US sends 3,000 more
troops to defend Saudi monarchy
The Pentagon confirmed Friday that
3,000 more US troops are being deployed to Saudi Arabia to defend the
blood-soaked monarchy led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and prepare for
war against Iran.
The deployment includes two fighter
squadrons, one Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW), two more Patriot missile
batteries, and one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD).
According to a Pentagon statement
Friday, the US Secretary of Defense phoned Crown Prince bin Salman (who also
holds the post of Saudi minister of defense) to inform him of the coming
reinforcements, which he said were meant “to assure and enhance the defense of
Saudi Arabia.”
The Pentagon also acknowledged that
the latest escalation brings the number of additional troops sent into the
Persian Gulf region since May to 14,000. They have been accompanied by an
armada of US warships and a B-52-led bomber task force. The Pentagon has also
announced that an aircraft carrier-led battle group will remain in the Persian
Gulf.
US soldiers deployed in the Middle
East (U.S. Army by 1st Lt. Jesse Glenn)
While initiated as a supposed
response to unspecified threats from Iran, the US buildup in the Persian Gulf
region has constituted from its outset a military provocation and preparation
for a war of aggression. This military buildup has accompanied Washington’s
so-called “maximum pressure” campaign of sweeping economic sanctions that are
tantamount to a state of war. The aim, as the Trump administration has stated
publicly, is to drive Iranian oil exports down to zero. By depriving Iran of
its principal source of export income, Washington hopes to starve the Iranian
people into submission and pave the way to regime change, bringing to power a
US puppet regime in Tehran.
The latest military buildup was
announced in the immediate aftermath of an attack on an Iranian tanker in the
Red Sea, about 60 miles from the Saudi port of Jeddah.
The National Iranian Tanker Co.
reported that its oil tanker, the Sabiti, was struck twice by explosives early
Friday morning, leaving two holes in the vessel and causing a brief oil spill
into the Red Sea.
While Iranian state news media blamed
the damage on missile attacks, a spokesman for the company told the Wall
Street Journal that the company was not sure of the cause.
Some security analysts have suggested
that the fairly minor damage to the vessel could have been caused by limpet
mines. Such mines were apparently used last June when two tankers—one Japanese
and one Norwegian-owned—were hit by explosions in the Sea of Oman. At the time,
Washington blamed the attacks on Iran, without providing any evidence. Tehran
denied the charge, saying that it sent teams to rescue crew member of the
damaged tankers.
The Iranian Students News Agency
(ISNA) quoted an unnamed Iranian government official as stating that the
Iranian tanker had been the victim of a “terrorist attack.”
“Examination of the details and
perpetrators of this dangerous action continues and will be announced after
reaching the result,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
The National Iranian Tanker Co.
issued a statement saying that there was no evidence that Saudi Arabia was
behind the attack.
The incident raised the specter of an
escalating tanker war that could disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait
of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows. News of
the attack sent crude oil prices spiking by 2 percent.
In addition to the June attacks on
the tankers in the Gulf of Oman, in July British commandos, acting on a request
from Washington, stormed an Iranian super tanker, the Grace 1, in waters off
the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. In apparent retaliation, Iranian
Revolutionary Guards seized the British-flagged Stena Impero for what Tehran
charged were violations of international maritime regulations as it passed
through the Strait of Hormuz. Both tankers were subsequently released.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo issued a statement charging that the Iranian super tanker,
renamed the Adrian Darya 1, had offloaded its oil in Syria in violation of
European Union sanctions and a pledge made by Tehran to the UK at the time of
the vessel’s release. He demanded provocatively that “EU members should condemn
this action, uphold the rule of law, and hold Iran accountable.”
The Trump administration, which in
May of last year unilaterally and illegally abrogated the 2015 nuclear
agreement between Tehran and the major powers has been pressuring the European
signatories to the deal—Germany, France and the UK—to follow suit.
While the respective governments of
the three countries have insisted that they still support the nuclear
agreement, they have repeatedly bowed to Washington’s war drive, while failing
to take any significant actions to counter the effects of the US “maximum pressure”
campaign and deliver to Tehran the sanctions relief and economic normalization
that it was promised in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program.
