Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2021) - The Biden administration recently granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to all Haitian illegal and legal aliens in the United States. TPS prevents the deportation of illegal aliens, but more importantly, it rewards them with work permits, drivers’ licenses, Social Security numbers, and the ability to travel abroad and return. Under the law, countries should only be designated for TPS due to (1) ongoing armed conflict; (2) an environmental disaster; or (3) extraordinary and temporary conditions, and it only applies if these conditions prevent the safe return of nationals.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas: What’s Going on at the Border ‘Is Not an Invasion’ Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, testifies before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on the department's actions to address unaccompanied immigrant children, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 13, 2021. (Photo by GRAEME JENNINGS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that what is happening at the border “is not an invasion” and that the Biden administration is improving the administrative process in a way not done before by prior administrations.
I just got back from the border late last night. I was down there with 12 of my colleagues, and what we’re seeing and what we’re hearing on the border isn’t what we’re hearing from the administration or the mainstream media. There’s absolutely an invasion taking place on our southern border. Single adult men by the hundreds every night trying to break into our border. Unaccompanied children, family units are just walking up and turning themselves in.
Congressman, a few things. First of all, I appreciate your recognition of the bravery of the men and women of the United States Border Patrol. Secondly, I appreciate your articulation of the cruelty of the human smuggling networks and the cartels. That is precisely why we have enhanced our efforts to tackle the activities of the smugglers, the traffickers, the cartels. We have operated for example. We’ve launched Operation Sentinel in the last four weeks to build upon the work that preceded this administration.
Human Smugglers Lead Border Patrol in High-Speed Chase onto Texas Ranch Laredo Sector Border Patrol 2:19
Border Patrol agents from the Cotulla, Texas, station were led on a high-speed pursuit on Tuesday which ended when the vehicle struck a ranch fence and rolled over. The pursuit began when agents observed a suspicious vehicle on State Highway 85 near Big Wells. Two illegal migrants were apprehended and transported to an area hospital for minor injuries.
Border Patrol agents were assisted in the pursuit by Texas Highway Patrol officers working in the area as part of Operation Lone Star . An unknown number of other suspected illegal migrants managed to escape after the accident and avoided arrest.
State Highway 85 has long been known to local law enforcement and Border Patrol as a common human trafficking route with easy access to Interstate 35.
In a recent visit to La Salle County Texas, local Deputy Constable Manuel Sauceda spoke with Breitbart Texas concerning the spike in high-speed pursuits. This alarming trend differs from smuggling tactics in previous years, Sauceda says.
“In years past, the smugglers would look for the first opportunity to exit the highway and break through a ranch fence to get away–now they are fleeing and creating a dangerous situation for all of us.”
The accident caused extensive damage to a local rancher’s game fence. Sauceda, who often speaks to area ranchers, says the labor and materials required to repair fences damaged during these pursuits has local ranchers frustrated.
“The damage to game-proof fences typically involves about 6 hours of labor by 3 workers and costs the rancher $3,500.00 to restore the fence. That’s the only way to avoid the loss of livestock or exotic game.”
Most of the vehicles involved in the pursuits in this area are stolen, according to Sauceda. “That also results in a financial cost to insurance companies and the victims of the theft.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
The official report, 9/11 and Terrorist Travel - Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States provided this warning on page 98 under the title Immigration Benefits:
Terrorists in the 1990s, as well as the September 11 hijackers, needed to find a way to stay in or embed themselves in the United States if their operational plans were to come to fruition. As already discussed, this could be accomplished legally by marrying an American citizen, achieving temporary worker status, or applying for asylum after entering. In many cases, the act of filing for an immigration benefit sufficed to permit the alien to remain in the country until the petition was adjudicated. Terrorists were free to conduct surveillance, coordinate operations, obtain and receive funding, go to school and learn English, make contacts in the United States, acquire necessary materials, and execute an attack.
82 Migrants Packed in Stash House near Border in Texas Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector 2:27
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents recovered a group of 82 migrants packed into a single stash house on Monday. They recovered an additional 16 in a second house near the scene.
