Posted on 05/10/2006 1:48:26 AM PDT by M. Thatcher
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is refuting a Daily Bulletin report that the U.S. Border Patrol provided information to the Mexican government about the whereabouts of civilian border watch groups.
Read the disputed article: U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols
See the Mexican Government Web page: www.sre.gob.mx/eventos/minuteman/reporte3
"Today's report by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, `U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols,' is inaccurate," read the statement issued Tuesday evening. "Border Patrol does not report activity by civilian, non-law enforcement groups to the government of Mexico."
Kristi Clemens, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, would not elaborate on the agency's statement other than to say the U.S. gives information to Mexican officials under the rules of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, which provides foreign nationals being detained by a government the right to consular access.
"This is the same agreement that protects United States citizens when they travel to foreign countries," according to the statement.
An August 2005 document, "Third Report on the Activities of Vigilantes" -- posted on Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site -- suggests U.S. officials were giving out more details than required by the Vienna Convention. Part of that information was the location of U.S. citizens participating in volunteer border patrols.
The Daily Bulletin reported on the contents of that document and two others on the Mexican Web site in a story published in Tuesday's editions.
Mexican consulates also went beyond the boundaries of the Vienna Convention, asking U.S. Border Patrol officials to provide them with information on "vigilantes" operating along the U.S. border, according to the August 2005 document.
Some of the information cited in the Mexican document originally was given only to U.S. Border Patrol and law enforcement officials, border watch organizers said.
"Nobody but law enforcement and Border Patrol knew where we were at," said Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Chino-based nonprofit group Friends of the Border Patrol. "So how is our base address on a Mexican government document dated last August? Nobody, not even media, had this information."
Ramirez said he revealed the location of his base camp only to local and federal officials. The Mexican document gives the exact location of his group's site, which was on private property near San Diego.
According to Ramirez, the group had no encounters at that site with undocumented migrants, which would have been the only cause for that information to be revealed under the Vienna Convention.
On Monday, Mario Martinez, a U.S. Customs and Border spokesman, told the Daily Bulletin that when illegal immigrants are apprehended in the U.S., they have the right, under the Convention, to be represented by their country's consulate office and to information regarding their apprehension.
Information contained in a Border Patrol agent's field report, which is filed when a person is caught, would reveal the location of the detainee and therefore the area where the volunteer group is operating, Martinez said.
Martinez did not deny that information on the border volunteers was being shared with the Mexican government. He added that the group's whereabouts also were identified by numerous media outlets.
However, the Mexican report also contains specific information on civilian groups operating much farther inside the United States.
For example, the document notes that 50 Minuteman volunteers work in Chicago, focusing mainly on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Minuteman volunteers said specific information -- such as the number of volunteers and their plans -- could have been provided only by law enforcement officials at that time. The document credits the various Mexican consul general offices in the U.S. with providing the information to the Mexican Foreign Secretary for the reports.
"How did they know the number of volunteers in Chicago? And why should the Mexican government care?" asked Connie Hair, spokeswoman for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in Washington, D.C.
The three reports on the Mexican Web site documented the activities of the civilian groups based on concerns the Mexican government had about volunteer patrols on the border in 2005, said Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C.
"The Border Patrol does not report activity of the Minutemen to the Mexican consulate," Laveaga said. "But it's all a matter of perception. If a migrant requests to have counsel, which is their right under the Vienna Convention, then the information is provided to the counsel."
Throughout the Mexican government's reports on "vigilantes," it is noted that Mexican consulates in the U.S. contacted Border Patrol officials seeking U.S. cooperation in reporting instances of civilians monitoring the border. Among such requests:
The Mexican consul in Presidio, Texas, asked the Marfa Sector's Border Patrol chief to alert them if the U.S. detected any volunteer activity.
In Phoenix, consulate officials asked the Border Patrol to notify them if civilian groups apprehended any undocumented migrants so consulate representatives could interview them.
In San Diego, the document referred to a meeting with Border Patrol Chief Darryl Griffen stating that "Mr. Griffen reiterated to the undersecretary his promise to notify the General Consul right away when the vigilantes detain or participate in the detention of any undocumented migrant."
"It appears the border reports are the tip of the iceberg," said Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which began patrolling the border last April.
Such requests from Mexico, and U.S. officials acquiescing to them, are not new, say Border Patrol agents.
Scott James, a former Tucson agent, resigned after eight years of service in February, citing a lack of support for agents by the Department of Homeland Security.
He said that U.S. Border Patrol officials provided office space inside their headquarters to Mexican consulate officials, allowed the consulate to dictate the agents' activities, and gave the consulate information on ongoing investigations.
Such courtesies were not extended to consulate offices of other countries, James said.
Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carteror by phone at (909) 483-8552.
Yup, the Internet version of Orwell's Two Minutes' Hate.
What is truly amazing is that the very people who claim to despise Mexico are now quoting heavily from a Mexican web site and taking it as absolute fact.
Show me one case of anyone saying they despise Mexico.
Oh, please; it's on every immigration thread for all the world to see; anybody denying it is throwing in a strawman.
Well as far as I am concerned the Border Patrol's refutation was pretty weak. Calling the report "inaccurate" is not the same at least in my mind as labeling completely false, which is what they should do if it is in fact a fabrication. Futhermore, when I read:
"Kristi Clemens, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, would not elaborate on the agency's statement other than to say the U.S. gives information to Mexican officials under the rules of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, which provides foreign nationals being detained by a government the right to consular access. "
If the minuteman claim that exact information regarding the number of volunteers and a base of operations was provided to no one outside of law enforcement, and that information appears on a Mexican Government run website, then it's hardly a stretch to believe that some agency provided said information.
It still sounds to me like, in fact, information is being shared if not by the Border Patrol then by another agency.
Today they'll be saying "Look at how long-winded they are, why not just a flat denial, no ifs, ands or buts?"
The Minutemen are on TV almost every night...they are in the desert Southwest...and they aren't hiding...
So, why is it any surprise to anyone that the Mexican Government would know where they are??
The US Govt doesn't have to tell them...and they don't.
Yes, another agency is spying on the Minutemen, giving hourly reports to Mexican Illegal Command Central who can then give the coyotes real-time direction.
Oddly enough, even though the Minutemen are on the lookout, they've never spotted these mysterious agents.
If you want to believe something badly enough, you'll figure out a way to do it.
we should cede all the border land of california, arizona, texas, and new mexico to iraq and within two weeks bush would send at least 50,000 troops there.
bttt
A Mexican government Web site FROM A YEAR AGO!
Do you despise the Mexican government?
That's funny, because I live in California a state flooded with illegal immigrants, read Freerepublic, a site obsessed with illegal immigration, and the Daily Bulletin is my local paper, and I still haven't a clue exactly whose property the Minutemen are oprerating on, where, and how many members are are involved. It seems like they take some pains for whatever reason to keep those details to themselves.
I despise the Mexican government. I suppose that could mean that I despise Mexico. It's like China. I hate their government but not their people.
your funny
I don't CARE about the Mexican government, but I sure as hell wouldn't EVER quote one word they said as fact.
I have read reports and heard interviews about the ACLU shadowing the Minutemen watching for "civil rights violations". I'll do some checking and post links I find. This whole thing reeks of set-up.
That is just the way FR works and why most people are here, to discuss things.
And I guess Mr. Ramirez doesn't know of something called binoculars, that or Mr. Ramirez and the minutemen thought the cloaking device they bought from the Romulans actually workd.
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