Free Republic

Federal prosecutors have announced the indictment and arrest of 20 individuals, most of them sworn law enforcement officers, in the Mississippi Delta region for allegedly conspiring with Mexican drug cartels to smuggle narcotics into the United States. U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner for the Northern District of Mississippi made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday. “We’re here today to talk about some incredibly serious allegations that mark a monumental betrayal of public trust, to announce the indictment and arrest of 20 individuals, most of them law enforcement officers in the Mississippi Delta region. The indictments generally allege the taking...

Russia's foreign ministry denounced on Saturday "excessive military force" by the United States in the Caribbean Sea deployed as part of a drive against drug trafficking and reaffirmed its support for Venezuela's leaders. "We firmly denounce the use of excessive military force in carrying out actions in anti-drugs operations," foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a commentary on her ministry's website. "Such actions are in violation of both U.S. domestic legislation ... and the norms of international law." (snip) In her comments, Zakharova said Russia "confirms our firm support for the Venezuelan leadership in defending its national sovereignty."

The Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Miami Herald, as the U.S. prepares to initiate the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel. The planned attacks, also reported by the Wall Street Journal, will seek to destroy military installations used by the drug-trafficking organization the U.S. says is headed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and run by top members of his regime. Sources told the Herald that the targets — which could be struck by...

Gabbard described an operation in which intelligence provided to Mexican law enforcement led to the arrest of an alleged Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) associate known as “La Diabla.” The individual is accused of leading a criminal network involved in human trafficking, illegal medical procedures, and the sale of newborns. irector of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard praised recent U.S. and Mexican law enforcement operations that she said were supported by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) through intelligence sharing. According to Gabbard, actionable intelligence from the NCTC assisted both U.S. and Mexican authorities in the arrest of a Sinaloa Cartel leader...

Many of the women were lured with promises of easy cash jobs during the final months of pregnancyOn the morning of September 2, in Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexican law enforcement raided a remote safehouse and uncovered one of the most grotesque cartel operations they had ever encountered. They found not just the usual drugs but rudimentary medical equipment and bloodstained tarps. The evidence confirmed what many investigators had suspected but couldn’t prove: that growing US demand has created a black market in human babies. Police arrested a brutal female gangster, Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, who was allegedly running an operation that...

An alleged Sinaloa cartel leader admitted President Trump’s aggressive border policies have made the illegal work of the powerful Mexican drug gang more difficult in an interview with CNN. An anonymous member of El Chapo’s former gang explained that Trump’s immigration and drug policies have put a damper on their black-market tradecraft in a bizarre interview with the news station’s senior national correspondent, David Culver, in the back of an SUV. “From killing to coordinating smuggling operations, he says he’s done it all,” Culver said, referring to Trump. “Do you think what President Trump has been doing has been making...

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Judge Jeanine Pirro said on Fox News Thursday that federal authorities seized one of the largest drug precursor shipments ever headed for the Sinaloa Cartel. The Trump administration ramped up its cartel crackdown after President Donald Trump authorized military strikes Tuesday, with the latest operation off Venezuela’s coast killing 11 alleged Tren de Aragua members. In an appearance on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Pirro said her office — working with Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, and the DEA — intercepted 1,300 barrels of methamphetamine precursors shipped from Shanghai and bound for...

On the chutzpah front, it's hard to top Mexico's rulers.Here's the latest from la presidenta, Claudia Sheinbaum, who has advice for President Trump, the leader is getting rid of her country's cartel problem for her.According to CBS News:Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday said she would ask the United States to share the $15 billion it expects to extract from convicted Mexican drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada with her country's poor.Sinaloa drug cartel co-founder Zambada pleaded guilty in a New York court on Monday to murder and drug trafficking, particularly of fentanyl — a powerful narcotic responsible for tens...

...These documents lay bare the structure and function of a bureaucratic, semi-autonomous network of agencies, contractors, nonprofits, and media entities that together constitute a parallel government operating alongside — and at times in opposition to — the duly elected one...

BREAKING: President Trump and SecDef Pete Hegseth just sent out 3 United States Navy destroyers, joined by an attack submarine, near Venezuela to crack down on the cartels. The gloves are finally coming off.

