Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO — A congressman who has been an outspoken critic of illegal immigration called for the removal Friday of the Border Patrol's chief in Laredo, saying his recent comments about the role of the agency make him unfit for the job. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican and long-shot presidential candidate, said Carlos X. Carrillo's remarks in a town hall meeting were "diametrically opposed" to the Border Patrol's mission. Carrillo spoke Aug. 15 in Laredo, a border community intimately connected by commerce and family with Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. At the meeting, Carrillo said, "The Border Patrol's job is not...

A public-interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption says it has obtained a videotape of a Border Patrol sector chief which could shed light on the illegal immigration problem in the United States. Judicial Watch (JW) says it obtained the videotape and transcript of an August 15, 2007, town hall meeting in Laredo, Texas, through the Freedom of Information Act. JW president Tom Fitton says Laredo Sector Chief Carlos Carrillo told the audience that the Border Patrol's job is not to stop illegal aliens, narcotics, or criminals, but to keep the nation safe by stopping terrorists and terrorist weapons...

A Border Patrol chief at one of the nation's most dangerous Southwest border crossings says the agency's mission doesn't include apprehending illegal aliens or seizing narcotics — perplexing front-line agents and angering a congressional critic of illegal immigration. "I've said it before and I'll say it again," Carlos X. Carrillo, Border Patrol chief of Laredo, Texas, told guests at a town-hall meeting Thursday. "The Border Patrol's job is not to stop illegal immigrants. The Border Patrol's job is not to stop narcotics. ... The Border Patrol's mission is not to stop criminals. "The Border Patrol's mission is to stop terrorists...