Border Patrol

Border Patrol Arrests MS-13 Member, Sexual Predator Along Arizona Border
Border Patrol Arrests MS-13 Member, Sexual Predator Along Arizona Border

BY CILLIAN ZEAL
DECEMBER 23, 2018 AT 7:36AM

A convicted sex offender and a man linked to the MS-13 gang were arrested at the southern border last week, Fox News reported.
“Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents arrested two illegal aliens during separate incidents Wednesday and Thursday and learned that one is an MS-13 gang member and the other is a sex offender,” according to a statement from Customs and Border Protection.
“Wednesday evening, Ajo Station agents arrested a 46-year-old Mexican national, after he illegally entered the U.S. near Lukeville. During processing, agents discovered he was convicted in 2002 of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in Mesa, Arizona.
“Thursday evening, Nogales Station agents arrested a 24-year-old national of El Salvador. During processing, agents conducting records checks learned that he is a member of the dangerous ‘Mara Salvatrucha’ (MS-13) street gang.”
The MS-13 member had previously been convicted of a felony and had been deported.
The Mexican national had also been removed from the country following a sentence for a 2002 conviction for unlawful sexual contact with a minor.
Now, both face felony charges due to the fact that they were previously removed from the country and tried to re-enter.

MS-13 members and sex offenders are routinely among those apprehended by Customs and Border Protection for trying to enter the United States illegally.
Last month, in a short period, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector apprehended a number of individuals trying to immigrate illegally who had either gang ties or prior convictions for sexual impropriety.

Two of the men were members of MS-13 and one was a member of the 18th Street gang.
A Mexican national apprehended near the town of Los Ebanso in Texas had served a 41-month sentence for child rape in Tukwila, Washington.
A Salvadorian man, meanwhile, had served three years in prison after he had been convicted of the sexual assault of a child in Aurora, Colorado.

In the case of one of the MS-13 members, it was discovered he had an active arrest warrant for homicide back in his home country.
In this case, the arrest of two individuals — one linked to one of America’s most fearsome gangs, the other convicted of sexual assault — is yet more ammunition for President Donald Trump as he pushes for border wall funding.

The government was in a partial shutdown Sunday because Congress has thus far refused to give the White House the $5 billion in spending that the administration says is necessary to secure the southern border and start building the wall.
“I want to be crystal clear — there will be no additional appropriations to pay for the border wall,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Dec. 13. “It’s done.”

Whether it remains done — particularly with this kind of media attention — remains to be seen.
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Trump appoints first-ever female Border Patrol chief
August 12, 2018 by Jerry McCormick
Photo via flickr.com / Diego Cambiaso
One of the constant labels Democrats have tried to stick on President Donald Trump is “sexist.”
But he took another step to prove them wrong recently when he named Carla Provost as the top dog for the U.S. Border Patrol, the first woman to have ever held that position.
Well-Deserved PromotionAnyone thinking this promotion is just window dressing for Trump is dishonoring the accomplishments of Provost.
Her career started more than two decades ago in Douglas, AZ.
Provost quickly proved herself a capable employee, and was promoted to Supervisory Border Patrol Agent only three years later.
In 2001, Provost was upped again, this time to Field Operations Supervisor.
Provost would then transfer to the Yuma Sector (Arizona) in 2006, where she was promoted to Assistant Chief Patrol Agent.
In 2011, Provost received another promotion, this time to Deputy Chief Patrol Agent in El Paso, TX.
Just two years later, Provost was named the Chief Patrol Agent of El Centro (California) Sector.
Over the next four years, Provost would receive several more promotions leading her to her current position.
Her climb through the ranks was not an easy one, either.
As Provost herself noted, the department is dominated by men, making it very hard for a woman to climb through the ranks.
However, Provost says she has seen a major influx of women in recent years, and she thinks women are being promoted more often within the agency.
False NarrativeWhile the media continues to hammer Trump as a sexist, it is clear they are doing nothing more than twisting the facts.
Trump has five women in very high-ranking positions within his administration.

That does not include the likes of Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, either.
He has proven time and time again that he looks for the best person to fit the position, regardless of sex, race, creed, or color.
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Border Patrol Agents Walk Along The Border, Spot & Arrest Two As Histories Released
Posted by Danny Abarno | Sep 18, 2017 | National Security
Border Patrol Agents have apprehended two dangerous criminals guilty of murder and child molestation as they were crossing the US/Mexican Border
The Border Patrol agency has been allowed to carry out their mission to protect the border since President Trump’s Inauguration and they have been incredibly effective. By taking the restraints away from them, the Border Patrol can act as a deterrent to many on the Mexican side of the border who are willing to risk the perils of crossing the border. Now only the most desperate and hardened appears to trying to cross the border as recent reports of arrests show dangerous men being captured. The Border Patrol announced that they have recently captured two illegal aliens trying to cross the border, both men have been previously deported for heinous crimes including murder and child molestation.
The Border patrol seen here driving alongside the US/Mexico Border
The two men that have been captured by the unrestricted Border Patrol were dangerous and needed to be stopped. By showing that these two criminals were trying to cross the border illegally, the Border Patrol has proved that there is a need for border security as as improvements that need to be made.

Dangerous and ruthless criminals use secret routes and tunnels to get through to the United States and it forces other migrants to use dangerous and expensive coyotes to help them get through. The Border Patrol’s recent actions should show the Mexican people that dealing with these criminals is not worth the price because you will not only be caught but that your life will be at stake by trusting these disgusting men.
Construction along the border taking place during mid-February
President Donald Trump won his election with many campaign promises but none was bigger than building the wall on the Southern border. This wall is sure to prove to be effective at keeping out illegals and drugs as walls around the world have been proven to work to keep illegal aliens from entering into countries. Mexico has a southern border wall that they use to keep a close and watchful eyes onto Central American immigrants trying to get into Mexico.
Hungary has also seen a dramatic reduction in the number of illegal crossings taking place after they constructed a border wall and let the Hungarian army patrol it. Israel even has a wall that has been proven to be effective at keeping out both illegal aliens and insurgents seeking to cause harm to the people of Israel. Walls have been proven to work and it is time that the United States join the ranks of nations with strong borders.

Miguel Angel Flores-Jimenez and Miguel Castro-Santiago were both arrested for crossing the border illegally and have both spent time in United States correctional facilities. Their records warrant extreme caution as both men have been found guilty of dangerous and violent crimes against Americans. Santiago was convicted in 2005 for second-degree murder in Kansas and served eight years before being deported.
Jimenez is even more disturbed and unsettling as his past reveals that he spent for being found guilty of sexual battery of a persons under 16, meaning he engaged in sexual violence with a child. These men are prime examples of the kinds of people who need to cross the border illegally and shows that it really is not all families and children.
Two border patrol agents wait and watch the border with cameras on top of a hill in Arizona
Liberals who advocate for open borders call for the mass immigration of un-vetted individuals from the third world. Many of these nations have used this opportunity to push their undesirables out of their country and into the social welfare nets found in Western culture.

Why should Middle Eastern, African, or Central American countries worry about a mass exodus of people when it takes loads of strain away from their economies. Instead of worrying about economic hardship and a desperate populace, governments can simply push their problems somewhere without having to provide for these people anymore.
Now American and European welfare systems and societies are going to be bogged down with economic hardships and a demanding populace that is basically used to getting taken care of without offering any work in return. If the West wants to solve the migrant crisis then it cannot expect the countries supplying the migrants to lend a hand.
Liberals calling for open borders are doing the international dirty work of foreign interests hoping to ensure that their borders are secure while the West falls into chaos. The need for strong borders is essential towards keeping out dangerous criminals with violent pasts who are likely to recommit the same crimes again.
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The Current State of the Border Fence
JANUARY 2017

Recognizing the effectiveness of physical barriers as a means of border control, Congress first mandated the construction of a border fence in 1996 as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). IIRIRA called for the construction of a 14-mile, triple-layered fence along the boundary between San Diego and Tijuana.[1]By 2004, only nine miles of fencing were completed. Congress subsequently passed the Secure Fence Act of 2006. That legislation called for double-layered fencing along the border, augmented by manpower and technology, and directed the Secretary of Homeland security to construct “reinforced fencing along not fewer than 700 miles of the southwest border, in locations where fencing is deemed most practical and effective.”[2]
How much of the required fencing has been completed?Currently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains several types of “tactical infrastructure” (fencing, other physical barriers, and support structures such as observation towers) along the border. Chief among these are:
Primary Pedestrian Fencing – that runs directly along the border and is intended to prevent crossings on foot.
Secondary Fencing – that runs behind Primary Fencing, usually separated by a Patrol Road that allows the Border Patrol to monitor the area between fences.
Tertiary Pedestrian Fencing – that runs behind the Secondary Fencing, intended to prevent attempts to cross the border on foot.
Vehicle Fencing – that prohibits motorized vehicles from crossing.