Most recently, the three European
governments backed Washington in blaming Iran for a September 14 attack on
Saudi oil facilities that temporarily shut down half of the kingdom’s oil
production and sent crude prices spiraling by 20 percent—again without
providing a shred of proof.
Washington is seeking to topple the
Iranian regime or bully it into accepting complete subordination to US
imperialist predatory interests in the energy-rich and geostrategically vital
Middle East.
The US sanctions regime and military
buildup have placed the entire region on a hair trigger for the outbreak of a
catastrophic war that could engulf not only the Middle East, but the entire
planet.
All of the regimes involved in the
escalating conflict are gripped by crises that make the drive to war all the
more explosive.
The impact of the sanctions on Iran’s
economy has been devastating. It is estimated that oil exports last month fell
to just 400,000 barrels per day (b/d), compared to 1.95 million b/d in
September 2018. Left with little means of combating spiraling inflation and
growing unemployment, Iran’s bourgeois-clerical regime is caught between
intense pressure from imperialism on the one hand, and the growth of social
opposition among Iranian workers and poor on the other.
The Saudi monarchy is confronting the
debacle of its four-year-old and near genocidal war against the people of
Yemen, made possible by the weapons and logistical aid provided by Washington,
even as Prince bin Salman remains a global pariah for his ordering of the
grisly assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year in
Istanbul.
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu,
incapable of forming a new government after two elections and confronting
criminal indictments, has grown increasingly concerned over the apparent lack
of appetite by the Persian Gulf Sunni monarchies for military confrontation
with Iran and Washington’s failure to carry out military strikes after the
downing of its drone in June and the attacks on the Saudi oil facilities last
month. Clearly, Tel Aviv, which has cast Iran as its strategic enemy, would
have a motive for attacking Iranian tankers in the hopes of provoking a
response that could lead to US military action.
And then there is Trump. He has
proclaimed his determination to halt the “endless wars” in the Middle East and
provoked a political firestorm by pulling back a relative handful of US troops
in Syria, allowing Turkey to launch a long-planned attack on the Pentagon’s
erstwhile proxy force, the Kurdish-dominated YPG militia.
Faced with an escalating political
crisis and growing social tensions within the US, along with an impeachment
investigation by the Democrats in Congress that is focused entirely on the
national security concerns of the CIA and the Pentagon, he has ample motive for
launching a new war.
While the Democrats’ exclusive focus
on Trump’s failure to pursue a sufficiently bellicose policy against Russia and
prosecute the war for regime change in Syria has allowed the US president to
absurdly posture as an opponent of war, the reality is that he has overseen a
staggering increase in military spending designed to prepare for “great power”
confrontations, particularly with China.
Meanwhile, whatever his political
pretense, Trump has done nothing to end any of the wars in the Middle East.
While he has ordered US troops to pull back, allowing the Turkish invasion,
none of them have been withdrawn from Syria.
With the latest buildup of US forces
in Saudi Arabia, Washington is preparing, behind the backs of the working
class, to launch a catastrophic military conflict with Iran. The most urgent
task posed by these developments is the building of a global antiwar movement
led by the working class. This movement must be armed with a socialist and
internationalist program to unify working people in the United States, Europe
and the Middle East in a common struggle against imperialist war and its
source, the capitalist system.
TRUMP AND THE
MURDERING 9-11 MUSLIM SAUDIS…
Why is the Swamp Keeper
and his family of parasites up their ar$es??
WHAT WILL TRUMP AND HIS
PARASITIC FAMILY DO FOR MONEY???
JUST ASK THE SAUDIS!
JOHN DEAN: Not so far. This has been right by the letter of the special counsel’s
charter. He’s released the document. What I’m looking for is relief and
understanding that there’s no witting or unwitting likelihood that the
President is an agent of Russia. That’s when I’ll feel comfortable, and no
evidence even hints at that. We don’t have that yet. We’re still in the process
of unfolding the report to look at it. And its, as I say, if [Attornery General
William Barr] honors his word, we’ll know more soon.
“Our entire crony capitalist system,
Democrat and Republican alike,
has become a
kleptocracy approaching par with third-world
hell-holes.
