“While the Obama Administration
downplays violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities in Texas reveal
that Mexican drug cartels have transformed parts of the state into a war zone
where shootings, beheadings, kidnappings and murders are common.
In fact, drug-cartel violence is so
severe that Texas counties along the Mexican border are under attack around the
clock, according to an alarming report
[1] published by the state’s Department
of Agriculture. The agency was ordered by the state legislature to conduct an
assessment of the impact of illegal activity along the Texas-Mexico border on
rural landowners and the agriculture industry.”
*
A
Texas-sized silence as immigration talks ramp up
By PAUL J.
WEBER | Associated Press – 6 hrs ago
Associated
Press/Eric Gay, File - FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2013 file photo, Gov. Rick Perry
delivers the state of the state address in the house chambers at the state
capitol, in Austin, Texas. With nearly two …more million
illegal immigrants and a 1,200-mile border with Mexico, Texas has more at stake
than most states in the renewed push to overhaul the nation's immigration
system. Yet so far, Perry and Republicans who control the Legislature have been
conspicuously sitting this debate out. (AP Photo/Eric Gay,
File) less
AUSTIN,
Texas (AP) — With nearly 2 million illegal immigrants and a 1,200-mile border with
Mexico, Texas has more at stake than most states in the renewed push to
overhaul the nation's immigration system.
Yet
so far, Gov. Rick Perry and Republicans who
control the Legislature have been sitting this debate out.
They're
not resurrecting dozens of contentious immigration bills that roiled the
statehouse in 2011. They're not making the rounds on TV and radio to talk about
President Barack Obama's plan for legalizing
immigrants. They're not even saying the word "immigration."
When
Perry delivered his State of the State recently — his first since his failed
presidential run — glaringly absent in the 37-minute speech was any mention of
the issue at all.
The
silence speaks to the sudden political shift in immigration since last fall's
presidential election, in which Hispanics voted Democratic by a nearly 3-to-1
margin and created a powerful incentive for Republicans to change their
approach to this growing ethnic group.
In
Congress, Republicans have softened their opposition to accommodating
immigrants, and a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators unveiled a bill
framework that includes a pathway to citizenship for those already in the U.S.
so long as border security is beefed up.
But
in Texas, the party has been left speechless in the Capitol. GOP leaders find
themselves caught between traditional supporters, who feel swamped by illegal
immigrants and want tough action, and a surging Hispanic population. Minorities
accounted for nearly nine out of every 10 new Texas residents in the past
decade, and the demographic shift could soon transform the politics in a state
where Democrats haven't won a statewide office since 1994.
"There's
not nearly as much energy around it as there was," says Republican state
Rep. John Zerwas, acknowledging the collapse of hard-line immigration proposals such as his to require state
agencies to compile the costs related to illegal immigrants. "I think
you're seeing that at the national level, and probably a good bit of that is
trickling down to the state level."
Similar
pivots are under way in other Republican statehouses, but perhaps nowhere is
the change more evident than in Texas because of how much rhetoric the issue
has traditionally received here.
Texas
Republicans regularly used illegal immigration as a campaign cudgel against
Democrats like Obama and as a rallying point for fed-up conservatives while
trying to reach out to legal Hispanic residents as the party best aligned with
their values.
Only
two years ago in his State of the State address, Perry called for punishing
"sanctuary cities" that bar police officers from asking detainees
about their immigration status.
There's
no talk of such measures now.
"You
want an answer? That tried and that failed," said Texas Republican Party Chairman
Steve Munisteri. "Responsible leadership is now focusing on things that
have a chance to get passed."
Immigration
isn't an easy subject to ignore in Texas,
though.
About
16 percent of the illegal immigrants in the United States live in the state,
according to a Department of Homeland Security report in 2012, and immigration
leaves an outsize footprint on the state's infrastructure.
When
a district judge ruled this week that Texas' system for paying for public
schools was unconstitutional, he sided with arguments that state funding hasn't
kept pace with rising numbers of students needing extra instruction to learn
English. The ruling may force the Legislature to overhaul school finance by the
summer.
So
red-hot was immigration for Texas Republicans
in the last legislative session that state Rep. Debbie Riddle camped outside
the clerk's office to make sure her bills targeting illegal immigrants were
filed first. About 50 bills related to immigration were filed in all. This
time, Riddle, who once famously warned of immigrant mothers in the U.S. giving
birth to "terror babies" who would grow up to attack the country as
unsuspecting citizens, has not submitted any immigration proposals.
Perry
talked tough about illegal immigration in his race for president, making his
demand for more federal "boots on the ground" on the border all but a
campaign slogan. But other Republican candidates talked even tougher. Perry
wound up being criticized for his support of a 2001 state law that allowed tuition
breaks for the children of illegals.