U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday they won't seek the death penalty in their cases against Mexican cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Rafael Caro Quintero, the drug lord charged with orchestrating the 1985 killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Caro Quintero, 72, and Zambada, 75, have pleaded not guilty to an array of drug trafficking charges. The prosecutions are separate, but they similarly target two of Mexico’s most notorious narcos. It is unclear whether taking the death penalty off the table signals any possibility of a plea deal with either or both men. Zambada's lawyer, Frank Perez, said...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass promised that illegal aliens would receive cash payments as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have continued conducting raids and enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. On Friday, Bass explained that illegal migrants would receive a “couple hundred” dollars on cash cards, adding that the “money will not come from city coffers but from philanthropic partners,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Federal immigration authorities conducted coordinated enforcement operations at two licensed cannabis cultivation sites in Southern California on Thursday, discovering 10 minors and detaining “about 200 individuals” without papers who are suspected of being illegal aliens. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that “ICE and CBP Law Enforcement” had to “dodge literal bullets from rioters” who were seemingly forewarned about the operation. During the operation, at least 10 migrant children were rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking. Federal officers also arrested approximately 200 illegal aliens from both sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo,” the DHS stated. Footage...

An even better question: Why are Hezbollah leaders still meeting in Beirut?The Israelis launched another massive attack on a building complex "on the outskirts of Beirut," the New York Times reports this morning. This apparently refers to Dahiyeh, the suburb controlled by Hamas Hezbollah [corrected], and where Israelis killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah a few days ago. Reportedly, Nasrallah's presumed successor had gathered with what's left of Hezbollah's command, and ... well ...Israel bombed a meeting of Hezbollah’s senior leadership around midnight on Thursday, a gathering that included Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor of Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s longtime...

Updated: Minnesota Senator John Hoffman (D) and State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) have been shot at their homes. Condition unknown ------- At least 3 people have been shot at the homes of Democratic lawmakers in Brooklyn Park and Champlin in Minnesota, prompting a shelter-in-place in the area, according to law enforcement sources. The suspect is dressed like a police officer and is still at large. The first shooting happened just after 2 a.m. on Saturday at the Champlin home of State Senator John Hoffman, a Democrat who has served in the Minnesota Senate since 2013. Two people – a man...

“No firmes nada,” a union organizer shouted into a bullhorn as he stood atop the flatbed of a truck outside Ambience Apparel, doling out battlefield legal advice not to sign anything. “You have a right to a lawyer. You are not alone.”Advocates and lawyers had arrived at the downtown store minutes after tips began to pop off at the hotline set up by the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network, a coalition of 300 volunteers and 23 labor unions and immigrant rights and social justice groups that was organized last year to respond to enforcement. They joined protesters and tearful family...

A Detroit high school student who was detained by federal agents last month was denied a request to pause his deportation, according to his attorney. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, which represents 18-year-old Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, said it received a notice from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday. "While we are angry and sad about this decision, we are heartened by the overwhelming support for Maykol shown by so many of you — fellow students, educators, neighbors, friends, faith leaders, community members, elected officials, and the DPSCD Board of Education. In the words of Maykol's mother, 'mil mil gracias,'" the...

On Tuesday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi held a press conference announcing a week-long, multi-agency and multi-law enforcement and tribal operation headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the New Mexico District Attorney’s Office. The operation resulted in huge drug busts and multiple arrests of high-level members of the Sinaloa cartel. According to Bondi, the agents garnered 11.5 kilos of fentanyl, including three million fentanyl pills — the largest seizure in the nation's history. The main head of the Sinaloa cartel, Alberto Salazar Amaya, was arrested along with five others, all in the country illegally. Amaya was arrested in Salem,...

Bones, shoes and clothes were discovered in March at the Izaguirre Ranch, which is located in Mexico's western Jalisco province. The mayor of a town in the west Mexican state of Jalisco has been arrested over his alleged links to a notorious cartel training site. José Murguía Santiago, was detained on Saturday as part of a federal investigation into the Izaguirre Ranch, where human bones and clothing were found earlier this year. Located outside Teuchitlán, the town where he is the mayor, the site is thought to have been used by the infamous Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Speaking to...

If you ever doubted that Washington’s corrupt cartel of Democratic law firms, judges, NGOs, and deep-state bureaucrats is a machine designed to thwart the Trump administration, just watch as judge after judge blocks the president’s ability to keep his campaign promises. It may not be brown paper bags changing hands, but this lawfare that defies the people’s will is every bit as corrupt. It will be up to the Supreme Court to define the limits of presidential authority, but Chief Justice John Roberts’ preemptive scolding of Trump for musing about judicial impeachment doesn’t bode well for the president. Trump won...