pursuing onerous zoning rules and other regulations that would restrict short-term rental activity. For many homeowners, short-term rental provides a critical source of additional income to help them pay their mortgages and to meet other financial obligations. States can protect their residents from overzealous, local bureaucrats with state pre-emption. Short-term rental helps local communities by growing the number of tourists that visit the area. A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic...

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox offered his condolences to the victims of the Florida high school shooting before adding that the tragedy is "what you get" with "aggressive and violent language" from the Trump White House. .... "We need harmony. We need love. We need happy communities," Fox said... Full Title: "Former Mexican Pres. Fox: FL Shooting 'What You Get' With 'Racist' Trump's 'Violent Language'"