State
demographers have predicted that Hispanics will make up a plurality of Texans
by 2020, and then become the majority between 10 and 20 years later. In the
last governor's race, the Republican nominee, Perry, won less than 40 of the
Hispanic vote, according to exit polls.
Last
summer, the Texas GOP softened on immigration at the party's annual convention,
acknowledging that mass deportation isn't possible and calling for common
ground. Six months later, some far-right Republicans are seething that
immigration has dropped off the party's radar.
"Establishment
Republicans are trying to brand a different message," said Maria Martinez,
executive director of the Immigration and Reform Coalition of Texas that backed
"sanctuary city" proposals in 2011.
Texas
could still wind up with a say on the new immigration plan. The Senate
immigration plan would create a commission of lawmakers and border-state
community leaders to assess when adequate border security measures have been
completed.
Freshman
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who previously served in the Texas House,
doubts his home state would let that happen.
"I
don't think that Rick Perry and (Arizona
Gov.) Jan Brewer will ever say the border is secure," Castro said. With
conservatives angry about the issue, "they know they risk a primary
challenge if they come out and say the border is secure."
___
Follow
Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
*
*
Mexican Drug Cartels Make
Texas Border A “War Zone”
By Judicial
Watch Blog
Created 18
Oct 2011 - 12:07pm
While the Obama Administration downplays violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities in Texas reveal that Mexican drug cartels have transformed parts of the state into a war zone where shootings, beheadings, kidnappings and murders are common.
In fact, drug-cartel violence is so severe that Texas counties along the Mexican border are under attack around the clock, according to an alarming report [1] published by the state’s Department of Agriculture. The agency was ordered by the state legislature to conduct an assessment of the impact of illegal activity along the Texas-Mexico border on rural landowners and the agriculture industry.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples hired two reputable military veterans to conduct the probe. One of them is a retired four-star Army General (Barry McCaffrey) who served as Bill Clinton’s Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The other, retired Army Major-General Robert Scales, is the former commander of the U.S. Army War College.
The results of their in-depth investigation have ignited outrage among border state officials who are sick of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s reassurances that the border is “as secure as it has ever been.” [2] Just a few months ago, during a heavily promoted visit to El Paso, Napolitano said violence along the Mexican border is merely a mistaken “perception” because the area is better now than it ever has been.
The reality is that in the past two years Texas has become increasingly threatened by the spread of Mexican cartel organized crime as the enterprises move their operations into the U.S., according to the new assessment. They recruit street gangs and exploit porous borders by using all the traditional elements of military force, including logistics, intelligence and deadly firepower.
This has created a sort of “narco-terrorism” which takes on the classic trappings of a real war, the report concludes. “Crime, gangs and terrorism have converged in such a way that they form a collective threat to the national security of the United States.” However, the report points out that “federal authorities are reluctant to admit the increasing cross-border campaign by narco-terrorists.”
In the meantime, Texas has become an “operational ground zero” in the cartels’ effort to expand into the U.S. This has put residents of border communities in the crossfire of escalating violence resulting from conflicts between cartels, paramilitary enforcement groups and transitional gangs struggling for control of drug and illegal alien smuggling routes into the U.S. from El Paso to Brownsville.
Incredibly, Napolitano proclaimed that “some of America’s safest communities are in the Southwest border region…” during her spring visit to El Paso. She actually said that “misinformation about safety” was negatively impacting border communities by driving visitors away and hurting local businesses.
*
READER SPEAKS OUT ON IMMIGRATION
By
Frosty Wooldridge
July 7, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
July 7, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
Readers responded to “Devolving America into parallel
societies” with their own solutions. Mollie, a Texan, watches daily as her
state, now harboring 1.5 million illegal alien migrants, suffers failing
schools, medical services and overwhelmed prisons.
What are your ideas for solutions to our immigration
dilemma?
“I just visited the LBJ Library here in Austin, Texas,” said
Mollie. “They have a special exhibit about the 1960’s. LBJ was the “spark of
Socialism” (after FDR) in this nation. Many of the programs he started were
designed to do just that, but I was younger and just didn’t realize all he did.
The most disgusting thing about this exhibit was the first thing you saw- Saul
Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”! OMG- the very “mentor” for all Obama’s ways is
being promoted in this exhibit!
Well, here goes for more suggestions:
1. Citizenship must be verified on
voter registrations- don’t know how long this has been going on, but by law it
can’t be verified! This has been in effect for over 20 years. All you need to
register to vote is a Social Security number and you don’t ever have to have
the card, so only God knows where they got the number (stolen or from
“convicted felons”). I know this because I registered 400 folks to vote back in
1992 in Houston, Texas and personally called to verify if anyone checked only
to be told “we simply don’t have the time or personnel to do this.” Big
Mistake, America, just like allowing Houston to be a “Sanctuary City”. Are you
aware that some states allow folks to register to vote the day of the election?
How can anything be verified? I’ve learned a lot since 2008 and hopefully so
have others. ACORN needs to be abolished, but I think it’s still “growing more
Communists.”
2. Bring back the “Literacy Test” to
vote and ballots in English only. Making Spanish our “national language would
be a huge mistake when all the Chinese are learning English. If we keep buying
their goods, we may need to teach Chinese in our schools should China take us
over, but most people are too stupid to learn it!
3. Welfare programs should not be
available to “non-citizens” (especially since only citizens who pay taxes
support these programs)! Democrats started all the crap about foreigners
getting Social Security and now the Mexicans are filling out forms for “earned
income credits” (meaning they worked only for cash, never paying a dime into
this system because they never paid any income tax, but want to collect Social
Security anyway? President of Mexico should be so proud of all the ways his
citizens are “ripping off” Americans now that there are no borders. Perhaps he
can convince Obama to just “annex” Mexico since all the Christians, especially
Catholics, are into “Love Thy Neighbor.” I’m all for the food stamps being for
only certain SKU numbers, not “anything but alcohol and tobacco products” like
here in Texas on the Lone Star Card.
4. Drug and alcohol testing for
Medicaid or Medicare. While we are at it, definite weight guidelines and no
smoking. I’m tired of paying for other folks’ bad habits. Obama Care will just
make everyone start smoking again. No more drug re-hab programs or free
needles. No more AIDS treatment (So Sorry, Obama was wrong to allow AIDS folks
to come to this nation.) Well, they used to “inspect” folks for diseases, lice,
and everything else at Ellis Island, but now we allow them bring back diseases
we long ago eradicated! Oh, and they expect us to pay to vaccinate all these
folks who have never had any vaccinations, especially all the kids we pay to
educate.
5. Anything else that dissolves the
“Nanny State” and makes folks more responsible for their own lives. I’m tired
of “unwed mothers” getting more welfare (Mormons and Muslims just use this
because the “extra wives” aren’t legal and they are “cashing in” big time.
Perhaps Obama will allow “multiple marriage partners” in the future since he’s
creating his “Have it Your Way” society for his “Obama Nation”!)
“I love what Roy Beck is doing, but until we find a way to
get Republicans back in control of Congress, not much is possible,” said
Mollie. “Congress can pass laws, but enforcing them is another issue. My fear
is that Obama will issue an Executive Order making many “illegals” become
“citizens” just in time for the election. This will spark a “Revolution” such
that he can declare “Martial Law” here and be totally in control!
“We also need to have more specific “job qualifications” for
POTUS and require proper (authentic, not fake or fabricated) documentation
prior to candidate running! Like any other high-level job, there should be a
“psychological testing” and definitely full terms in Senate.
“We’ve had it with someone who was supposedly born in Hawaii
(actually Kenya) and raised in Indonesia (totally Muslim nation). Can you imagine
what Obama learned about United States history? What some Americans learned in
2008 is how many “idiots” exist in this nation and how many will vote strictly
on “looks” and nothing else! I honestly believe Obama answers to folks on the
other side of the globe, not American citizens because he isn’t an American
citizen! Go to www.obamacrimes.info
if you haven’t already. “How can we allow this man to remain in office? Why
isn’t anyone doing anything? Are they afraid? Obama is part of the Muslim plan
to take over and Saudis paid for his Harvard Law School education. Why is it
that no one remembers him from any of his colleges? (He attended Occidental
College in California as a “foreign student”, using a Social Security number
his grandmother “lifted” from a man who died in Hawaii, but was originally from
France and lived in Connecticut until he moved to Hawaii, but never paid into
the system, so wasn’t going to collect.) Yes, his grandparents were “Communist
liars” and he’s a “Muslim liar” and we are “becoming like other nations”,
particularly Mexico where they “lie, cheat, and steal”, but I’m also learning
that in the Middle East, “lying is a form of communication” and “stealing is a
form of commerce.”
Mollie shows her anger, frustration and contempt for
Congress and the president. Can you imagine who will write another response in
2035 when another 72-75 million third world immigrants inhabit the USA?
Listen to Frosty Wooldridge on Wednesdays
as he interviews top national leaders on his radio show "Connecting the
Dots" at www.themicroeffect.com
at 6:00 PM Mountain Time. Adjust tuning in to your time zone.
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