McAllen Station Border Patrol agents teamed up with state and local law enforcement agencies on Monday to disrupt a human smuggling operation in Edinburg, Texas, according to information provided by Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials. The raid led to the apprehension of migrants from four countries.
McAllen Station Border Patrol agents find filthy conditions in an Edinburg, Texas, human smuggling stash house. (Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector)
Border Patrol agents, Edinburg police officers, Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office deputies, and troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety received information about a house in Edinburg being utilized for storing migrants. Authorities arrived at the home and observed 21 people fleeing out the front door.
Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector
The law enforcement team stopped others from exiting and rounded up a total of 82 migrants identified as being illegally present in the United States, officials stated. The migrants included three unaccompanied migrant children.
Border Patrol agents conducted immigration interviews and identified the migrants as foreign nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. The agents told the 82 migrants to a processing center. Officials did not find the human smuggler.
Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector
Later that evening McAllen Station agents received a request for assistance from McAllen Police Department officers after the officers encountered a suspected human smuggling stash house in their city. Agents arrived and found 16 migrants including one unaccompanied migrant child.
Officials reported the migrants as foreign nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
“Even with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, human smugglers continue to try these brazen attempts with zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation,” Border Patrol officials said in a written statement.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team . He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face .
Even Newsweek Can’t Ignore Immigration Crisis On Southern Border A first step, hopefully, in reporting the truth?
Wed May 26, 2021
On May 13, 2021 Newsweek published an interesting article about an element of the immigration crisis, Asylum Seekers Dropped Off by Border Patrol Strain Resources of Arizona Border Towns
Apparently even a leftist publication like Newsweek can no longer ignore the crisis on the southern border that was exponentially exacerbated by executive orders and policies of the Biden administration that have reversed many of the most successful policies and actions of the Trump administration that include the construction of the hotly contested border wall, the “Remain in Mexico” policy for aliens applying for political asylum and the curtailment of most immigration law enforcement activities carried out within the interior of the United States, essentially ordering beleaguered agents of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to stand down.
The Newsweek article, however, focused exclusively on the impact this human tsunami is having on small border town in the United States that lie along the U.S./Mexican border that are being overwhelmed by crush of aliens and on how this impacts the aliens.
However, what must also be recognized is how this immigration crisis impacts the residents of these cities and their residents who have become the unwitting victims of the Biden immigration crisis. (I believe in giving credit where credit is due!)
Of course the impact of illegal immigration may be most obvious in the numerous towns and cities that lie along the dangerous and highly problematic U.S./Mexican border but there are two additional issues that are largely being ignored by the complaint mainstream media so that most Americans still do not understand the profound impact that illegal immigration has on towns and cities across our vast nation.
First of all, most illegal aliens do not remain in those so-called “border towns” and “border cities” but quickly head to towns and cities across the entire United States.
Back in the late 1970’s When I was assigned to the Anti-Smuggling Unit at the New York District Office of the former INS my colleagues and I conducted surveillance of airline flights from the four states that lie along the southern U.S. border, particularly the “Red eye flights” so named because they flew during the night, carrying bleary-eyed passengers.
We frequently encountered illegal aliens who had boarded those airliners shortly after running the southern border. Some of them were still wearing their filthy, mud-encrusted boots and clothing. Not all of these illegal aliens were from Mexico or even from Central America. Some came from countries from around the world.
Second - we are a nation of not four but fifty “border states.” Any state that lies along the northern as well as the southern borders are “border states” as are those states that have access to America’s 95,000 miles of coastline. Finally, any state that has an international airport is also a “border state.”
For decades the open borders crowd maliciously and falsely castigated advocates for border security and effective but fair immigration law enforcement by referring to them as being “Anti-Immigrant,” “xenophobes,” “racists” and “haters.”
Our immigration laws make absolutely no distinction about race, religion or ethnicity or that the purpose of our immigration laws is to prevent the entry and continued presence of aliens who pose a threat to public health, national security, public safety and the jobs and wages of Americans.
A review of 8 U.S. Code § 1182
There is nothing “Anti-Immigrant” about seeking to prevent criminals, terrorists or others who pose a threat from entering the United States just as it is not “Anti-Social" to be careful about who we allow into our homes.