As of May 2015, DHS had installed:

353 miles of Primary Pedestrian Fencing.
36 miles of Secondary Fencing.
14 miles of Tertiary Pedestrian Fencing.
300 miles of Vehicle Fencing.

These numbers are virtually the same as the numbers available in 2012, indicating no measurable progress. But, given the growth in worldwide migration and the emergence of new threats along the southern border, it is essential that the fence be completed and supplemented by other security structures – including walls where appropriate.
To date, sixty-five other countries have built security fences and other barriers to protect themselves from large scale migration and the infiltration of terrorists.[3] Fences do not guarantee security, but they are an integral tool for securing borders and send the message that would-be migrants are expected to enter the country through the proper channels.

Building a New and Improved Border FenceMuch of the existing barrier along the southern border hardly qualifies as a fence or wall. In fact, many stretches consist of nothing more than a “vehicle barrier” that fails to slow down foot traffic.[4] The remainder of the fence is a mixture of easily climbed, poorly installed corrugated panels and other ad hoc materials. Only short stretches is a heavy-duty barrier installed in a concrete footing or double-layered fencing separated by a patrol road.The Trump administration has promised to build a better security barrier on the southern border. Since making this a priority, there have been numerous estimates on what such an endeavor would cost. The primary plan includes a constructing a single-layer wall in the most problematic areas where a sufficient barrier does not exist.
The cost estimates for constructing this border fence have ranged from as low as low as $8 billion (President Trump’s initial estimate from the campaign trail), to as high as $40 billion.[5] The estimate most often quoted by political and construction experts, is between $15 and $25 billion. This figure was derived by Bernstein, a leading development research firm that specializes in large-scale building projects.[6]
There are a few possible scenarios based on the upper and lower echelons of current Bernstein cost estimates:
•     A 1000 mile long, 40 foot high wall that goes 7 feet underground and is 10 inches thick, would cost approximately $25 million/mile to construct based on current concrete costs, land buyouts, labor and other related costs.
•     Shorten the wall to 750 miles at $25 million/mile and the estimate drops to somewhere around $18.75 billion.
•     If President Trump can fulfill his campaign promise of negotiating costs to their lowest and achieve a total cost of $15 billion for a 1,000 mile wall, the bill would become approximately $15 million/mile.
•     Under the preceding scenario of $15 million/mile, a 750 mile wall could be built for approximately $11.25 billion.
Bernstein bases their model on the effective design that Israel used for its concrete wall on the West Bank. This is a reasonable comparison because the objective is largely the same, and much of the U.S. border fence will be in sandy, desert terrain as well – land that requires a strong and deep foundation due to shifting dunes. Based on the inefficient system the federal government uses to contract for building services, a $25 billion price tag is likely the most realistic. However, President Trump has stated that he believes his administration can keep the costs to the lower end of the prevailing estimates, between $15 and $25 billion.
After initial construction, especially if high-tech monitoring devices are installed, there will be annual maintenance costs. These next-generation devices are already being tested and used along the southern border. Annual total maintenance costs have varied greatly since the Secure Fence Act was passed. They range from a low of $115 million in FY 2006, to a high of $1.2 billion in FY 2008 before eventually stabilizing at around $400 million in FY 2012.[7] Nailing down a specific, static cost for maintaining a well-secured border is hard to estimate. It can reasonably be assumed that annual maintenance will cost considerably more than it has in the past. Maintenance of an effective border barrier is likely to cost as much, or more, than the FY 2006 high of $1.2 billion. However, a well maintained border barrier is likely to reduce some of the high costs associated with interior immigration enforcement.
Another possibility, should cost, environmental concerns and technical difficulties become a major concern, would be to construct more double-layered wired fence in low-traffic areas instead of a concrete wall. Combined with hi-tech monitoring equipment such as ground sensors and aerial monitoring, this approach could yield success comparable to that experienced by other nations, such as Israel, that have built similar barriers in lightly-populated deserts.[8] Assuming that the construction costs for double-layered fencing are considerably less than those for a concrete wall, and taking into account that much of the border with Mexico is in remote areas where wire fencing might be effective, the savings could be substantial. President-elect Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and Congress will have to conduct a careful cost-benefit analysis to determine which construction method is appropriate for each sector of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Regardless of which approach is taken, securing the southern border is a sound fiscal investment. The overall construction and annual maintenance costs pale when compared to the $113 billion FAIR estimates illegal immigration costs American taxpayers. In fact, if the project only results in a 5 percent reduction in the annual cost of illegal immigration to American taxpayers, and construction and maintenance costs reach the most expensive estimates, it would pay for itself after only six years.[10]

ConclusionIn 2006, Congress required that a barrier be constructed. But the project was never completed as mandated, and much of the border wall/fence lies in disrepair or is built to subpar standards. With illegal immigration, drug trafficking and human smuggling an ongoing problem, and the threat of terrorism ever increasing, it is critical that a proper security barrier be constructed.A physical barrier on the southern border is a necessity if our government wishes to meet its obligation to protect the sovereignty and security of the United States of America. Besides helping stem the tide of illegal immigration, it also limits the ability of drug cartels, human traffickers, terrorists and other national security threats to access the United States from Mexico and the rest of Central and South America. Furthermore, a secure border sends the message that prospective immigrants are expected to follow the rule of law.
Read More for additional source information...

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WATCH: AOC called out by Christian pastors for her wild claims about America’s border facilities

Texas Border Port-of-Entry Shut Down After Migrant Rush
By Jim Hayek July 4, 2019
McALLEN, Texas — A rush by a large group of migrants trying to force their way from Mexico into a local port-of-entry led to a temporary shutdown. The incident took place on Wednesday evening when a group of migrants in Mexico tried to rush the Hidalgo-Reynosa Port-of-Entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection deployed officers and concertina wire to temporarily close the Hidalgo International Bridge in response to multiple groups of undocumented aliens that had attempted to enter the port without inspection,” an agency statement explained. “Deployment of port hardening measures such as concertina wire and barricades supplemented by CBP personnel effectively eliminates the ability for a large group of migrants to illegally and forcefully surge through the Ports of Entry. The Hidalgo Bridge was temporarily closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”
After approximately two hours, authorities were able to restore peace and open traffic. The Mexican border city of Reynosa has three international bridges that lead to Hidalgo, McAllen-Mission, and Pharr, Texas.
McAllen has become the focal point in the border and immigration debates as thousands of migrants continue to cross the Rio Grande to request asylum. The spike in apprehensions by U.S. Border Patrol agents is stretching the detention and housing resources used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Last summer, on the anniversary of Kris Eggle\'s death, his sister Jennifer Eggle and father Bob Eggle visited the grave site.

Will their son's death ever bring resolution17 years after their son's murder - nothing has change
By Mardi Suhs Cadillac News

Seventeen years ago, one of Cadillac’s best and brightest former students was shot and killed at the border as members of a Mexican drug cartel tried to escape into this country after committing several murders.
Kristopher Eggle was shot three times. The murder became national news.
In 2002, the media wasn’t focused on the border. But when the 28-year-old University of Michigan graduate was killed in the line of duty as a National Park ranger, it stirred debate about the violence along our southern borders.
The victim’s parents, Bob and Bonnie Eggle, a Vietnam veteran and an elementary school teacher, were devastated. But Cadillac wrapped them in an outpouring of love, as did the nation’s law enforcement personnel and military veterans.
Now, the heated conversation about the wall stirs up the pain, the loss and grief they’ve been trying to keep at bay. And the continued sympathy and love they receive now includes derision for their pleas for more border protection.