This is the way a great country is raided
by its elite.” ---- Karen
McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER
PRESIDENT of the
UNITED STATES DONALD TRUMP: Pathological liar, swindler, con man, huckster,
golfing cheat, charity foundation fraudster, tax evader, adulterer, porn whore
chaser and servant of the Saudis dictators
THE TRUMP FAMILY FOUNDATION SLUSH FUND…. Will they see jail?
VISUALIZE REVOLUTION!.... We know where they live!
“Underwood is a Democrat and is seeking millions of dollars in
penalties. She wants Trump and his eldest children barred from running other
charities.”
Opinion: Trump And Pompeo Have Enabled A Saudi Cover-Up Of
The Khashoggi Killing
October
2, 201911:45 AM ET
AARON DAVID MILLER
RICHARD SOKOLSKY
In the
weeks following the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump
spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very important ally than he did
reacting to the killing.
Hasan
Jamali/AP
Aaron
David Miller (@aarondmiller2) is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace and a former State Department Middle East analyst, adviser
and negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations. He is the author
most recently of the End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want)
Another Great President.
Richard
Sokolsky, a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, worked in the State Department for six different
administrations and was a member of the secretary of state's Office of Policy
Planning from 2005 to 2015.
It has been a year since Saudi journalist
and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi entered
Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul where he was slain and dismembered. There
is still no objective or comprehensive Saudi or American accounting of what
occurred, let alone any real accountability.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman's admission in a recent CBS interview that he takes "full
responsibility," while denying foreknowledge of the killing or that he
ordered it, sweeps under the rug the lengths to which the Saudis have gone to
obscure the truth about their involvement in the killing and cover-up.
The Saudi campaign of obfuscation, denial and
cover-up would never have gotten off the ground had it not been for the Trump
administration's support over the past year. The president and Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo not only refused to distance themselves from the crown
prince, known by his initials MBS, but also actively worked to relegitimize
him. The Saudis killed Khashoggi but Trump acquiesced in the cover-up and
worked hard to protect the U.S.-Saudi relationship and soften the crown
prince's pariah status. In short, without Trump, the attempted makeover — such
as it is — would not have been possible.
The Saudis killed Khashoggi but Trump
acquiesced in the cover-up and worked hard to protect the U.S.-Saudi
relationship and soften the crown prince's pariah status.
Weak administration response
The administration's weak and feckless
response to Khashoggi's killing was foreshadowed a year before it occurred. In
May 2017, in an unusual break with precedent, Trump visited Saudi Arabia on his
inaugural presidential trip; gave his son-in-law the authority to manage the
MBS file, which he did with the utmost secrecy; and made it unmistakably clear
that Saudi money, oil, arm purchases and support for the administration's
anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli policies would elevate the U.S.-Saudi
"special relationship" to a new level.
Predictably, therefore, the
administration's reaction to Khashoggi's killing was shaped by a desire to
manage the damage and preserve the relationship. In the weeks following
Khashoggi's death, Trump spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very
important ally, especially as a purchaser of U.S. weapons and goods, than he did reacting to the killing. Trump
vowed to get to the bottom of the Khashoggi killing but focused more on
defending the crown prince, saying this was another example of
being "guilty before being proven innocent."
Those pledges to investigate and impose
accountability would continue to remain hollow. Over the past year, Trump and
Pompeo have neither criticized nor repudiated Saudi actions that have harmed
American interests in the Middle East. Two months after Khashoggi's death, the
administration, in what Pompeo described as an "initial step," imposed sanctions on
17 Saudi individuals implicated in the killing. But no others have been
forthcoming, and the visa restrictions that were imposed are meaningless
because none of the sanctioned Saudis would be
foolish enough to seek entry into the United States.
What's more, the administration
virtually ignored a congressional
resolution imposing sanctions on the Saudis for human rights
abuses and vetoed another bipartisan resolution that would have ended U.S. military
assistance to Saudi Arabia's inhumane military campaign in Yemen.