While immigration has traditionally been portrayed as a single issue, in reality immigration is a singular issue that profoundly impacts nearly every challenge and threat facing America and Americans in this particularly difficult and, indeed, perilous era.
What is rarely, if ever reported, is how, ultimately, the flood of aliens into the United States impacts towns and cities across the entire United States undermining national security, public safety, public health and the jobs and wages of Americans while also having a negative impact on healthcare, education and other critical issues, not just for the hapless residents of the border towns discussed in the Newsweek article, but in towns and cities across the United States.
For example, in December 2007 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report, The Impact of Unauthorized Immigrants on the Budgets of State and Local Governments
In terms of public education, unauthorized immigrants who are minors increase the overall number of students attending public schools, and they may also require more educational services than do native-born children because of a lack of proficiency in English. Analyses from several states indicate that the costs of educating students who did not speak English fluently were 20 percent to 40 percent higher than the costs incurred for native-born students.
Consider the impact that a torrent of foreign students has on the education of American children, particularly when many of these foreign students lack English language proficiency.
Schools are forced to spend more money to not only educate these foreign children but also provide special services such English as a Second Language training, thus cutting funding for other vital necessities such as Early Intervention and various therapists for children with learning disabilities. Less money will be available for providing quality education for the students of American schools by, for example, upgrading labs, computers and other essential equipment and resources for American children who have already spent a hellish lost year as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic that denied them access to their schools.
This, of course is never discussed in the media or by most politicians who, having taken campaign contributions from globalist organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are literally and figuratively indebted to those globalist entities.
Interior enforcement of our immigration laws is a critical element of what should be a coherent immigration program to enforce our laws and also to deter massive illegal immigration as I touched on briefly at the beginning of my commentary today.
As I noted in my recent article, Interior Enforcement And The Border Crisis
On February 18, 2021 the Washington Post reported that a “Biden memo for ICE officers points to fewer deportations and strict oversight Post , ICE agents “will need preapproval from a senior manager before trying to deport anyone who is not a recent border crosser, a national security threat or a criminal offender with an aggravated-felony conviction.” The Biden administration expects this policy “to result in a steep drop in immigration arrests and deportations.”
In other words, with a mere stroke of his pen, Biden has virtually eliminated the statutory authority that ICE agents have to make warrantless arrests of suspected illegal aliens. This sends a clear message to the agents, that anything they do can (and likely will) be used against them.
Furthermore so-called “sanctuary” policies implemented by numerous mayors and even some governors further undermine any remaining vestiges of interior enforcement and hence undermine national security and public safety. Sanctuary states now provide driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. New York state even went so far as to block ICE and Border Patrol access to its DMV database, Cuomo’s gift to ISIS, the drug cartels, and human traffickers.
As these hundreds of thousands of aliens are dispersed across the United States they will have little to fear if they fail to show up for immigration hearings. Under Biden’s Executive Orders, illegal aliens may not be arrested unless there is an outstanding warrant for that alien and he/she has an extensive criminal history.
Not all of these aliens are from Latin America. A significant number have come from countries fro around the world, including countries that have known affiliation with terrorism. It is likely that among these aliens are criminals, fugitives, gang members and terrorists.
Meanwhile, while the Border Patrol is hamstrung caring for alien children, many aliens are evading the Border Patrol altogether and are so-called “Get Aways.” There is absolutely no way of knowing who they are, where they are from, where they are headed or what their ultimate goals are. This creates a national security / public safety nightmare.
The official report, 9/11 and Terrorist Travel Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States provided this warning on page 98 under the title Immigration Benefits:
Terrorists in the 1990s, as well as the September 11 hijackers, needed to find a way to stay in or embed themselves in the United States if their operational plans were to come to fruition. As already discussed, this could be accomplished legally by marrying an American citizen, achieving temporary worker status, or applying for asylum after entering. In many cases, the act of filing for an immigration benefit sufficed to permit the alien to remain in the country until the petition was adjudicated. Terrorists were free to conduct surveillance, coordinate operations, obtain and receive funding, go to school and learn English, make contacts in the United States, acquire necessary materials, and execute an attack.