Bonnie Eggle wouldn’t have chosen political activism as a retirement pastime

But now her Facebook page, the one she started to stay in touch with friends and former Kenwood Elementary students, is a string of posts featuring murder victims and mug shots of fugitives.
Life took a sharp turn for the Eggles when their son was murdered. Kris, a wildlife biology major, was a park ranger who loved the outdoors and interacting with visitors. But in Arizona, he also helped guard a 30-mile stretch of the U.S. border with Mexico in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where he intercepted thousands of pounds of illegal drugs.
Every year during their visits, Bob helped Kris repair border fences, four strings of barbed wire attached to fence posts.
“We knew he was in danger,‘ Bonnie said, after Kris had shared stories of his narrow escapes.
In February 2002, six months before his death, Bob went with his son on a night patrol in the park. Before they left, Kris gave his dad weapons and night vision goggles.
“He wanted to show me what he was facing,‘ Bob said. “It was surreal that so many years after Vietnam, I was geared up for combat operations within our country; it was very much a low-intensity war zone.‘
Bob’s black eye patch is a dramatic reminder of how he lost his eye. The University of Michigan graduate was a platoon leader in Vietnam. On May 19, 1969, he was shot in the side of the face during a maneuver. He spent 19 months in Walter Reed Hospital and had nine surgeries to rebuild his face.
But after this “dark‘ period, he met Bonnie and “life became like a Hallmark movie,‘ and then darkness returned.
Grief therapy

“After Kris’s death, we felt we needed to do something and not sit home and cry and be angry,‘ Bonnie said. “We had to keep moving forward. Kris would have wanted that.‘
The couple decided to give their son’s death meaning by raising awareness about the need for increased border security. Maybe they could save lives. They made their case on shows like “Phil Donahue,‘ “Bill O’Reilly‘ and “Hannity and Colmes.‘ They appeared before a congressional committee, where politicians on both sides made promises.
When nothing changed, they grew frustrated and Bob switched tactics per his military training to Continue Mission, CM. He began using his military expertise to train park rangers for the realities of border duty.
“I went back to Organ Pipe to help with federal law enforcement training,‘ Bob said. “I was using my military experience. This was better than wasting my time with politics.‘
Bob’s advanced military training included Army Ranger Airborne and Army Special Operations. In Vietnam he was a platoon leader for the Big Red One, the 1st Infantry Division.
Bob has also been instrumental in getting support for the new training offered by the Department of Interior, a refresher course for mid-career officers that will make them better able to handle combat.
For his efforts, Eggle was honored last May in Washington, D.C., by the Department of Interior for working tirelessly to promote officer training and call attention to border violence issues.
“I thought I left the (battlefields) when I left the jungles of Vietnam, and now it’s right here in the states, and too many people don’t face up to it. They talk it down and say it’s artificial.‘
The family, including the Eggle’s daughter and Kris’s sister, Jennifer, still struggle for peace of mind.
“The anguish never really goes away, and now it’s brought to the surface again when you have all of this controversy about the wall,‘ Bonnie said. “We were promised when he was killed that they were going to do it. We’ve just had it. So I thought, I need to put the (illegal immigration) website statistics out there to show people that these things are happening. How else can I get these messages out there?‘
“This is hard on my parents,‘ said Jennifer, who works for the National Park Service at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. “But in some ways, the talks about the wall, it dredges it all up again. It’s good. It is a valid issue and it reminds a lot of people that knew Kris that this hasn’t changed.‘
“What is the purpose of Kris being murdered if nothing is going to done?‘ pleaded Bonnie. “Could his death at least bring some resolution to America and make this a safer place?‘
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Photos: If You Donate to Border Wall, Do It Anonymously. Leftists Doxing, Endangering Donors
BY CILLIAN ZEAL
DECEMBER 21, 2018 AT 6:47AM
A far-left social media user is doxing — or revealing the identities of — individuals donating to a GoFundMe effort to fund the border wall.
The GoFundMe page sprang up after it became clear Congress was not going to easily part ways with the money President Donald Trump wants to keep construction going on the border wall. In fact, Democratic leadership has all but pronounced the project dead.
One interesting way to deal with this — if perhaps not the most efficient — is a GoFundMe campaign by Purple Heart recipient Brian Kolfage.

Kolfage wants to raise $1 billion to help fund President Trump’s “big, beautiful wall.”
“We the People Will Fund the Wall” is currently sitting at over $11 million. That doesn’t sound like it’s going to make too much of a dent, but it’s only been a few days and interest seems to only be increasing.

“Like a majority of those American citizens who voted to elect President Donald J Trump, we voted for him to Make America Great Again. President Trump’s main campaign promise was to BUILD THE WALL. And as he’s followed through on just about every promise so far, this wall project needs to be completed still,” Kolfage writes on the GoFundMe page.
“As a veteran who has given so much, 3 limbs, I feel deeply invested to this nation to ensure future generations have everything we have today. Too many Americans have been murdered by illegal aliens and too many illegals are taking advantage of the United States taxpayers with no means of ever contributing to our society.”

“Democrats are going to stall this project by every means possible and play political games to ensure President Trump doesn’t get his victor. They’d rather see President Trump fail, than see America succeed. However, if we can fund a large portion of this wall, it will jumpstart things and will be less money Trump has to secure from our politicians,” he said.
“This won’t be easy, but it’s our duty as citizens. This needs to be shared every single day by each of you on social media. We can do it, and we can help President Trump make America safe again!”

In the end, I can guess, the project is more about taking a stand. However, one Twitter user would much rather you sit down — or else you’re going to get exposed.
Their official Twitter name may be “Richmond Police,” but the handle @TheQueerCrimer rather gives it away. Their header image shows a cartoon character engaging in acts of vandalism and their description says, “Cops are gun violence, ambulance drivers are snitches, and firemen are cowards.” Wonderful.
So, what he decided to do was reveal the identity of some of the people who donated to the campaign and had their Facebook information linked to their GoFundMe account on his Twitter account — totally for educational purposes, of course. Not that he would do anything untoward with them.

We’re going to link these tweets for the purposes of proving their existence.
Among the people being doxed include a mortgage loan originator, a father of three, a woman who owns her own photography business, a Marine veteran, a minister and multiple individuals who have their children pictured on their Facebook accounts. In other words, not only are they doxing the individuals who donated, they’re doxing innocent children. Nice work.

The practice of doxing is one of the most insidious and rebarbative practices there is. It’s not just meant to embarrass individuals for supporting a cause. It’s a nudge and a wink that says, “Hey, if you know these people … well, we wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them, but we’re not responsible for what you choose to do with this information.”
And what, pray tell, earned this veiled threat? These individuals support a border wall. That alone is enough to potentially turn their lives upside down, to expose them to the danger of the mob. @TheQueerCrimer even seems to acknowledge this, encouraging readers to “Check in occasionally and collect some profiles.” Collect for what, one may ask? These aren’t baseball cards. You aren’t going to end up with a rare breakout rookie.

This is where openly espousing conservative beliefs will get you in 2018. And that’s not even the worrisome thing. What should really scare everyone is that this is just the beginning.
In short, if you’re going to donate to the border wall push — or any conservative cause — do it anonymously. At the very least, make sure your Facebook information isn’t linked to your GoFundMe account. The perils of doing so otherwise are simply too great.
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
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Drones are becoming a choice method for smuggling high-dollar hard drugs into the U.S., Border Patrol agents say. (Associated Press/File)

Border Patrol lacks technology to detect, stop drones carrying drugs
Mexican cartels are aware of U.S. limitations, making them choice method for smuggling, agents said.

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Border Patrol agents are increasingly worried about the threat from drug-cartel-flown drones, after agents spotted 13 drones suspected of carrying drugs across one section of the U.S.-Mexico border in just one four-day period in November.
Cartels are aware that the U.S. lacks the ability to detect the drones, much less to interdict them, making them a choice method for smuggling high-dollar hard drugs into the country, agents said.
They said the fact that they even spotted the 13 drones was serendipitous and only hints at the scope of the real problem.
“We’re seeing an uptick. We flat-out just don’t have the technology to detect these,” said Brandon Judd, an agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council. “The number is just astronomical.”
Security analysts say the problems from drones are tough to oversell. The Islamic State has harnessed drones as delivery vehicles for improvised explosive devices, and top U.S. officials fear those same tactics could be used in the U.S.
Last year, one security blog reported that an intercepted Mexican cartel truck had both a drone and potato bombs, which are crude explosives packed with shrapnel.