The Saudis opened a trial in January of
11 men implicated in the killing, but the proceedings have been slow and
secretive, leading the United Nations' top human rights expert to declare that
"the trial underway in Saudi Arabia will not deliver credible
accountability." Despite accusations that the crown prince's key adviser
Saud al-Qahtani was involved in the killing, he's still advising MBS, has not stood trial and
will likely escape punishment. A year later, there are still no reports of
convictions or serious punishment.
Legitimizing Mohammed bin
Salman
The Trump administration has not only
given the crown prince a pass on the Khashoggi killing, but it has also worked
assiduously to remove his pariah status and rehabilitate his global image.
Barely two months after the 2018 slaying, Trump was exchanging pleasantries with the crown prince at the
Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires and holding out prospects of
spending more time with him. Then this past June, at the G-20 in Osaka, Japan,
Trump sang his praises while dodging questions about the killing. "It's an
honor to be with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, a friend of mine, a man who
has really done things in the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi
Arabia," Trump said.
And you can bet that when Saudi Arabia
hosts the G-20, scheduled to be held in its capital of Riyadh in November 2020,
the Trump administration will be smiling as its rehab project takes another
step in its desired direction.
What the U.S. should have done
Trump has failed to impose any serious
costs or constraints on Saudi Arabia for the killing of a U.S. newspaper columnist
who resided in Virginia or for the kingdom's aggressive policies, from Yemen to
Qatar. In the wake of the Khashoggi killing, the administration should have
made it unmistakably clear, both publicly and privately, that it expected a
comprehensive and credible accounting and investigation. It should have suspended high-level contacts
and arms sales with the kingdom for a period of time. And to make the point,
the administration should have supported at least one congressional resolution
taking the Saudis to task, in addition to triggering the Magnitsky Act, which
would have required a U.S. investigation; a report to Congress; and sanctions
if warranted.
Back to business as usual
The dark stain of the crown prince's
apparent involvement in Khashoggi's death will not fade easily. But for Trump
and Pompeo, it pales before the great expectations they still maintain for the
kingdom to confront and contain their common enemy, Iran, as well as support
the White House's plan for Middle East peace, defeat jihadists in the region
and keep the oil spigot open.
Most of these goals are illusory. Saudi
Arabia is a weak, fearful and unreliable ally. The kingdom has introduced
significant social and cultural reforms but has imposed new levels of
repression and authoritarianism. Its reckless policies toward Yemen and Qatar
have expanded, not contracted, opportunities for Iran, while the Saudi military
has demonstrated that, even after spending billions to buy America's most
sophisticated weapons, it still can't defend itself without American help.
Meanwhile, recent attacks on critical
Saudi oil facilities that the U.S. blames on Iran have helped rally more
American and international support for the kingdom.
When it comes to the U.S.-Saudi
relationship and the kingdom's callous reaction to Khashoggi's killing, the
president and his secretary of state have been derelict in their duty: They
have not only failed to advance American strategic interests but also
undermined America's values in the process.
The U.S. Military is Sending Thousands of Troops and Even B-1
Bombers into Saudi Arabia (To Counter Iran)
The U.S. withdrawal was a prerequisite for a Turkish attack
against the SDF which subsequently took place. The remaining hundreds of U.S.
forces elsewhere in northeastern Syria were endangered in the crossfire and had
to be withdrawn a few days later.
The U.S. withdrawal was post-hoc justified on the basis that they
were no longer needed in the Middle East and it was time to “bring the troops
home.”
But in the weeks since, the United States has deployed over
3,000 more troops to the Middle East—including hundreds of National Guardsmen
in Syria, and thousands of soldiers and airmen deployed to Saudi Arabia.
While a companion article looks at the deployment of a
mechanized battalion to defend an oil field in southeastern Syria, this second
part looks at the rapid buildup of U.S. forces in the wealthy Kingdom in response
to intensifying clashes with Iran following the United State’s withdrawal from
a nuclear deal with Tehran.
Return to the Kingdom
The deployments to Saudi Arabia marks a dramatic turn around
from sixteen years earlier in 2003, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
pulled out thousands of U.S. troops. Their presence had long been cited as a
factor radicalizing Muslims across the planet who objected to the presence of
foreign troops so close to the holy city of Mecca.