Perhaps now that Newsweek has been forced to begin to report on the immigration crisis, other supposed news organizations will follow and hopefully look further than the southern border.
The Ministry of Truth was a key element of Orwell’s novel 1984 - but it has no place in the United States of America.
Pakistani, Yemeni Nationals Arrested near Border in Southwest Texas Breitbart News / Ildefonso Ortiz 2:51
EAGLE PASS, Texas — On Tuesday, Border Patrol agents arrested two special interest aliens from Pakistan and Yemen. Both were encountered shortly after their illegal entry during the early morning hours. The pair was taken to a nearby station for processing and interviews, according to a law enforcement source speaking on the condition of anonymity.
These arrests come after a similar interdiction of two special interest aliens earlier this month by the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office 40 miles from Eagle Pass in La Pryor, Texas. In that incident , two Pakistani nationals were encountered in a failed human smuggling attempt. The latest case has been referred to the FBI for further review.
The arrest of special interest aliens is not a common occurrence along the southwest border. The Department of Homeland Security listed 21 countries as “special interest” in 2018. According to a law enforcement source working for Customs and Border Protection, less than 1 percent of all apprehensions along the southwest border meet the definition.
According to the Department of Homeland Security: generally:
[G]enerally, a Special Interest Alien is a non-U.S. person who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests. Often such individuals or groups are employing travel patterns known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism. DHS analysis includes an examination of travel patterns, points of origin, and/or travel segments that are tied to current assessments of national and international threat environments.
This does not mean that all SIAs are “terrorists,” but rather that the travel and behavior of such individuals indicates a possible nexus to nefarious activity (including terrorism) and, at a minimum, provides indicators that necessitate heightened screening and further investigation. The term SIA does not indicate any specific derogatory information about the individual – and DHS has never indicated that the SIA designation means more than that.
Illegal border crossings are on the rise in Eagle Pass, part of the Del Rio Sector of the Border Patrol, which is experiencing levels of illegal migrant arrests that are the highest in history.
This case remains under investigation.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Texas Man Pleads Guilty After 5 Migrants Die in Human Smuggling Police Chase Photo: David Caltabiano/KABB/WOAI via AP 3:57
A Texas man from Eagle Pass pleaded guilty in federal court to a human smuggling attempt that led to the deaths of five migrants in June 2018. The smugglers packed 13 migrants into a Chevrolet Suburban and then fled from police. The pursuit ended in a fiery rollover crash as the pursuit entered the town of Big Wells.
Jorge Luis Monsivais, Jr., 23 of Eagle Pass, pleaded guilty on Monday while appearing before U.S. District Judge Alia Moses in Del Rio, Texas, on Monday for his role in the deaths of five migrants. The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas reported Monsivais pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death; one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury; one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens; one count of illegal alien transportation resulting in death; and one count of illegal alien transportation resulting in serious bodily injury.
The charges arose from a human smuggling incident on June 17, 2018, where Monsivais packed 13 migrants, including a juvenile migrant, into a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban and then fled from Border Patrol agents and police, Breitbart Texas reported . As the high-speed pursuit entered the town of Big Wells, Mondivais lost control and rolled the Suburban multiple times. The Suburban burst into flames.
Four people are reported to have died at the scene after being ejected from the Suburban when it rolled numerous times. Emergency medical teams transported nine people to hospitals for treatment of injuries they sustained in the crash. One of those people reportedly died on the way to the hospital, the DOJ stated.
The DOJ filed charges against Monsivais and four others in a few days later. The co-conspirators included:
The driver of the 2013 Tahoe, the second vehicle involved in the smuggling incident, 55-year-old Mexican citizen Marcial Gomez Santana; 45-year-old Mexican citizen Mariela Reyna; Marcial’s son, 21-year-old Rudy Gomez of Hockley, Texas; and Marcial’s daughter, 19-year-old Johana Gomez of Houston, Texas. All four of the co-defendants pleaded guilty in federal court in 2019, the DOJ stated.
