Grenades, .50 caliber machine guns on U.S. border

WASHINGTON – Mexican drug cartels are “killing each other” with .50-caliber machine guns and grenades just across the U.S. border with Mexico, sources have told WND.

The gun battles are occurring near Fort Huachuca, Ariz., which is the location of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and school.

The Army center is 15 miles from the Mexican border, but the installation runs up against the border.

A source associated with the center said that only a “three-strand barbwire fence” is keeping any spillover of heavily armed cartel members out of the compound.

Students at the post have had only basic training and haven’t handled weapons beyond the M-16, which shoots a 5.56 mm round, roughly equivalent to a .223 caliber, which is less than half the size of the .50 caliber.

The episode is the latest flare-up in what American ranchers living along Arizona’s southern border say is a virtual war zone.

Mexican drug lords rule in the U.S. border regions and “we’re living by the law of the cartels,” one American rancher said.

The ranchers recently blasted the federal government for failing them, warning that the chaos spilling from Mexico is “putting U.S. national security at risk.”

Mark J. Dannels, sheriff of Cochise County in Arizona, said border security “should be a primary issue even before we talk about immigration reform.”

In a Facebook report on the latest incident, Dannels said the violence is occurring in Agua Prieta Sonora, Mexico.

Though I do not believe the regular tanker drug shipments as part of our government black ops story I do believe large amounts of money go through a chain of our authorities and politicians and some goes all the way to D.C. I think this is drug money and payola for allowing illegals to come here as well. For the illegals there is also tons of campaign money for politicians from large businesses so cheap labor stays plentiful. I firmly believe that is the real reason our borders are not secure, and we tie the hands of CBP to make it happen.

” I firmly believe that is the real reason our borders are not secure,”

Perhaps, and possibly why we have all this talk about amnesty.

“and we tie the hands of CBP to make it happen.”

I know from speaking with my son (a Border Patrol Agent) and his co-workers, their hands are not tied. Each night they go out into their AOR and go where they want and anticipate/intercept/detain and deport hundreds of illegal aliens. They are in no way “tied” in where they can go. They go where they want and capture as many as they can. . .too include hundreds of ‘pack-mules’ (illegal aliens) toting a 50lb backpack of dope on their back. And those hundreds are part of a single ‘group’ among many.

So, in his AOR alone, literally hundreds and hundreds flow north with dope on their backs. This means we can extrapolate that thousands move north each night and are not captured.

They may be detected, and most illegal aliens back-packing in dope are, but with only 20,00 Border Patrol Agents in the BP, they are not catching all that they see. . .physically impossible.

Packing in dope is now the usual way illegal aliens pay for their coyote escort, not cash.

I say their hands are tied because when political winds change so do the rules, it is all political and not about shutting down the border to illegal activities. There are also issues of morale of officers when decisions are made after they detain drug smugglers or illegals as to which ones they will prosecute and which will be deported or given a court date which is often the same as turning them loose since most do not show up for a court date.

My brother in law retired from CBP, I knew many of the officers then and know many currently working very well. Last week one was very angry because a person he detained a while back from South America was not held because holding facility for deportations by airplane was overcrowded. The person was put on the street to appear in court later but didn’t. People are not always charged for using false ID/documents, which should be a serious offense on the border or away from it...there are many things going on in the system that are not right. If we were serious about this as a country these things would not happen but they do over and over.

I don’t know how long your son has been working, but I can tell you there is a time in most CBP careers when they feel they are used because there is no firm commitment from the country/politicians for what they are asked to do. The administration now and most previously as well do not really have their back as they should. Securing our borders should be a top priority and it is clearly not. Politics should not guide our decisions and actions in securing our borders, but clearly they do.

CBP works very hard and most are straight up great guys. Up the chain from the guys on the ground, not so good, politics is in play instead of securing our border.

Thanks.

I am sure you know CBP officers are not Border Patrol Agents. They work totally different places.

I will now provide a short review so others may understand.

CBP officers work the POE while Border Patrol Agents work between the POEs, out in the boonies.

The work environment is totally different, as are the leadership and mission, work challenges and uniform (Blue for CBP and green for Border Patrol Agents).

The rules change, meaning the direction from the white hut, that is true, but the Border Patrol Agents that are out there in the middle of the desert (primarily) have a mission to perform and they execute the mission with zeal. No hand tying of the Agents in the field.

The AUSA in the various districts have an unwritten policy. . .less that 500lbs and no prosecution, and if the Border Patrol Agent can’t say specifically this 50lb backpack belongs to that specific illegal alien, then there is no prosecution. So, imagine a group gets busted and the illegals drop their loads and run. Let’s say all illegals in the group are captured and all the bundles of dope are found. . .can the Border Patrol Agent say this specific bundle belongs to that specific illegal? No, he can’t and it is absurd to expect that, but that is what the AUSA wants, otherwise, no prosecution. Outrage.

Given that situation, the illegals the Border Patrol capture in the field, a vast majority of them are deported within hours.

This is way different from ICE and CBP cases because when they catch someone, they are able to easily say the driver was this guy and he had dope in his car. The criminal was found in possession of the dope.

And yes, my son has been in for a long time.

Like you, I have no love for the DHS/CBP/BP leadership in Wash DC.

Technically both CBP officers and Border Patrol Agents are CBP, under Homeland Security structure but you are correct that the jobs are separate. I tease them all the time that they were married when they both were put under Homeland Security/CBP but it must not be a happy marriage since they don’t live (work) together. I was talking about both at times and likely didn’t make that clear. I am more familiar with Customs but of course where I live I also interact with Border Patrol nearly daily, and know some of them pretty well.

When I say their hands are tied by politics I don’t mean daily on the job. What I mean is to me the goal of both should be to secure the border. Politically that is obviously not the goal from our so-called leaders, it is not the goal of many Americans either. If we elected a man tomorrow that absolutely committed this country to securing the border it would be secured. The reason it is not is because that would be political suicide. Our so-called leaders no longer think about what is best for this country and our citizens, they only think short term what will get them votes. Laws are not enforced because business wants cheap labor and they make huge campaign donations to make sure laws concerning illegals are not strictly enforced. When it comes to drugs coming into this country money talks to a lot of people up the food chain. There is not the will to do what is right about the border from the top.

Most Border Patrol and Customs both (usually after retirement they speak more freely) tell me the job is great, they loved it but politics got in the way time and time again of them doing their job as good as they felt they could have. Something can be working great and then it will be changed by decisions made up the food chain to do things that don’t work or don’t work as well. Both jobs have major frustrations. I am glad your son is happy, I wish he and all those working on our borders had more support from our leaders and citizens.

I think the current administration is the worst ever for border issues but none have been totally committed either.

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