Apparently, these concerns have since faded, despite political
headwinds from a U.S. Congress angered by Saudi Arabia’s grisly murder of
journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul.
The buildup has been prompted by Iranian harassment of shipping
in the Persian Gulf, the shootdown of U.S.
surveillance drone over the Persian Gulf in June, and a drone and missile
attack on Saudi oil refineries in September that was almost
certainly of Iranian origin but which Yemeni rebels took credit for.
First, following the loss of drones in June, that the Defense
Department announced it was doubling troop deployment to the Kingdom from 500
to 1,000 personnel.
“The greatest criminal threat to the daily lives of American citizens are the Mexican drug cartels.”
America. Militant Islamists have the goal of destroying
the United States. Mexican drug cartels are now
accomplishing that mission – from within, every day, in
virtually every community across this country.”
TRUMP’S CATCH AND RELEASE… all the “cheap” labor climbing our borders, jobs and welfare lines!
THE ENTIRE REASON TRUMP NOMINATED KIRSTJEN NIELSEN WAS BECAUSE OF HER LONG HISTORY OF ADVOCATING OPEN BORDERS TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED!
In newly confirmed federal data from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, Breitbart News has learned the massive scale and scope of DHS’s ramped up Catch and Release policy.
For months, DHS officials have said privately that the Catch and Release program has been taken to new heights, while ICE union officials declared this week that the program was in “overdrive” under the direction of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. JOHN BINDER
Trump Brushes Off Report of Smugglers Cutting Through Border Wall
Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Saturday brushed off a report of smugglers cutting through his signature wall on the Mexican border, saying it can be “easily fixed.”
“We have a very powerful wall. But no matter how powerful, you can cut through anything, in all fairness,” Trump told reporters in Washington prior to his departure for New York.
“Cutting is one thing, but it’s easily fixed. One of the reasons we did it the way we did it, it’s very easily fixed. You put the chunk back in,” the US president said.
The Washington Post reported Saturday, citing unnamed US agents and officials, that smuggling gangs have used readily available commercial power tools to cut through the wall, creating gaps that people and drugs can be moved through.
A cordless reciprocating saw that sells for as little as $100 can slice through the wall in minutes, the Post reported.
Trump has made building a wall to stem the flow of migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico a key plank of his presidency, but Congress has refused to pay for its construction.
Feds Bust Mexican Cartel’s Methamphetamine Running Cell in Kansas
2:51
A yearlong investigation by U.S. authorities in Kansas led to the arrest of a methamphetamine distribution cell tied to Mexico’s Los Viagras faction of the Familia Michoacana Cartel. The cartel cell is considered to be part of the violent cartel’s drug distribution operation which also has cells in Washington State and Georgia.
Court documents filed at the federal court in Wichita Kansas revealed that for more than a year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Kansas City Police targeted 57-year-old Luis Martinez Carrango and 13 of his associates tied to the widespread distribution of methamphetamine throughout the Midwest. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, during a recent raid targeting the cartel cell, agents seized 220 pounds of methamphetamine in the Kansas City Metro Area.
While not revealed in court documents, Breitbart Texas consulted with U.S. and Mexican law enforcement sources to confirm that Luis Martinez’s cell is part of Los Viagras from Michoacán. Law enforcement sources identified him as the criminal organization’s main point of distribution in the area and a close associate of Cesar “El Boto or Marrueco” Sepulveda Arellano, one of the top leaders of Los Viagras in Michoacán.
As Breitbart Texas reported, the man known as El Boto is the same cartel boss who in August 2018 placed a $100,000 bounty on one of the writers of Breitbart Texas’s Cartel Chronicles Project, only to be arrested by Mexican Marines 40 hours later after authorities received information on his precise location at a house in the state of Morelos. Despite his arrest, El Boto’s cell within Los Viagras continues to operate in Michoacán producing and moving large quantities of methamphetamine into the U.S. At the same time, the entire cartel continues a fierce turf war with Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion over control of Michoacán’s shipping ports and drug production areas.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Jose Luis Lara from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.
Tucson Sector Apprehends Record 16K Migrant Families in 2019
3:13
Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a record 16,199 migrant family members during Fiscal Year 2019. This represented an increase of 227 percent over the previous year’s total.
During Fiscal Year 2019, which ended on September 30, Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents set a new record in the apprehension of migrant families. The agents apprehended 16,199 Family Unit Aliens, according to information obtained from Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials. This represents an increase of 227 percent over the previous year’s total of 4,954 FMUAs.
Additionally, agents apprehended 5,105 unaccompanied children. Officials reported the children ranged in age from infant to 17-years-old. The apprehension of Unaccompanied Alien Children jumped two percent from the previous year’s total of 5,023.
Single adult men seeking to avoid apprehension continued to be the largest migrant demographic faced by Tucson Sector agents. The Tucson Sector reported the arrest of 42,186 single adult men. This accounts for 66 percent of all migrant apprehensions in the sector, officials reported.
“Human smugglers continue to put migrants’ lives in danger by abandoning them in the desert,” Tucson Sector officials said in a written statement. “Tucson Sector saved the lives of 924 people from vast desert and wilderness areas, many of whom called 911.”
This accounts for nearly 20 percent of all migrant rescues conducted along the southwest border with Mexico.
In addition to the migrants, Tucson Sector agents also seized large quantities of drugs at inland immigration checkpoints and other locations. The agents seized 2,700 pounds of methamphetamine, 150 pounds of heroin, 13 pounds of fentanyl, and 59,000 pounds of marijuana. Officials report the marijuana seizures were down by 50 percent — a trend noted in all other southwest border sectors.
“Supplemental funding, cooperation with the Government of Mexico, and new agreements made with Central American countries are credited with a decrease in illegal entries along the Southwest border since May 2019,” sector officials reported. “Officials are counting on new border infrastructure to further prevent human smuggling and drug trafficking.”
Officials cited the construction of new border wall segments near Lukeville, Arizona. This is the region where the largest numbers of migrant family units crossed illegally from Mexico. Other segments are being constructed near Douglas, Arizona, officials stated.
“We continue our dedication to border security in 2020,” Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Roy Villareal said in a written statement. “With agents committed to protecting the United States and partnerships with strong and dedicated federal, state, county, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in Arizona, we’re working on a common goal: to keep our communities safe.”
Breitbart Texas reports extensively on the activities of Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents. Read more here.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for the Breitbart Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face book.
Smugglers Use Saws to Cut Through Areas of New Border Wall
When someone breaks out of prison, it doesn't mean the prison was a waste of money, especially if the prison is still under construction. But that's how some people are responding to news that smugglers are using electric saws to cut through new areas of Trump's border wall. If agents can't nab these criminals on smuggling charges, maybe now they can get them for destruction of government property.
SAN DIEGO — Smuggling gangs in Mexico have repeatedly sawed through new sections of President Trump’s border wall in recent months by using commercially available power tools, opening gaps large enough for people and drug loads to pass through, according to U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the damage.
After cutting through the base of a single bollard, smugglers can push the steel out of the way, allowing an adult to fit through the gap. Because the bollards are so tall — and are attached only to a panel at the very top — their length makes them easier to push aside once they have been cut and are left dangling, according to engineers consulted by The Washington Post.
The breaches have occurred in areas that are still under construction, where electronic sensors capable of detecting vibrations are yet to be installed, according to officials who spoke to The Post. Engineers estimate that it would take between 15 to 20 minutes for a team of smugglers to cut through a bollard, maybe less if the team was larger and had more saws. And multiple blades would likely be needed in order to make a single cut. Instead of a wide-open border, smugglers now have to operate noisy equipment and stand in place for 20 minutes, giving border patrol agents an opportunity to find them.
No More Sanctuary Cities
Smugglers Use Saws to Cut Through Areas of New Border Wall
|
Posted: Nov 02, 2019 5:58 PM
Share (169) Tweet
Source: AP Photo/Evan Vucci
(Via The Washington Post)
The breaches have been made using a popular cordless household tool known as a reciprocating saw that retails at hardware stores for as little as $100. When fitted with specialized blades, the saws can slice through one of the barrier’s steel-and-concrete bollards in a matter of minutes, according to the agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the barrier-defeating techniques.
It's also reported that smuggling crews have used makeshift ladders to scale the wall, but The Post notes the increased risk of injury and death by using makeshift ladders on a wall equivalent in height to a three-story building.
Whereas previously smugglers could cross wide open areas of the border, the wall promises to deter smugglers by increasing their risk of apprehension, injury, and death. It is by far one of the best investments our government has ever made, though admittedly that's a pretty low bar.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com.
“The most dangerous and shameful attacks on the rule of law come from and in the form of sanctuary cities,” President Trump declared on Monday to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago. Applause then erupted when he said that criminal aliens should be turned over to federal immigration authorities and sent home.
Sanctuary cities interfere with that process by ordering local law enforcement not to comply with federal laws against illegal immigration. Illegal aliens are protected in sanctuary cities against being asked about their lack of citizenship, and, if arrested for a crime, they are not handed to federal officials for deportation.
On the ballot next week in Tucson is Proposition 205, which would make this large metropolis near the Mexican border the first sanctuary city in Arizona. It would bar local police from checking the immigration status of people they stop or arrest.
California has many sanctuary cities, but also has a wall along its border between San Diego and Mexico. Arizona, which does not have a wall and is victim to a substantial percentage of the illegal immigration flowing into our country, does not yet have any sanctuary cities.
Even some progressives are opposing the ACLU-endorsed Prop. 205 to make Tucson a sanctuary city. The costs would be staggering, and already state lawmakers are planning to assess those expenses against the city if it approves this bad idea.
Tucson Councilwoman Regina Romero, a Democrat who is expected to be elected mayor next week, is against making it a sanctuary city by Prop. 205. She points out how it would interfere with Tucson police in working with federal officials on drug crimes, human trafficking, and missing children cases.
Arizona state lawmakers are threatening to withhold $130 million annually from Tucson if its voters approve this bill to harbor illegal aliens, who cost far more than that in crimes, social services, and other entitlements. It would make sense for Tucson to foot that bill rather than burdening the rest of the state with those increased costs from illegal immigration.
Prop. 205 conflicts with a key part of an Arizona law that the Supreme Court left in place after a legal challenge. Its Senate Bill 1070 continues to require local police to make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a suspect when there is reasonable suspicion about it.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s splendid Solicitor General has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn California Senate Bill 54, which requires officials there to obstruct deportations. The Ninth Circuit upheld the California pro-sanctuary city law despite admitting that it “makes the jobs of federal immigration authorities more difficult,” and even discriminates against federal officials performing their duties.
The often-reversed Ninth Circuit upheld SB 54 on the theory that California “retains the right” to obstruct federal law and hinder federal law enforcement. The Ninth Circuit invoked the Tenth Amendment, which can be helpful in other contexts, as having an “anticommandeering” rule against federal interference with state laws.
But this peculiar interpretation of the Tenth Amendment has already wreaked havoc beyond the issue of illegal immigration. Last year the Supreme Court misused this "anticommandeering" theory to open the door to sports gambling in all 50 states, despite the immense harm it causes.
It is a distortion of the salutary principle of states’ power to use the Tenth Amendment to uphold state laws which flout federal law enforcement against illegal immigration. These state laws, and in particular California SB 54, impose expenses on other states by attracting more illegal border crossings.
“Aliens are present and may remain in the United States only as provided for under the auspices of federal immigration law,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco explains to the Supreme Court in his petition for cert. “It therefore is the United States, not California, that ‘retains the right’ to set the conditions under which aliens in this country may be detained, released, and removed.”
Only Congress and the President can define who is here lawfully. The federal government, without interference by states, must be able to remove those who are here illegally.
Democrats in California, however, see many future voters for their party among the swarms of illegal immigrants flowing over our southern border. That state has lurched leftward as it attracts more illegal aliens with its sanctuary cities.
But as Trump’s Solicitor General elaborates, “When officers are unable to arrest aliens – often criminal aliens – who are in removal proceedings or have been ordered removed from the United States, those aliens ... are disproportionately likely to commit crimes.”
The result, the Trump Administration’s top attorney observes, is that this “undermines public safety, immigration enforcement, and the rule of law.” Both voters and the Supreme Court should reject sanctuary city laws.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.
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