On July 29, 2019, 58-year-old Mexican citizen Marcial Gomez Santana pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death; conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury; conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens; and harboring illegal aliens for private financial gain. On August 20, 2019, Marcial’s son and daughter, 24-year-old Rudy Gomez of Hockley and 22-year-old Johana Gomez of Houston, along with 48-year-old Mexican citizen Mariela Reyna all pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens.
These defendants will face sentencing in September 2021, officials stated. Gomez faces up to life in prison while the others face up to ten years in federal prison.
Monsivais also faces a life prison sentence. The date for his sentencing has not yet been announced. He has been held in federal custody since his arrest in June 2017.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team . He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face .
206 Migrants Apprehended in Single Group near Border in Texas Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector 2:22
Rio Grande Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a large group of migrants after they illegally crossed the border near Hidalgo, Texas.
Weslaco Station agents patrolling the border Sunday night received information about a large group crossing the Rio Grande near Hidalgo. Responding agents found 206 migrants who illegally entered the United States, according to information provided by Rio Grande Sector Border Patrol agents.
Agents identified 35 members of the group as unaccompanied migrant children. Another 164 were family units, officials stated. Only seven were identified as single adults who will likely be returned to Mexico under Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Trump administration.
Officials reported the migrants as citizens of “Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Belize, and United States.”
The agents transported the migrants to a Border Patrol facility for processing.
Rio Grande Sector agents continue to receive large groups of migrants illegally crossing the border. Earlier this month, McAllen Station agents apprehended groups of 132 and 107 migrants in a single weekend, Breitbart Texas reported .
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team . He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face .
1,000 Migrants Apprehended in One Day in Single Texas Border Sector Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Del Rio Sector 2:38
Del Rio Sector agents set a new record for single-day migrant apprehensions on Thursday with the arrest of more than 1,000 migrants. The apprehensions came during the interdiction of 27 smuggling attempts in addition to arrests along the border.
Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero tweeted the news of a record-setting apprehension of more than 1,000 migrants in a single day.
The chief said his agents also interdicted 27 human smuggling attempts and arrested three convicted sex offenders during the past 48 hours.
One day earlier, Skero tweeted images of a large group of migrants being apprehended near the Rio Grande. Border Patrol defines a “large group” as more than 100 migrants in a single crossing incident.
He said Del Rio Station agents see the bulk of the large group apprehensions and apprehended approximately 230 every day for the past 60 days.
So far this fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2020, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended 90,392 migrants — a 337 percent increase over the previous year’s 18,936.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team . He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face .
Migrant Apprehensions on Rise in Texas’ Most-Remote Sector Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Big Bend Sector 4:26
Border Patrol agents in the Big Bend Sector are experiencing a dramatic increase in drug and human smuggling following the migrant surge that began in January. The sector is the most remote of the five Texas-based Border Patrol sectors.
Big Bend Sector Chief Patrol Agent Sean McGoffin tweeted a series of photos this week showing smuggling activity in the mountainous desert region near Presidio, Texas.
On May 17, Presidio Station agents teamed up with ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the Presidio Police Department to interdict multiple human smuggling stash houses and a vehicular smuggling attempt.
Photos tweeted on May 17 shot the rugged terrain and hot, dry condition where migrants march through the Chihuahua Desert.
So far this fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2020, Big Bend Sector agents apprehended 19,980 migrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico. This is up from 4,070 the previous year — a 391 percent increase.
The majority of those apprehended are single adults (18,336). However, a concerning statistic is the 278 percent increase in the number of single minors. This jumped from 276 in FY20 to 601 this year to date.
The apprehensions sometimes carry far inland from the border as smugglers attempt to move migrants around interior immigration checkpoints. McGoffin tweeted photos last week of large groups of migrants apprehended near Van Horn, Texas.
Drug seizures by Border Patrol agents in this sector mainly revolve around marijuana. Human smugglers frequently make migrants carry backpacks filled with marijuana as they march through the desert, officials previously told Breitbart Texas.
So far this fiscal year, Big Bend Sector agents seized 15,403 pounds of marijuana. This compares to 24,399 for all of Fiscal Year 2020, CBP enforcement statistics reports indicate.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team . He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face .
