Posted on 07/28/2009 2:24:06 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the violence that continues to plague our southern border region by Mexico’s well armed, well financed, and very determined drug cartels. Despite the increased efforts of President Calderon to stamp out these blood-thirsty and vicious drug cartels, violence has increased dramatically, claiming over 6,000 lives in Mexico last year alone. The murderers carrying out these crimes are as violent and dangerous as any in the world. Many have extensive military training and carry out their illegal activities with sophisticated tactical weapons and no regard for human life.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that 12 Mexican federal agents were murdered and left alongside a mountain road in retaliation for the arrest of the leader of the country’s most violent drug cartel, La Familia. According to the article, this act represents “the highest one-day death toll for federal forces in the three-year old drug war.” The article provides the deadly details of the violent attack reporting, “The attacks began at dawn on Saturday … shortly after the arrest [of] the right-hand man of La Familia founder Nazario Moreno Gonzalez. After La Familia gunmen were repelled in their attempt to free [the leader,] they went on what police described as a shooting rampage to ‘avenge’ his capture. The attacks, in which convoys of gunmen mounted surprise assaults on government positions in eight cities, went on for 10 hours Saturday and continued sporadically Sunday.”
The bodies of these brave law enforcement officers were accompanied by a note promising future violence from La Familia if the federal government continues its law enforcement efforts. I remind my colleagues that this is the same drug cartel that, according to The Washington Post, “announced its presence two years ago by rolling five decapitated heads into a dance hall…”
Earlier this month, two American citizens with dual citizenship were dragged out of their homes and shot several times in the head in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The reason? According to the Associated Press, the victims “helped lead the town's approximately 2,000 inhabitants in protests against a May 2nd kidnapping. The residents refused to pay the $1 million ransom kidnappers requested and demonstrated in the Chihuahua state capital to demand justice. Even after [the kidnapped victim] was released unharmed a week later, the [town’s] people continued to lead marches demanding more law enforcement in the rural, isolated corner of Chihuahua state. They also set up a committee to report any suspicious activities in town to police, quickly becoming an example for other Chihuahua communities.”
Yesterday’s Washington Post front page story about these events states, “Chihuahua today is the emblem of a failed state, run by incompetent authorities who have little ability to protect the citizens.”
The violence that has terrorized Mexican citizens continues to seep across the border, devastating families and crippling communities. In my hometown of Phoenix, there have been over 700 reported kidnappings in the past year. This has lead to Phoenix being declared the “kidnapping capital of the United States” second only to Mexico City in the world.
In many cases kidnap victims are intertwined with criminal elements of society involved with illegal cross-border smuggling operations. The Police Chief of Phoenix testified in April before the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee that Phoenix is a trans-shipment point for illegal drugs and smuggled humans -- both coming to Phoenix before being shipped to other points throughout the US. Immigrants illegally crossing the border with paid ‘coyotes’ are treated like expendable cargo to be bought, sold, traded, or stolen. In many cases, the immigrants’ families are ransomed for additional funds by bajadores, or ‘takedown crews’ to guarantee safe delivery of their loved ones.
As detailed in a Newsweek article from earlier this year, “kidnap victims have been found bound and gagged, their fingers smashed and their foreheads spattered with blood from pistol whippings. When the bajadores abduct illegal immigrants – hoping to extort more money from relatives – they will sometime kill someone off immediately to scare the others . . . There was a case last year where they duct-taped the mouth and nose of one individual and had the others watch while he asphyxiated and defecated on himself.”
Aside from the horrible toll these cartels extract from their victims and the victims’ families, they also severely tax the resources of law enforcement agencies of border communities. The Police Chief also testified that the Phoenix Police receive a kidnapping report almost every night, which can require the efforts of up to 60 officers to find, rescue, and protect kidnap victims.
Lest you believe these activities are limited to border communities, last year the bodies of five Mexican men were discovered bound, gagged, and electrocuted in Birmingham, Alabama in an apparent hit by a Mexican cartel. In recent years, arrests of Mexican cartel members have occurred across the South, including Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. There is no sign that the number of these drug related arrests will abate in the near future, which is why I support efforts to complete the proposed 700-miles of double layer fence. But as we have seen, fencing alone fails to take into account the realities of the southern border and should not be treated as a panacea. These criminal smuggling enterprises are very sophisticated and are not easily deterred, which is why we must work to truly secure our border – not merely fence it.
This past weekend I visited the border in Yuma, Arizona and witnessed the extraordinary lengths these cartels go to smuggle their goods across the border. One cartel spent upwards of $1 million, using sophisticated GPS directed drilling equipment to develop their tunnel far below the surface to move goods underneath fencing and out of sight of law enforcement agencies. In Nogales, Arizona drug traffickers have used the city’s sewer system to channel drugs across the border. Every other month tunnels are discovered underneath the border. Since 1990, 110 cross border tunnels have been discovered. 24 tunnels were discovered in 2008 alone. Not to be deterred, our outstanding law enforcement officials have developed investigative strategies and tunnel detection equipment to locate and identify subterranean cross border tunnels.
We must also increase personnel on the border to put an end to illegal immigration and protect our citizens from the drug cartel violence occurring in Mexico. For this reason, I was disappointed that the Administration rejected Arizona Governor Brewer’s request for 150-400 National Guard troops to bolster the Joint Counter-Narcotics Terrorism Task Force. But as we know, the ‘coyotes’ are aggressive and creative despite our efforts to secure the border with more personnel, more fencing and more surveillance technology.
The United States must keep its focus on securing our southern border and do all it can to assist President Calderon in his efforts against these violent drug cartels. The prosperity and success of Mexico is essential to the prosperity and success of our own country. We share a border, our economies are intertwined and we are major trading partners with each other. The US must show its support for our neighbor to the South and support the Mexican people and the Calderon administration in this fundamental struggle against lawlessness and corruption.
|
Too little, too late, you dumb RINO. |
|
-
Juan, we hardly knew ye.
Hasta la vista Juanito.
“illegal immigration” “more fencing” blah blah blah blah
How does this old fart live with himself/sleep at night.
McCain move to the right —
He’s up for re-election.
Not to worry. He’ll return to his former self, after he gets re-elected.
“The prosperity and success of Mexico is essential to the prosperity and success of our own country.”
Yeah. NAFTA proved THAT, right?
As far as I am concerned, you have this man’s blood on your hands, McCain.
Juan!....you’re useless!
The Dems won’t run anybody against him. All he gets is token opposition.
We should count the Rino’s as Dems in most matters.
This isn’t satire or humor?
ping
McClown as Captain Obvious
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