Other uses could include tracking the Border Patrol to direct drug loads around them, or even using the drones as defensive shields to make it too dangerous for air support to assist on Border Patrol operations.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees the Border Patrol, was unable to point to a policy for handling the dangers posed by unmanned aerial vehicles.
“While I can’t provide specifics, I can tell you that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is charged with protecting our nation and will mitigate threats from any direction or any mode they may come,” said Dan Hetlage, a spokesperson for the agency.
Agents said there isn’t any policy and they are left to deal with the problem as best they can.
“We’re hoping that D.C. gets off the dime or starts getting ahead of the curve instead of being behind the curve, and gives us the tools to keep the country safe,” said Christopher J. Harris, an agent and secretary of Local 1613 of the National Border Patrol Council, which covers about 2,400 agents in the San Diego sector.
“When you have that number going across and you really can’t do anything about it, that’s deeply frustrating,” Mr. Harris said.
Agents in the San Diego sector reported the drone flights in November.
They spotted two drones on Nov. 11 from 2:30 to 3 a.m. Another six were spotted a day later from 11 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Five more were reported on Nov. 18 from 10:30 to 11 p.m.
All of them were reported by the Imperial Beach station, which is responsible for just 5.5 miles of the international border, covering the area from San Diego to Tijuana.
“The moment drones started becoming household items, CBP should have anticipated their use for criminal enterprise,” Mr. Judd said. “Instead, and in typical CBP fashion, it waited until an issue became a crisis before it chose to act. But like always, we’re already behind the eight ball and we’re left with trying to play catch-up.”
Agents say cartels all along the border are using drones, though the San Diego sector has been among the most active in detailing the traffic it is seeing.
In August, an agent managed to spot a drone flying across the border and tracked it to its landing. They arrested a 25-year-old American citizen who admitted he was the pickup person.
Police seized 13 pounds of methamphetamine, worth an estimated $46,000, and also seized the drone, a Matrice 600 Pro, which sells for about $5,000, can take off with a 13-pound load and can fly at 40 mph.
The man arrested with the drone and drugs said he was paid $1,000 per pickup and had made a series of deliveries before he was caught.
Some local law enforcement officials have questioned why agents aren’t permitted to shoot down drones they see crossing the border. They call it the equivalent of an attack.
Agents say the logistics of firing on a drone would be complicated, particularly in more populated areas.
Some parts of the government are further along than others in dealing with the threat.
Airports, critical infrastructure installations and the Defense Department have all been looking at solutions, and several companies said they are working with the Pentagon on systems that can detect — and, if wanted, take control of — bogey drones.
Mike Hale, a senior vice president at CACI International Inc., said the company’s SkyTracker technology homes in on drones’ radio frequencies, identifying the drone and tracing the operator’s location, which would give the Border Patrol a wealth of information to plot its next steps.
Should that include interdiction, the technology allows for that as well, Mr. Hale said.
“We have the capability to — I will say — get into the control loop of the UAV and have it do stuff we want it to do, versus the person trying to fly it,” he said.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, Missouri Republican, is circulating a draft bill that would update federal law on interdiction of drones. The Defense Department currently is the only branch of government able to engage UAVs.
A November version of the Hartzler bill authorized federal agencies to track and disrupt drones, including by seizing control of them or shooting them down, should they be deemed threats to safety.
One source said the drone industry was insisting on changes that would delete “border security operations” as a field of action and instead limit it to counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations. The industry also pushed to limit tracking and interdiction authority to the federal government, opposing efforts to allow authorized state and local law enforcement to help out.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Hartzler said the congresswoman is “working with agency and industry stakeholders to ensure the legislation provides relief from rules that prohibit them from engaging with drones while including adequate privacy protections.”
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a leading industry advocacy group, said it wants strict enforcement of laws against “unlawful and irresponsible behavior.”
“That is why we are working with policymakers to ensure that government agencies have the authority to keep the skies safe and secure, while maintaining the FAA’s sovereignty over the U.S. airspace,” Brian Wynne, president of the group, said in a statement.
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By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, January 2, 2018Border Patrol agents are increasingly worried about the threat from drug-cartel-flown drones, after agents spotted 13 drones suspected of carrying drugs across one section of the U.S.-Mexico border in just one four-day period in November.
Cartels are aware that the U.S. lacks the ability to detect the drones, much less to interdict them, making them a choice method for smuggling high-dollar hard drugs into the country, agents said.
They said the fact that they even spotted the 13 drones was serendipitous and only hints at the scope of the real problem.
“We’re seeing an uptick. We flat-out just don’t have the technology to detect these,” said Brandon Judd, an agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council. “The number is just astronomical.”
Security analysts say the problems from drones are tough to oversell. The Islamic State has harnessed drones as delivery vehicles for improvised explosive devices, and top U.S. officials fear those same tactics could be used in the U.S.
Last year, one security blog reported that an intercepted Mexican cartel truck had both a drone and potato bombs, which are crude explosives packed with shrapnel.
Other uses could include tracking the Border Patrol to direct drug loads around them, or even using the drones as defensive shields to make it too dangerous for air support to assist on Border Patrol operations.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees the Border Patrol, was unable to point to a policy for handling the dangers posed by unmanned aerial vehicles.
“While I can’t provide specifics, I can tell you that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is charged with protecting our nation and will mitigate threats from any direction or any mode they may come,” said Dan Hetlage, a spokesperson for the agency.
Agents said there isn’t any policy and they are left to deal with the problem as best they can.
“We’re hoping that D.C. gets off the dime or starts getting ahead of the curve instead of being behind the curve, and gives us the tools to keep the country safe,” said Christopher J. Harris, an agent and secretary of Local 1613 of the National Border Patrol Council, which covers about 2,400 agents in the San Diego sector.
“When you have that number going across and you really can’t do anything about it, that’s deeply frustrating,” Mr. Harris said.
Agents in the San Diego sector reported the drone flights in November.
They spotted two drones on Nov. 11 from 2:30 to 3 a.m. Another six were spotted a day later from 11 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Five more were reported on Nov. 18 from 10:30 to 11 p.m.
All of them were reported by the Imperial Beach station, which is responsible for just 5.5 miles of the international border, covering the area from San Diego to Tijuana.
“The moment drones started becoming household items, CBP should have anticipated their use for criminal enterprise,” Mr. Judd said. “Instead, and in typical CBP fashion, it waited until an issue became a crisis before it chose to act. But like always, we’re already behind the eight ball and we’re left with trying to play catch-up.”
Agents say cartels all along the border are using drones, though the San Diego sector has been among the most active in detailing the traffic it is seeing.
In August, an agent managed to spot a drone flying across the border and tracked it to its landing. They arrested a 25-year-old American citizen who admitted he was the pickup person.
Police seized 13 pounds of methamphetamine, worth an estimated $46,000, and also seized the drone, a Matrice 600 Pro, which sells for about $5,000, can take off with a 13-pound load and can fly at 40 mph.
The man arrested with the drone and drugs said he was paid $1,000 per pickup and had made a series of deliveries before he was caught.
Some local law enforcement officials have questioned why agents aren’t permitted to shoot down drones they see crossing the border. They call it the equivalent of an attack.
Agents say the logistics of firing on a drone would be complicated, particularly in more populated areas.
Some parts of the government are further along than others in dealing with the threat.
Airports, critical infrastructure installations and the Defense Department have all been looking at solutions, and several companies said they are working with the Pentagon on systems that can detect — and, if wanted, take control of — bogey drones.
Mike Hale, a senior vice president at CACI International Inc., said the company’s SkyTracker technology homes in on drones’ radio frequencies, identifying the drone and tracing the operator’s location, which would give the Border Patrol a wealth of information to plot its next steps.
Should that include interdiction, the technology allows for that as well, Mr. Hale said.
“We have the capability to — I will say — get into the control loop of the UAV and have it do stuff we want it to do, versus the person trying to fly it,” he said.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, Missouri Republican, is circulating a draft bill that would update federal law on interdiction of drones. The Defense Department currently is the only branch of government able to engage UAVs.
A November version of the Hartzler bill authorized federal agencies to track and disrupt drones, including by seizing control of them or shooting them down, should they be deemed threats to safety.
One source said the drone industry was insisting on changes that would delete “border security operations” as a field of action and instead limit it to counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations. The industry also pushed to limit tracking and interdiction authority to the federal government, opposing efforts to allow authorized state and local law enforcement to help out.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Hartzler said the congresswoman is “working with agency and industry stakeholders to ensure the legislation provides relief from rules that prohibit them from engaging with drones while including adequate privacy protections.”
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a leading industry advocacy group, said it wants strict enforcement of laws against “unlawful and irresponsible behavior.”
“That is why we are working with policymakers to ensure that government agencies have the authority to keep the skies safe and secure, while maintaining the FAA’s sovereignty over the U.S. airspace,” Brian Wynne, president of the group, said in a statement.
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Border Agent Kidnapped, Returned With No Fingers In Shocking Security Crisis
Posted by Anthony Cesario |
Jun 12, 2017
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents setting up a security checkpoint to stop illegal immigration (pictured above).
Illegal immigration is a massive problem in the United States. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents work tirelessly every single day to make sure that only those with the proper documentation are in our country. Unfortunately, doing so makes them the target of violence.
For example, an off-duty CBP agent was recently found on the side of the road after being kidnapped and tortured. He suffered serious injuries to the head, chest, and hands, but is expected to survive. This is exactly why we need stronger border security.
According to reports, the badly injured border patrol agent was found by an unidentified motorist on the side of the road in New Mexico at around 11 PM. Upon finding the agent, the motorist immediately alerted law enforcement officers. He was then rushed to a nearby hospital by Emergency Medical Services (EMS), where he remains in stable condition.
Shortly after the officer was found, the CBP released a statement about the incident. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection is assisting in the investigation of a report of an assault against an off-duty Border Patrol agent assigned to the Deming, New Mexico, Border Patrol Station,” read the press release. “The agent was discovered on the side of the road by a motorist at 11 p.m. MDT. The agent suffered multiple, serious injuries to his head, chest and hands. Emergency Medical Services transported the agent to a nearby hospital where he is being treated for his wounds. The agent is in stable condition,” it continued, noting, “CBP is working closely with the FBI, Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office, and the El Paso Police Department on the ongoing investigation. CBP has informed its workforce of this report and has reminded its law enforcement personnel to be alert and aware of their surroundings and potential threats related to their service.”