Narcotics Push into South Texas Border Area amid 20-Year High in Illegal Migration RGV Sector 2:32
The Rio Grande Valley Sector already leads the nation in apprehensions of unaccompanied migrant children (UACs), single adult aliens, and criminal aliens. Amid these trends, Mexican cartels are still pushing substantial quantities of drugs into the area.
On Monday, Border Patrol agents in concert with other local and federal agencies arrested 162 migrants in multiple stash houses throughout the Rio Grande Valley. To combat the problem, the Border Patrol is serving homeowners a notice that their property is being used for criminal activity which could lead to forfeiture proceedings.
RGV Sector
On the same day, agents in Weslaco, Texas, arrested 237 migrants in one group. They consisted of mostly family units and unaccompanied children. Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol agents say they interdicted 50 “large groups” illegally entering the United States this year. A large group is defined as 100 or more migrants.
In Fiscal Year 2021, agents in the Rio Grande Valley apprehended 221,115 migrants–compared to 49,971 over the same period in 2020. The spike means better profits for the Gulf Cartel, which tightly controls access and use of border crossings throughout the Valley.
RGV Sector
The cartel has not abandoned another staple commodity, narcotics. Over the past weekend, more than $200,000 in cocaine washed up along Padre Island. On Thursday, $500,000 in marijuana was seized in two separate smuggling events.
According to CBP, the Border Patrol is on pace to arrest more migrants this year than at any time in the previous two decades. The volume of unaccompanied migrant children and family units require hours of humanitarian care and deplete the time agents have to spend on patrol. This exacerbates any cohesive efforts to deny and disrupt cartel narcotics smuggling operations. The strain also increases the likelihood of migrants avoiding detection and apprehension.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
EXCLUSIVE: Mexican Immigration Agents Face Cartel Corruption Probe Herika Martinez/AFP/Getty Images 3:35
Agents and high-ranking officials with Mexico’s National Immigration Institute are now the subjects of a federal corruption probe, tying them to human smuggling and trafficking activities. Some have already been quietly removed from their positions without arrests.
The case involves some of the highest immigration officials in the border state of Nuevo Leon. Known as the INM, Mexico’s National Immigration Institute is the sole entity tasked with issuing travel documents and enforcing immigration laws. However, agents in key border cities and states are working with criminal organizations and cartels to help facilitate the smuggling of migrants into Mexico and to the United States. In some cases, like in Tamaulipas, INM agents turned over deported migrants to cartels so they could be smuggled again or extorted.
Breitbart Texas exclusively obtained case files related to an investigation involving INM employees who returned a previously seized vehicle to a human smuggling organization. Authorities found the vehicle at a Tamaulipas crime scene where state police officers murdered and incinerated 19 individuals, including 16 Central American migrants. The vehicle was a Toyota Sequoia with license plate RKY-418-A, which was seized in December in Escobedo, Nuevo Leon.
Federal authorities identified eight, high-ranking officials and agents whom have since been removed from their positions.
During the investigation, which was ordered by Mexico’s Secretariat of the Interior, authorities also tied INM agents to illegally issued entry permits at two airports, migrant extortion schemes, and bribes for expediting immigration documents.
The officials named in the probe include the interim regional head of the INM Jesus Gilberto Rodriguez Garza, Operations Coordinator César Augusto López Vega, and INM agent Jesús Misael RodrÃguez Chavarria. Those three were part of the inner circle of a former INM regional delegate Daniel Torres Cantú–who left his position to seek a political post.
As a result of the ongoing investigation, the INM National Commissioner removed several agents and supervisors and named retired Army General José de Jesús Barajas Santos as the regional leader for Nuevo Leon.
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 .
Gerald “Tony” Aranda is an international journalist with more than 20 years of experience working in high-risk areas for print and broadcast news outlets investigating organized crime, corruption, and drug trafficking in the U.S. and Mexico. In 2016, Gerald took up the pseudonym of “Tony” when he joined Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project. Since then, he has come out of the shadows and become a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment