Posted on 05/24/2016 1:36:55 PM PDT by jazusamo
An Indian reservation along the Mexican border is prohibiting the Border Patrol from entering its land, which is a notorious smuggling corridor determined by the U.S. government to be a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). Homeland Security sources tell Judicial Watch that the road in the southeast corner of the reservation has been cordoned off by a barbed wired gate to keep officers out. A hand-written cardboard sign reading Closed, Do Not Open has been posted on the fence. This is the location used most for trafficking drugs into the country, a Border Patrol source told JW, adding that agents assigned to the area are livid.
The tribe, Tohono Oodham, created the barricade a few weeks ago, Border Patrol sources tell JW, specifically to keep agents out of the reservation which is located in the south central Arizona Sonoran Desert and shares about 75 miles of border with Mexico. The reservation terrain consists largely of mountains and desert making it difficult to patrol. For years it has appeared on the Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) HIDTA list because its a significant center of illegal drug production, manufacturing, importation and distribution. The reservation is a primary transshipment zone for methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana destined for the United States, a DEA official revealed in congressional testimony a few years ago. In 2015 Arizona led all four Border Patrol sectors in drug seizures with 928,858 pounds of drugs confiscated, according to agency figures.
The relationship between the Border Patrol and the tribe has been stormy over the years, with accusations of human rights violations by federal agents and allegations that the agents presence has implemented a police state. Though only 75 miles runs along the Mexican border, the reservation is about 2.8 million acres or roughly the size of Connecticut and has about 30,000 members. The tribes official website says that nine of its communities are located in Mexico and they are separated by the United States/Mexico border. In fact, the U.S.-Mexico border has become an artificial barrier to the freedom of the Tohono Oodham, the tribe claims. On countless occasions, the U.S. Border Patrol has detained and deported members of the Tohono Oodham Nation who were simply traveling through their own traditional lands, practicing migratory traditions essential to their religion, economy and culture. Similarly, on many occasions U.S. Customs have prevented Tohono Oodham from transporting raw materials and goods essential for their spirituality, economy and traditional culture. Border officials are also reported to have confiscated cultural and religious items, such as feathers of common birds, pine leaves or sweet grass.
A New York Times story published years ago explained that tightening of border security to the east and west after the 9/11 terrorist attacks funneled more drug traffic through the Tohono Oodham reservation. This created a need for more Border Patrol officers to be deployed to the crime-infested area. The article also revealed that tribe members are complicit in the trafficking business. Hundreds of tribal members have been prosecuted in federal, state or tribal courts for smuggling drugs or humans, taking offers that reach $5,000 for storing marijuana or transporting it across the reservation, the article states. In a few families, both parents have been sent to prison, leaving grandparents to raise the children. The drug smugglers work mainly for the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, the piece revealed.
Nevertheless, federal officers have been told by Homeland Security superiors that they cant cut the new wire fence obstacle to access the reservation even though it sits in the Border Patrols busiest drug sector. Perhaps the U.S. government can use money to force compliance. The Tohono Oodham recently got a huge chunk of change from Uncle Sam, $2.75 million, to build single-family homes for its largely poor tribe members. Maybe the feds can withhold future allocations for the tribes various projects until it allows Border Patrol officers to do their job. In the meantime, a veteran Arizona law enforcement officer whos worked in the region for decades says a little wire and a small gate can cause huge security problems.
There are two sides to every story.
We live near Yellowstone and because of that proximity the NPS and the BLM think that means they can come on our land whenever they please.
That is true.
I chose to believe my son and his buddies as they know the reservation and worked it for years. Of course, most of the people in Ajo are smugglers, too, so this problem is not just limited to the rez.
“They are actively supporting the drug cartels and human smugglers.”
So says the same people who think it’s a great idea to put their hands down your toddlers’ pants at the airport. Yeah, there’s certainly problems on the border, but I’m not going to buy into the idea that the tribe needs to give up their liberty in trade for security.
“So says the same people who think its a great idea to put their hands down your toddlers pants at the airport”
Who says that? The BP? Me? You?
A wild (and false) accusation does not make for credibility.
“Just build the wall on the American side of the Res.”
All the way around and make the “indians” que up at the “new border” if they want to enter the United States!
In any case not all of the Indians are involved in drugs and smuggling.
Are the Shadow Wolves still operating there? My brother-in-law worked closely with them.
More than a few border Ranchers do this too. They have to allow the Border Patrol on, but they can refuse vehicles and horses.
If they want to walk 7 or 8 miles across the desert, they can. The ranchers get paid by cartels to keep the Border Patrol out, close any roads they can, and to simply “not look out the window”.
An Arizona rancher recently did it near the Coronado National forest in the NM Bootheel. Near Skeleton canyon.
The corruption does not stop at the border.
“When you see about poor Indians on their reservations one must wonder what is happening to ALL the Casino Money?”
My bet is that “indian tribes” are just like Saudi Arabia. All the money stays at the top.
“Sovereign Nation means Sovereign Nation.”
Kinda. And kinda not. The FBI and US Marshall service goes out there. The department of interior runs a lot of their world. They do not have a military.
They cannot pass laws that violate the US constitution. For example they cannot make free speech illegal. They cannot print their own money.
They are slightly more sovereign than a state.
“A wild (and false) accusation does not make for credibility.”
Here’s the video for you.
http://www.infowars.com/video-tsa-agents-pat-down-2-6-year-old-children/
Lol. Now you're catching on...so much for "Sovereign Nations" then, right? So perhaps we should just assimilate the Tribes into the general populace! :D
I whole heartedly believe in the concept of Tribal Sovereignty, and have pushed as much with my two children, who are half Native. I've told them time and again: If the Tribe is indeed sovereign, they need strong leaders who will stand up and secure that sovereignty. Further, securing the sovereignty of the Tribal Nations REQUIRES that the Tribes themselves reject any and all funding from the FedGov.
Want to retire the debt?
“Have all taxpayers give an extra 1(?) dollar per month/week or whatever and hold a NATIONAL lottery, with a 60% winnings going to the winners, tax free with your ticket being YOUR Social Security Number.”
Well, that would do it alright....but it would take over 2000 years at a dollar a week. The same formula would do it in 10 years if we stopped piling on additional debt, AND every man woman and child and infant bought 250 bucks a week of tickets. For 10 years.
The debt is really really big.
Good. Put them on the Mexican side of the fence and force them to cross a border to get in the US. Then cut of the money.
“Maybe. Or maybe the BP has been doing something wrong to get locked out. Several of the ranchers here have locked them out at one time or another, usually for leaving gates open allowing livestock to get out. BP does not always do a good job training their agents, some of them play 4-wheeler games with the BP vehicles tearing up land. Some leave gates open or cut fences while in pursuit and dont notify anyone the fence is cut.
Often when BP has bad manners they get locked out until they learn some manners.”
Of course they blame it on the BP. But its the cartels who pay them to keep the BP out mostly. And they get to act innocent and act like they have the highest motives. They don’t. Some of the bootheel area ranches are famous for that. It also lets them lock up some public lands as a private playground.
“I found a gate open. Must be the border patrol”. lol. When we all know who benefits.... the dopers and smugglers and their rancher employees. The Mexicans are flooding their land, but they really are forced to lock out the border patrol. Surrrrre.
“I want to add when BP is locked out or not allowed to travel a private road they still legally have access, but cannot take a vehicle into the restricted property.”
That’s exactly the game the bribed ranchers play. “why sure Mr. BP, you can come check the border. Its 7 miles that way... on foot. You cannot drive down the dirt 2 track”.
(The person with a suitcase full of cash asked me to not permit this for the next 3 months)
are just like Saudi Arabia. All the money stays at the top.
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Well, ‘we’/they demanded we edumacate the Natives and a couple of them actually went to school, read a few law books and reaped some fruit out of it.
Wouldn’t really surprise me to see some sort of ‘mob (be it Mafia, Russian, etc) controlling things and the tribes ‘acting’ as beards with a few crumbs here and there.
Remember whoever the Chicago(?) hood that sort of discovered Las Vegas claimed it a paradise in the desert...
I figure after the mob got dispatched from Vegas that some of these newly educated NAs (I am a Native American - 3rd gen) sought them out and now we have all sorts of things going on - on the reservations NO TAXES.......except of course to the tribe......
People got to be careful when they check out the words and use them to the full advantage - whether or not it was the original intention.
Like the young lad went into the store and asked for the ‘Senior Discount’ and the people said Senior is over _____,
the kid pulled out a report card and pointed out he was Senior in HS and the sign did not specify what kind of Senior....
I would have taken care of him (Once)and probably offered him a job— just for his ingenuity and knack of paying attention.
Yes, words have meaning.
Back in my Asphalt Paving days, I had an unwritten ‘law’ that ANYONE that showed up at 5AM with his lunch was to be hired on the spot.
Tohono Odam have always kept lines open to their fellows south of the border, when I was in the vicinity they considered Mexican cousins as kind if a charity.
As to "subject to our laws and complicated, or "sovereign nation = sovereign nation" just note another response about BP stops well north of the border; there's no reason in the world not to build a fence along the border and a barricade along the reservation perimeter.
PS: I believe that the treaties place defense in the hands of the US and not the tribe, they should have no valid legal grounds to protest BP's defensive activities along their border.
The US Calvary usually sorts these problems out in the movies.
“We live near Yellowstone and because of that proximity the NPS and the BLM think that means they can come on our land whenever they please.”
That’s a pretty neat trick since Yellowstone is completely surrounded by two national forests in a huge buffer zone. A grazing lease isn’t “your land”.
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