Brandon Darby the editor-in-chief for Breitbart Texas claimed he had obtained a document from the El Paso Border Patrol Sector that provided some more additional information about what happened. “The document does specifically identify that a Border Patrol agent was kidnapped and assaulted,” he reported, adding, “the document also asserts that the FBI in El Paso, Texas, is leading the investigation.”
Robin Zielinski, a photographer for the Las Cruces Sun-News newspaper, provided the public with even more gruesome information on Twitter. “[A] credible source told me that fingers of off-duty Border Patrol agent were cut off during last night [sic] attack,” she tweeted.

Given the information provided by Darby and Zielinski, it’s likely that the CBP officer was abducted by people associated with the Juarez Cartel, which controls the region immediately south of where the agent worked. They are known to kidnap and torture their victims. Additionally, since the FBI is leading the investigation, the victim was probably targeted specifically because of his employment as a CBP officer. If this wasn’t the case, local law enforcement agencies would be the ones investigating.
Incidents like this only further underscore the importance of improving our country’s border security. Our weak border makes it extremely easy for dangerous people to sneak into our country and harm those trying to keep us safe. If we had a wall, it would be much more difficult for cartel members to harm people living in America.
It also highlights just how important removing dangerous people from our country is. Oftentimes, crimes like this are committed by people who shouldn’t even be in our country in the first place. If we did a better job finding and removing these dangerous people, situations like this could be completely avoided.
Fortunately, President Donald Trump understands this. He’s been working with Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions to make our country safer. Together, they’ve been focused on making sure our immigration enforcement officers are getting the support that they need. On top of that, Trump has also made progress securing funds to construct a border wall and is in the process of reviewing proposals.
United States Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions.
It is extremely important that we do everything possible to protect our agents who patrol the border. Without them, dangerous people would flood into our country and take advantage of the most vulnerable in our society. The people responsible for the attack on this agent need to be found and punished as severely as possible.
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You Might Be Shocked And Frightened By What This Border Patrol Spokesman Just Revealed“Border Patrol agents in our sector have..."
B. CHRISTOPHER AGEE — JULY 29, 2014

As illegals continue to stream across America’s southern border, authorities are faced with the herculean task of identifying and processing the intruders while complying with the federal government’s policy of de facto amnesty. While most of the illegals make the trip from Mexico and Central American nations, Breitbart reports that a significant number come from decidedly less familiar home countries.

National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 spokesperson Albert Spratte revealed the startling origins of many who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border with hopes of joining our staggering population of illegal immigrants.

“One group of our agents apprehended individuals from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka,” he recalled.

Each of those detained Saturday, he explained, were adult males who had no intention of cooperating with U.S. authorities.

“Our agents apprehended them,” he said, “they did not turn themselves in. They were trying to sneak in.”

According to Spratte, a group of this size from such exotic nations is not unprecedented.

“We have had them in the past, but it isn’t common,” he told Breitbart.

On the same day that these men were rounded up, he affirmed that several females from China were also processed near the border.

“This should be a reminder to the public that unaccompanied minors and family units are not the only ones crossing into the U.S. illegally,” he said.

While many proponents of Obama administration immigration policies attempt to portray these illegals as downtrodden children from Central America, Spratte cautioned against accepting such generalities.

“The media are concentrating on the Central American families and minors,” he said, “and they are not covering the fact that we are still getting people, often adult males, who are coming from other nations.”

He concluded that individuals “from all over the world” are making the trip to America’s southern border – including many from nations with ties to Islamic terrorism.

“Border Patrol agents in our sector have in the past apprehended aliens from Iraq, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Israel, and many other nations,” he said. “People think this is just about Mexico and Central America, but it isn’t.”

Read more at ..
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BREAKING: Trump Declaring National Emergency On Southern Border To Get Wall Funding, McConnell Says
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

By RYAN SAAVEDRA
@REALSAAVEDRA
February 14, 2019 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will sign a spending bill to avoid another government shutdown and is declaring a national emergency to secure the funds needed to build the border wall.

"He's prepared to sign the bill, he will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time," McConnell said. "And, I’ve indicated to him that I am going to support the national emergency declaration. So, for all of my colleagues: the president will sign the bill. We’ll be voting on it shortly. And, with that, I ask the chair to lay before the Senate the conference report to accompany House Joint Resolution 31."
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement: "President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action - including a national emergency - to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border. The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country."
"If Trump follows through, lawmakers and the White House would dodge their second partial shutdown since December, sparing about 800,000 federal workers from more financial pain," CNBC reported. "But the emergency declaration would quickly spark lawsuits challenging the president's authority, creating yet another fight over his key campaign promise."
"The emergency declaration would allow Trump to redirect funds from other parts of the government to the project without congressional approval," CNBC added. "The move could in part assuage conservative critics who argued the president should not accept the latest congressional plan, which denied him the funding he demanded for the border barrier."
WATCH:
"Outlined in the National Emergencies Act of 1976, the president has the authority to declare emergencies, thus unlocking certain provisions, when the country is 'threatened by crisis, exigency, or emergency circumstances' other than wars or natural disasters, a 2007 report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) explains," Fox News reported. "Some of those provisions include the ability to seize commodities or property; control production, transportation and communication; institute martial law or restrict travel, according to the report."
Democrats immediately sought to discredit Trump calling for a national emergency by suggesting that there is no "emergency" on the border, despite the hundreds of thousands of people who are apprehended every year illegally trying to enter the U.S. on the southern border.
"It’s important to note that when President declares this emergency, first of all, it’s not an emergency," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. "The precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans."
Last month, Trump highlighted words from Rep. Adam Schiff about Trump's ability to use a national emergency to suggest that he has the ability to use it in this circumstance.
"Congressman Adam Smith, the new Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, just stated, 'Yes, there is a provision in law that says a president can declare an emergency. It’s been done a number of times,'" Trump tweeted. "No doubt, but let’s get our deal done in Congress!"
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Senator Lindsey Graham (left) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (right)(Win McNamee / Getty Images; Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images)

Graham Throws in Full Support of Trump’s Wall, Gives Pelosi Ultimatum
BY KARA PENDLETON
DECEMBER 29, 2018
No one could accuse Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of being a sycophant for President Donald Trump. He doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with Trump and isn’t shy about saying so.
But sometimes he does agree with him, and when he does he is also not shy about saying so. In the midst of his tweets regarding concerns over pulling out of Syria, he put out this little doozey for the Democrats:
Some people were concerned that Trump would “cave” to Democrats over the wall. But he has stood firm and now he has Graham backing him up.

According to The Hill, the battle between the Democrats and Republicans, which has already led to a partial government shutdown, may take time to end. That is because the House “passed an amended version” of the Senate’s continuing resolution providing more than $5 billion for the border wall and security.
The bill has stalled in the Senate, where The Hill reports that it does not have the support it needs to pass. Could that change?

Graham has been a senator since 2002 and was elected to the House before that. He presumably has some influence amongst his fellow members of Congress.
With him backing the president on funding and building the wall, it is possible that others in the Senate will do so as well, if he presses them on it. His Senate biography notes that he is “one of the strongest proponents of a robust national defense.”
Graham has also tied in the wall issue with the U.S. combating terrorist attacks from radical Islam. He has made the point on Twitter that the wall is part of the fight, even if it is not the “first line of defense,” it is, nonetheless, a component of it:

So anyone in Congress who may be wishy-washy on immigration may be convinced to fund and build the wall if they have concerns about terrorist attacks against the United States. In 2015, The Washington Times reported that “Pakistanis with terrorist ties” were caught by agents while illegally attempting to cross the border.

Just weeks ago, The Daily Caller reported that since 2001, at least 15 known terrorists or individuals with ties to terrorism groups have been arrested attempting to illegally enter along the southern border. They added that those are only the confirmed cases.
They added that there are “thousands of so-called ‘special interest aliens’ — people from countries beset by terrorism — that are apprehended at the southern border on an annual basis.”

In addition to that, “at least 100 people on U.S. terror watch lists were intercepted at or on the way to the southwest between 2012 and 2017.”
“About half of those were stopped at the border, while the others were detained by authorities along smuggling routes in Central America and Mexico.” Graham’s point about the wall being needed to also help combat terrorism is a valid one.

When elected, members of Congress take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. In it, the power to “provide for the common defense” is given to them, the legislative branch. This would make it their duty, one they took an oath to do, to protect our borders.
Sen. Graham has shown he is willing to do his Constitutional duty. We have yet to see if others in Congress will do likewise.
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Non-Lethal Weapon Active Denial System (ADS)

DONALD TRUMP SIGNS AUTHORIZATION FOR BORDER TROOPS USING LETHAL FORCE AS MIGRANT CARAVAN APPROACHES, DOCUMENT REVEALS
BY JAMES LAPORTA ON 11/21/18 AT 3:24 PM
U.S.DONALD TRUMP
As 400 military police officers from the U.S. Army redeployed to San Diego, the Trump administration approved the use of troops for law enforcement tasks at the southern border, stating that they are permitted to employ lethal force, according to a White House memo obtained by Newsweek.
The "decision memorandum" was signed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday and ran through Derek S. Lyons, a Harvard-educated lawyer and White House staff secretary to John Kelly, the White House chief of staff and former U.S. Marine general. The documents were obtained from a Defense Department source.
Kelly signed the memo late Tuesday authorizing U.S. service members to perform “military protective activities,” allowing service members to use “a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention, and cursory search,” as determined by Defense Secretary James Mattis to protect agents with Customs and Border Protection (CPB).
The news of the memo was first reported by The Military Times on Wednesday morning but said the president did not sign off on the White House directive. The memo obtained by Newsweek shows Trump signed off on the order to Mattis. (You can read the full memo at the bottom of this article.)
The White House issued the memo on the same day Newsweek reported that U.S. Army North will shift roughly 400 military police officers from the port of entry in Brownsville, Texas, to the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry in San Diego over the next three days, according to a Defense Department source with knowledge of the southern border mission.
The military police officers will support Border Patrol agents as the initial wave of migrants reaches the California-Mexico border.
President Donald Trump walks off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House after returning from viewing the damage from the California wildfires, on November 18. Trump signed off on November 20 on the use of deadly force and law enforcement roles for U.S. forces stationed at the southern border. TASOS KATOPODIS-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
A spokesman for U.S. Army North told Newsweek Wednesday morning that they had not received any guidance about the White House memo as the Defense Department would be ironing out the operational particulars of the directive.
Mattis told reporters in a press gaggle at the Pentagon Wednesday that U.S. forces would not violate the Posse Comitatus Act, the 1878 federal statute that restricts the government’s ability to use the U.S. military as a police force. However, Mattis did indicate that the new authorities give U.S. forces an expanded law enforcement role to protect Border agents.
“I now have the authority to do more. Now we’ll see what she asks me to do," Mattis said Wednesday, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Earlier this month, Trump suggested he wanted to change the rules of engagement for U.S. troops and Border Patrol Agents when he spoke to reporters in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
“Anybody throwing stones, rocks, like they did to Mexico and the Mexican military, Mexican police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of Mexico, we will consider that a firearm,” Trump said. "We’re not going to put up with that. They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. I told them to consider it a rifle.”
Defense Department sources speaking to Newsweek moments after Trump concluded his comments said that service members at the southern border had not received intelligence about “bad actors" contrary to the president's remarks and there had not been a change to the use of force rules that would permit service members to treat rocks as firearms.
Under federal law, U.S. troops are allowed to use deadly force in self-defense and to defend other people and property.
However, the rules governing the use of deadly force state it can be used only when “all lesser means have failed or cannot reasonably be employed,” according to a 2012 Defense Security Cooperation Agency handbook published by Public Intelligence, an online collaborative research project that publishes government documents.
“They are pushing DoD’s authority right up to the line of what is permitted without violating the restrictions of Posse Comitatus. Active duty personnel can respond in self-defense of border officials, but the perfect world does not exist in factual reality in which this subjective concept can be neatly applied to the environment of border enforcement,” said Brad Moss, a Washington, D.C. based attorney specializing in national security.
The Military Times reported that Defense officials said the language in the White House directive was carefully crafted to stay within the legal limits established under Posse Comitatus.
However, the areas most vulnerable to Posse Comitatus violations, according to Moss, are U.S. service members participating in crowd control and the detention of migrants.
“That becomes the undefined gray line between emergency circumstances and routine border enforcement,” Moss said. "The fine print of when either such behavior is permissible needs to be fleshed out by the government in far more detail.”
“It is virtually guaranteed that the presumed good faith efforts of active duty personnel notwithstanding, there will be several repeated violations of the Posse Comitatus restrictions,” Moss added.
When asked how the U.S. military would prevent a repeat of a May 1997 incident when Marines on the border mistakenly shot and killed a teenager, Mattis said, “They’re not even carrying guns, for Christ’s sake,” according to Politico.
Mattis went on to indicate that if troops are used as an additional protective force for Border Patrol agents, military police officers will be “unarmed MPs with shields, batons, and no firearms," and that service members might detain migrants if they were "beating on a Border Patrolman and we’re in a position to stop them.”
Kelly’s signed directive said the additional authorities granted to the Defense Department were driven by “credible evidence and intelligence” indicating thousands of migrants arriving at the port of entry near Tijuana, Mexico, “may prompt incidents of violence and disorder” that could threaten border officials.
Since the announcement of troop deployments to the U.S. southern border, reports have questioned the credibility of intelligence touted by the Department of Homeland Security and the White House.
On Tuesday, Newsweek confirmed DHS was actively spying on migrants traveling to the U.S. southern border through paid undercover informants and infiltrated WhatsApp text messaging groups the caravan uses to coordinate.
The information gathered from the informants and text messages is combined with reports from DHS personnel working with the Mexican government, according to NBC News, who first reported the news.
NBC News additionally reported that over the weekend, DHS intelligence assessments indicated that a group of migrants wanted to run through the car lanes of a border crossing near San Diego, prompting CBP to shut down all northbound lanes from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. The border breakthrough by migrants never occurred.
Earlier this month, Newsweek reported that the Pentagon had not been briefed on whether there were hundreds of criminal suspects allegedly traveling with the migrant caravan.
Newsweek has been unable to determine how DHS preemptively identified at least 270 migrants with criminal backgrounds in the convoy and concluding they are ineligible to request asylum.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, roughly 5,900 active-duty troops and 2,100 National Guard forces are deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border waiting for what the president has called “an invasion.”
This article has been updated with comments from Defense Secretary James Mattis and past quotes from President Donald Trump on wanting U.S. troops to treat rocks as firearms.
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U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., speaks during a news conference, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Phoenix. Arizona and national democratic party leaders held a press conference to discuss President Donald Trump's upcoming rally in Phoenix on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Dem Rep Threatens Immigration Officers: 'You Will Not Be Safe'

BY RICK MORAN AUGUST 31, 2018

Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona sent out a charming tweet yesterday, warning immigration officials they will not be safe from prosecution once Democrats take control of the House.

Not surprisingly, the union representing ICE agents was none too pleased.
Fox News:

Chris Crane, the president of the National ICE Council, which represents thousands of ICE employees, accused Gallego of inciting violence against them as they “enforce the nation’s laws and keep our communities safe.”

“It should be frightening to every American that a sitting member of Congress would threaten the safety of any person and their family, and incite the public to take acts of violence against them, let alone the lives of those whose job it is to protect us and keep us safe,” Crane said in a statement.

Later came the inevitable -- and entirely insufficient -- "clarification" from Gallego:

“Government officials who violate the law or the constitution will not be immune to legal consequences,” Gallego said Thursday. “They will eventually be held accountable for their actions, even if the Trump administration is refusing to do so.”What laws have been violated? What part of the Constitution has been breached? ICE agents are enforcing the law. The fact that the previous administration refused to enforce the law is where the illegality and a violation of the Constitution occurred.
Gallego apparently based his warning on a bit of fake news from the Washington Post:

Gallego's warning was prompted by a story in The Washington Post on Wednesday that examined how the U.S. government has denied passports to Hispanics who have U.S. citizenship but are suspected of possibly having fraudulent birth certificates.In a statement to Fox News on Thursday, a State Department spokesman blasted the Washington Post report, saying passport denials in these cases have actually declined under this administration. Both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations reportedly denied passports to people delivered by midwives in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, though the practice was hindered by a court challenge years ago.
“The facts don’t back up the Washington Post’s reporting. This is an irresponsible attempt to create division and stoke fear among American citizens while attempting to inflame tensions over immigration,” said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman. “Under the Trump Administration, domestic passport denials for so called ‘midwife cases’ are at a 6-year low. The reporting is a political cheap shot.”
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Border patrol agent killed in Texas on Sunday; Trump jumps right in with 4-letter word
November 20, 2017 | BPR Wire |
Will Racke, DCNFA U.S. Border Patrol agent died Sunday from injuries sustained while patrolling in Texas’ Big Bend sector near the U.S.-Mexico border.
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Agent Rogelio Martinez and his partner were responding to “activity” while on patrol near Interstate 10 when both reported they had been injured and were in need of assistance, according to a statement from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Responding agents transported both wounded to a local hospital, where Martinez passed away from his injuries. His partner remains hospitalized in serious condition, CBP said.
Officials have not released further details about what caused Martinez’s injuries or what kind of activity the agents were responding to when they were hurt. The Border Patrol’s Special Operations Group and CBP’s aviation and marine assets are searching the area for potential suspects or witnesses.
Shortly after CBP confirmed Martinez’s death, President Donald Trump said the incident showed the need for a wall along the Southwest border.
“Border Patrol Officer killed at Southern Border, another badly hurt. We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall!” the president tweeted Sunday night.

Martinez, 36, of El Paso, Texas, had been a border agent since August 2013, according to the Associated Press.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke called Martinez’s death a “tragic event” and said the the administration is “fully supporting the ongoing investigation” of the incident.
“On behalf of the quarter of a million frontline officers and agents of DHS, my thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Agent Martinez and to the agent who is in serious condition,” she said in a statement.
The Big Bend sector is not known as one of the Border Patrol’s most active, accounting about 1 percent of the more than 61,000 apprehensions the agency made along the border from October 2016 to May.
Follow Will on Twitter
Send tips to [email protected].
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EXCLUSIVE: Officials Defy Trump’s Promises: 40 Miles of Border Ordered Unpatrolled
by BRANDON DARBY & ILDEFONSO ORTIZ
18 Apr 2017
U.S. Border Patrol agents are once again sounding the alarm about miles of border being left wide open and unsecured. Breitbart Texas exclusively obtained a document showing a Havre Sector Border Patrol manager knowingly issuing orders to leave 40 miles of Montana border open and unpatrolled. Obama holdovers in the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency are continuing with the same careless disregard in the Trump Administration that they did under former President Obama, according to Border Patrol agents.Breitbart Texas has the specific order that was given to the agents signed by the Obama-holdover manager. The order demands that agents on the northern border stay within one assigned zone and are not to leave that zone to patrol other zones that the agents have historically patrolled — even though there are no agents assigned to patrol the other zones. The Havre Sector has six Border Patrol stations and the order applies to one of these stations consisting of six zones. A total of 60 linear miles are covered by the one Border Patrol station in question, yet agents say that this only allows them to patrol 20 of the 60 miles of border.
When Breitbart Texas asked multiple Border Patrol agents about motives for the manager leaving such a vast swath of border unpatrolled, the agents felt that it was twofold; they blamed previous Obama-era policies and they also believed that widespread corruption exists within the Havre Sector’s upper-management.
One of the Border Patrol agents who was present when the manager gave the order spoke to Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity and said, “Criminal cartels exploit our weaknesses on a daily basis and they’re certainly going to exploit such a large area of open and unpatrolled border.” Another agent from the station told us on the same condition, “From a border security standpoint, this directive makes no sense, but there has to be a reason so I don’t think it’s a far stretch to conclude it’s due to corruption.” And yet another agent from the station speaking to us on the same condition said, “This order has to be coming from the Sector Chief and Deputy Chief Patrol Agents. They, along with the Station’s Patrol Agent in Charge and Deputy Patrol Agent in Charge, need to be immediately reassigned until a full and thorough investigation can be done into this order.”
Border Patrol Agent Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) was appalled when he heard of this incident from agents — thereby confirming to Breitbart Texas the authenticity of the other agents’ concerns. He told Breitbart Texas that there have been more complaints filed out of the Havre sector than any other sector within recent years. Unfortunately, he says the agency has justified all of the manager’s actions. Agent Judd said anytime you have managers investigating other managers, the result is always “no cause of wrong doing found.”
Agent Judd said there must be accountability from the top down. “I believe Secretary Kelly’s constant praise of former Secretary Jeh Johnson is an endorsement of his open border policies. There are so many good managers in the Border Patrol, but when Secretary Kelly condones his predecessors failures, he opens the door for the bad managers to act like this and bring shame on the entire organization.” Agent Judd continued, “President Trump is the president of the common citizen and the choice of the rank-and-file Border Patrol Agents; unfortunately there are those highly paid career managers who want to believe they’re above everyone else — up to and including the President of the United States.”
Agent Judd said the rank-and-file Border Patrol agents have spoken with the managers at the station in question until they were blue in the face — all to no avail. “Managers who sit behind a desk and never patrol the border should never dictate operations and policy, otherwise this is what you get.”
Multiple Border Patrol agents who were present for the manager’s order to leave 40 miles of border open spoke with Breitbart Texas. They said that all Border Patrol agents who were present argued with the manager and informed him they felt the order was “illegal and was dereliction of duty.” They even argued it was contrary to the President Trump’s express wishes as set forth in the Border Security Executive Order. The agents asked for the rationale behind the order, but the manager refused to provide one, according to them.
Luckily for all of the Border Patrol agents present, a representative of the NBPC who is also an agent walked into the muster room as the order was given, and he wrote the order down verbatim, according to the agents. Not only did he document the order, but the agents claim he read it back to the manager and asked, “did I twist your words?” and the manager responded that he did not. The agent and NBPC representative had all agents present sign the documentation, and he asked the manager to also sign the order, which the manager did.
Breitbart Texas showed the handwritten and signed order we obtained to Agent Judd, and he confirmed that agents were, in fact, given this order. He pointed to the manager’s signature on the order as authentic. We provide the leaked document below. The names have been redacted to avoid any chance of revealing the exact station in the Havre Sector.
Listen to Agent Judd discuss this article on Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM:
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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The Thinning of the Thin Green Line
June 26, 2014
by Michael Cutler

The term “The thin blue line” is associated with law enforcement, especially the police. The phrase is based on the usual color of the police uniform and the fact that the relatively small numbers of sworn police officers is all that stands between the citizenry of towns, cities and states and criminals.

