Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) - Gun-toting members of the Mexican military are crossing regularly into U.S. territory, where they are partnering with drug cartels and criminal gangs to protect sophisticated smuggling operations, according to Texas sheriffs and lawmakers. Some of the Mexican infiltrators are suspected to have been trained by the U.S. military. U.S. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement officials operating along the southwestern border have come under attack from the Mexican side in recent months, with automatic gunfire frequently erupting, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) told Cybercast News Service. Mexican military units and drug cartels have access to weaponry and communications...

A murder spree began in Tijuana, Mexico shortly after American authorities detained suspected drug kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Félix last August. In September, 44 people were killed, including 5 police officers. Police say the killings are the result of internal strife within the drug cartels, as those in the organizations kill anyone in their way and fight for the power that was vacated upon Arellano Félix's arrest. The killings dropped a bit in October but have since intensified with 11 homicides in the first week of November. The violence has prompted the city's Secretary of Public Security, Luis Javier Algorri...

The U.S. Supreme Court took up the question Tuesday of whether immigrants who are legal permanent U.S. residents should face mandatory deportation for relatively minor offenses such as possession of small amounts of drugs. The case is being closely watched by thousands of immigrants in similar circumstances. In one of two related cases before the court, Jose Antonio Lopez was ordered deported after he pleaded guilty to "aiding and abetting the possession of cocaine" in South Dakota in 1997. The crime is a felony under South Dakota law but a misdemeanor under federal law if it is the offender's first...

NUEVO LAREDO — For all the beefed-up enforcement along the border, the militia-like group of drug cartel enforcers known as the Zetas appears stronger than ever, a result of better training, successful recruiting in Central America and continued desertions from the Mexican military, U.S. intelligence officials say.The Zetas have again become entrenched in Nuevo Laredo, and they practically control the movement of people through an intricate web of spies, checkpoints and skillful use of technology, provoking an extraordinary cross-border human exodus, U.S. and Mexican authorities say. Last year, U.S. and Mexican authorities reported that the number of Zetas was falling...

This is story that would have made the front pages in ordinary times;but,happening as it did - on the 5th anniversary of 9/11 weekend - it went unremarked. Owing to the circumstances, Hugo Chavez might have been rather unhappy-and this might account for some of his snarky remarks this week !

In a large raid preceding the harvest season, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department has seized 2,500 marijuana plants with a street value estimated at up to $12.5 million. Two men found at the scattered gardens near Hyatt Lake on Monday remain in Jackson County Jail on immigration holds and the investigation is continuing, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said. Officials had watched the growing operation, believed to be linked to a Mexican drug cartel, and swept in Monday to destroy it just before harvest time, sheriff's Lt. Pat Rowland said. SWAT teams from Jackson and Douglas counties and Oregon State...

Video of The Shadow Wolves of Arizona making drug and illegal alien busts at the U.S./Mexico border.