U.S. Ambassador comments on immigration reform & more bad news!

Carlos Pascual, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, said that the migratory reform process in the United States is programmed for the early part of 2010. During a short visit to Tijuana, Baja California, the ambassador said that both the U.S. Senate and the House have a representative at the White House to deal with this issue. He added that the problems related to health care must first be solved before this reform may be carried out. He pointed out that first it is necessary to control the enormous health care costs, 16% of the U.S. GDP, and thereafter consider making them wider, which ties us into the issue of migration reform. The entire article, in Spanish, may be accessed through the following link:

The Governor of Baja California, Jose Osuna, met with the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual. Among other commentary regarding mutual cooperation, the governor was quoted as saying [article’s fourth paragraph] that generalizations concerning possibly negative events that might take place in Mexico will be avoided, thus preventing the degradation of Mexico’s good image, and particularly that of Baja California. For the full article, in Spanish, see:

The lifeless body of a man was found dumped on the street in Juarez this morning (Thurs.). As is common, he had been wrapped in a blanket, but his lips had also been stitched shut with hemp fiber cord. There were fifteen other homicides in Juarez on Wednesday.

A few days ago a woman was arrested while northbound at the border crossing point between Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona. Her car had 6.62 kilos of marihuana hidden in the dashboard, and she was going to be paid $500 to deliver the weed in Tucson. The woman, Winifred Gonzalez, happens to be a ten year veteran of the Nogales, Sonora, city police.

A long article bemoaning dangerous highway conditions in the state of Jalisco begins like this: Mexico ranks seventh in the world for deaths caused by vehicle accidents, according to the World Health Organization. The daily average is 55, some 20,000 a year,”for which reason it urges that drivers and pedestrians become conscious of the grave consequences brought about by the accidents.” The lack of a traffic oriented awareness, the disregard for speed limit and traffic signs, the lack of skill when driving, the driving while intoxicated, the disregard for traffic regulations, in other words, imprudence, cause fatal accidents and thousands of deaths in Mexico.”

A police operation named “Aniversario” led to a complex series of recent events in Ecuador. The result was the dismantling of a drug trafficking network which used Ecuador as a launching point for the shipment of cocaine toward Mexico. Two Colombians and five Ecuadorans were arrested, and nearly four metric tons of cocaine were seized, as well as cash, outboard motors for “go-fast” boats, long range radio equipment and labs for the processing and refinement of the drug. Of the detainees, one is an Ecuadoran army captain and two others are sergeants. Additional details, in Spanish, as well as a map showing the drug traffic route, may be found through the link below.

The following is the first of a sixteen paragraph article titled “Violence, an evil epidemic in our country.” “With approximately six thousand dead a year, and a report of at least 15 crime deeds per day, violence in Guatemala has become the daily bread of the citizens, reaching the limit of becoming a common event which no longer amazes anyone.” [Guatemala is slightly smaller than Tennessee and has an estimated 2009 pop. of 13.2 million] The entire article – in Spanish – may be seen through the link below.

“Obstacles to enter other countries have toughened, but no one stops the avalanche.” So said Jose Luis Rocha, director of the Jesuit Services for Central American Migrants. He added that, for a long time now, Nicaraguans find no opportunities in their country and thus decide to emigrate. In 2008, their individual monetary remittances from abroad back to Nicaragua reached almost 13% of the country’s GDP. He added that “what’s certain is that departure figures remain equal to deportations, thus the emigration flow continues despite the dangers.” The United States is the main migration point for Nicaraguans.

Yep. Not just the dems either...the Jeb Bush’s, McCains, Grahams, etc.

More on that from NAFBPO:

April 20, 2009

AN EDITORIAL

Our Leaders Betray Us – A Summation

Note: We will continue to use the words “illegal alien” because they are the precise, legally-defensible definition of the status. We will use the word “amnesty” because aliens use that word; they understand the reality and do not play semantic games. And finally, we will say this again and again lest we be misunderstood: When we speak of “Americans” or “American workers” we include by reference all the legal aliens in this country who have come here under the rules and who play by the rules. They suffer right along with American citizens from the ill effects of illegal immigration. This is not about racism or nativism or xenophobia; we don’t believe in it. If that’s what you’re looking for, go somewhere else.

In their misdirected efforts to handle the ongoing immigration crisis, our leaders are betraying the American people, the Constitution, and the very reasons that America was created. We do not lightly accuse them of betrayal. We certainly take no pleasure in saying it, but we do not believe it is an overstatement of the case. While the betrayal is not likely one of malice or hostility, the effects are pernicious for Americans none the less. Even the most cursory examination of what is going on shows that. Damage done through ignorance or misplaced sentiment is just as harmful as damage done deliberately. Our leaders should take care that they not increase the harm to those who have put them in their positions of authority; that is, American citizens as individuals. Our leaders also owe a grave debt of protection to the institutions and the history of this nation.

We see a stunning lack of the care they should take when they propose amnesty as a solution to the problem of illegal immigration. Almost no one likes the situation as it exists with respect to millions of illegal aliens in the United States. Where we part ways is in the solutions we think should be used.

The first amnesty, in 1986, under Ronald Reagan, was a mistake. The results were predictable by those who know immigration and illegal aliens, but it had never been tried before, the numbers were relatively small as a part of our population, and the predictable social impacts were thought to be negligible, so it seemed to be a reasonable solution.

It turned out not to be harmless, or even helpful. It immediately benefitted a population of aliens that turned out to be twice as large as projected, over 3 million instead of the 1.5 million that were expected. Hundreds of thousands of them gained permanent residence (and by now, citizenship) through fraud, hardly what an American would hope to see in his fellow Americans. The follow-on population, family members coming to join those who legalized, brought an increase to our population of another 12 to 15 million people. Since most them were laborers with no education and few skills, they immediately became a drain on our social service network and public institutions. Because their income levels are low, even when they file income taxes they do not pay anything. Instead, they receive the Earned Income Tax Credit, a payment of up to nearly $5,000 per family with children.

The long-term effect of the 1986 amnesty was what we see today: illegal immigration out of control. Within a year after the 1986 Act, immigration officers were hearing from illegal aliens that they had come here to be around for the next one. Millions remain here for exactly that reason. Ed Meese, President Reagan’s Attorney General, looking back from a historical perspective, has said that the 1986 amnesty was one of the biggest mistakes made by Reagan’s administration. He is right.

Mistakes of that nature have continued to be made by every administration since then, all with ill effect for the people of this country. Do we learn nothing from our mistakes? With its deliberate refusal to enforce immigration laws within our borders, this administration is carrying out the largest abandonment of responsible behavior ever in that respect. Worse still, their thoughts on amnesty, along with those of Congressional leaders, are properly characterized as an outright betrayal of the people who look to them for protection; that is, those who have a legal place in the United States. Our leaders are willing to sacrifice your well-being, your jobs, your money, for . . . for what?

You will have noted a recurring theme in the previous editorials in this series. It is that we must ask of our leaders and legislators, “Why? Why are you willing to damage Americans, to damage me, to damage my family, for the sake of foreigners who have broken our laws?”

We must demand an answer. Do not accept the predigested responses they usually serve up: “They do work Americans won’t do.” “We need them for the future.” “It’s only fair.” And worst of all, a variation of the last one mentioned; “We should bring them out of the shadows.” In reality, it is we who must ask them, “What about American workers who have been placed in the shadows by your failures to enforce our laws?”

Our leaders are wrong, wrong on every count. Anyone who calls himself a leader and who echoes those thoughts is either lying outright to us, or is so woefully ignorant of the history and effects of an overflow of immigrants, or so beholden to special interests, that he ought to be sent home with a clear message from the voters. It is this; “you represent us.” He certainly has no place in a responsible position, one where his acts will damage the very people he is supposed to represent and protect.

So ask of them, “Why?” If they come up with one of the thoughtless answers, reply with something you may have seen in our editorials or from our website, answers that address the reality of the situation. And if they still can’t come up with a good answer, then tell them that since they are obviously not interested in protecting the people who elected them, you’re going to work to see them thrown out come the next election. Tell your family and friends of their betrayal; tell anyone who will listen that we must change all this. That’s how it’s supposed to work in the United States of America; if your leaders betray you, get rid of them.

Kent Lundgren

Chairman

National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers
http://www.nafbpo.org/editorial-closing%20thoughts.html

More NAFBPO news highlights from the past couple weeks that were missed:

http://m3report.wordpress.com/

Unabated violence
El Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 9/6/09

Violence unabated

The local news section of this paper featured six leading items today. Those six were followed – in a secondary, much smaller print – by a listing of other items under the heading “More News”; the fourth of these read: “19 assassinated yesterday; that’s three days with more than 10.” The following is an extract of what followed that: “Yesterday was the third out of five days in October during which more than ten daily executions have taken place; on the first of the month there were 11, on Saturday the 3rd there were 14 and this Monday, 19. Yesterday afternoon (Mon.) seven persons were killed after 4 p.m. in five different events in various points of the city.” The article then goes on to give a brief description of each of those events in Juarez..

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El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 9/6/09

University campus event

Found at the side of the access road to the University of Sonora campus at Nogales, Sonora: the remains of a man, bound with grey tape and wrapped in a blanket. And minus his head. One of his fingers had also been cut off and placed “among some documents of the victim.” An hour later, a human head inside a pillow case was found behind the Nogales Prison No.1. [Nogales, Sonora, is right across the border from Nogales, Arizona]

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Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 9/6/09 – full transl.-

Illegal aliens fear the 2010 Census

The majority of Guatemalans who live in the United States fear furnishing their data in the census which will take place in that country, for fear that the information will be used to deport them. Edgar Ayala, of the Guatemalan Immigrants Movement in the U.S., stated that this fear is common, not only among fellow citizens but also among the undocumented Latin Americans who live in that (read: U.S.) country. U.S. officials are currently promoting public awareness about the future census and ask that the information be furnished. The forms for that event will reach the U.S. population beginning in March, but the last day to furnish the data is April 1, 2010. Ayala said “The feeling of mistrust was the same in the year 2000, when a similar census was made, because the people believe that they could be deported when they furnish personal information.” Juan Garcia, of the Immigrants in Action Committee, said that, although all the Latin community fears registering, the Guatemalans are the most scared because many are indigenous and do not know how to read nor write. Migrant leaders observed that the government of the U.S. is attempting to raise public awareness in the Latin community so that they will furnish information for this numeration. Besides, the law prohibits census workers from sharing information with police or other federal agencies. Guatemalan migrants’ organizations have carried out activities to raise the awareness of fellow citizens about the importance of registering.

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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 9/6/09

Incidentals

A sampling of item headlines from the police news section: Two found dead by gunfire and decapitated in Angostura * * * * One person is assassinated by gunshots * * * * Uncle and nephew are executed with “Goat horn” [read: AK47] on the north exit of town * * * * Unknown man found lifeless on road to Imala; had bullet impacts on face and neck * * * * Military seize firearms and ammunition in 9 communities.

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Excelsior (Mexico City) 9/6/09

Seizure of chemicals

The second largest seizure of chemical precursors for the manufacture of synthetic drugs took place Monday evening at the port of Manzanillo, state of Colima. A container which had come from India was found to be loaded with approximately 20 metric tons of phenyl acetic acid, a substitute for pseudoephedrine.

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- end of report -

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