The uniforms that the members of the United States Border Patrol wear is green. Sometimes the Border Patrol has been referred to as the “Green Machine.” The mission of the United States Border Patrol is to secure America’s borders between ports of entry against the illegal entry of aliens whose presence would be harmful or dangerous to America and Americans. The idea is to make certain that aliens seeking entry into the United States are subjected to the inspections process conducted by CBP (Customs and Border Protection) Inspectors.

The guiding principle behind the inspections process is to make certain that aliens who should be excluded from the United States are prevented from entering the United States. One of the sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is Title 8, United States Code, Section 1182, enumerates the categories of aliens who are to be excluded and includes aliens who suffer dangerous contagious diseases, severe mental illness and are violent, aliens who are convicted felons, human and/or narcotics traffickers, human rights violators, war criminals, spies, terrorists and aliens who would likely become public charges or work illegally therefore displacing American workers or driving down the wages and/or working conditions of American workers.

The law, incidentally, is utterly and totally blind as to race, religion and ethnicity.

While the advocates for open borders describe aliens who evade the inspections process as being “Undocumented,” in point of fact, these aliens are Un-Inspected. In fact, my colleagues and I at the former INS referred to the method of entry of aliens who evaded the vital inspections process as being EWI (Entry Without Inspection).

This is hardly inconsequential. To draw a comparison- would you, or any reasonable person be willing to board an airliner if you observed several passengers sneak past the TSA inspectors and get on the airliner you were about to board? I am very confident you would not.

Why then are we being forced, by our own government, to live among unknown millions of foreign nationals (aliens) whose true identities- including their country of citizenship, possible criminal histories and possible affiliation with criminal or terrorist organizations or medical or mental well-being is unknown and unknowable?

You should also consider that an alien who is “undocumented” has no official and reliable identity document to provide clear evidence about his (her) true identity. It may, in fact, be that this individual has such an identity document but has decided to conceal or destroy it, knowing that his name is on terror watch lists or is a wanted fugitive. The term “undocumented” is hardly as innocuous or inconsequential as the immigration anarchists would have us believe.

In addition to preventing the entry of aliens whose presence would be problematic for America and Americans, the Border Patrol is also charged with preventing the entry of contraband.

The valiant men and women of the United States Border Patrol constitutes that “Thin green line” that is all that stands between America and its citizens and international terrorists, transnational criminals and contraband and including narcotics and possibly, God forbid, a weapon of mass destruction.

Today with tens of thousands of illegal aliens charging our southwest border, Border Patrol agents have been taken off of their usual duties relating to securing our already extremely porous borders and assigned to providing concierge service to these illegal aliens, many of whom are reportedly unaccompanied minors.

I wrote about this outrageous situation in my previous commentary for Front Page Magazine that was published on June 11, 2014, “Obama’s Manufactured Crisis at the Border.”

The reassignment of these Border Patrol agents endangers national security and public safety as well as public health. It also makes it far more likely that aliens who evade the inspections process will succeed in covertly entering the United States. As more aliens succeed in evading detection and apprehension, more aspiring illegal aliens will become encouraged and emboldened to charge our borders.

The mission of the United States Border Patrol, as noted on the official website of CBP (Customs and Border Protection) the parent agency of the Border Patrol, is as follows:

MISSION

We are the guardians of our nation’s borders.
We are America’s frontline.
We safeguard the American homeland at and beyond our borders.
We protect the American public against terrorists and the instruments of terror.
We steadfastly enforce the laws of the United States while fostering our nation’s economic security through lawful international trade and travel.
We serve the American public with vigilance, integrity and professionalism.

Considering the critical significance of securing the borders of the United States, the question that has not been raised by our political leaders from either political party, however, is why on earth are Border Patrol agents being used (misused) this way?

When other countries around the world experience humanitarian crises, members of our armed forces are generally sent to those countries to lend assistance. Why then is the administration not similarly using members of the armed forces including the National Guard to deal with the humanitarian component of this crisis along our Southwest Border, thus freeing up our beleaguered Border Patrol agents?

There is an expression that says, “You can never be too safe!” Considering that our borders (and our immigration laws) is our first line of defense and last line of defense, the corollary of that statement is that our borders can never be made secure enough.

Indeed, our borders are far from secure. While the administration may try to “spin” arrest statistics of the Border Patrol to bolster claims that our borders are secure, the best metric has nothing to do with the numbers of illegal aliens claimed to have been arrested by the Border Patrol. The best metric to determine the true state of U.S. border security can be found in the price and availability of cocaine and heroin, two substances that are not produced in the United States but are smuggled into the United States from foreign countries.

Today our nation is awash in those illegal substances as evidenced by the undeniable fact that police departments across the United States are providing their members as well as other first responders with the antidote to heroin overdoses which are currently at historically high levels. Every gram of these drugs represents a failure of border security.

How much more contraband will be successfully smuggled into the United States as our Border Patrol agents are diverted from their essential mission of securing our border to change diapers and act as baby sitters and chauffeuring illegal aliens to bus terminals and airports, arguably acting in violation of the laws contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Under the provisions of one of the sections of law contained in INA, Title 8 USC § 1324 – Bringing in and harboring certain aliens, it is a felony to aid, abet, encourage or induce aliens to enter our country illegally or remain in our country illegally. It is also a felony to harbor, shield from detection or transport such illegal aliens.

So-called “Sanctuary Cities” would certainly appear to be in violation of this section of law, but that is an issue for another day and another commentary.

Out of stated concerns about public safety, politicians from a number of cities and states have enacted laws to tighten up on the issuance of carry permits for personally owned weapons and concealed carry permits as well as limiting the number of rounds of ammunition that magazines used in semi-automatic handguns can hold.

The theory offered in conjunction with these laws and regulations is to keep high-capacity magazines out of the hands of those who might engage in acts of violence as we have seen in the horrific images and reports of mass shootings. Of course, this presumes that the mentally unbalanced, criminals and terrorists will carefully count the number of bullets they place in their magazines and not seek to purchase or manufacture large capacity magazines. What is never discussed is that the great majority of crimes, especially violent crimes, have a direct nexus with use of illegal drugs and violent gangs which, coincidentally, receive much of their funding from drug trafficking and related crimes. Terror organizations also derive huge sums of money from the sale of illicit drugs.

Once again, these crimes and activities are the direct result of failures of border security.

On June 11, 2014 FrontPage Magazine posted my article, “Obama’s Manufactured Crisis at the Border.”

In that article I provided this paragraph from the conclusion of my prepared testimony for the March 20, 2013 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the topic of “Building an Immigration System Worthy of American Values.”

Law enforcement is at its best when it creates a climate of deterrence to convince those who might be contemplating violating the law that such an effort is likely to be discovered and that if discovered, adverse consequences will result for the law violators. Current policies and statements by the administration, in my view, encourages aspiring illegal aliens around the world to head for the United States. In effect the starter’s pistol has been fired and for these folks, the finish line to this race is the border of the United States.

Of course when I testified before that hearing more than one year ago, no one could have imagined just how bad things would get along the Southwest border, with reverberations being felt from coast to coast and border to border.

While local, state and the federal government generally all ramp up enforcement when laws are violated, creating a deterrence against those violations of law, where violations of our borders and our immigration laws are concerned, many of our “leaders” from both political parties trip over themselves to create more incentives for aliens to violate our borders and our immigration laws. They use uncharacteristic creativity to find ways to exacerbate the situation, thereby imperiling the safety and well-being of America and Americans.

This must stop before America suffers yet another catastrophe. The clock is ticking and time, most certainly, is not on our side.

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