NOTHING COULD BE BETTER FOR THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS THAN FOR BETOMATIC TO PUSH THE BORDERS OPEN WIDER AS JOE BIDEN IS WORKING ON DAILY!
BETOMATIC GOES AFTER THE ILLEGALS' VOTES:
He knocked on doors along the Texas-Mexico border to sign up new voters and led a nearly 30-mile (48-kilometer) march to the state Capitol.
Democrat Beto O’Rourke Running for Texas Governor
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrat Beto O’Rourke is running for governor of Texas, pursuing a blue breakthrough in America’s biggest red state after his star-making U.S. Senate campaign in 2018 put him closer than anyone else in decades.
O’Rourke’s announcement Monday kicks off a third run for office in as many election cycles. He burst into the 2020 Democratic presidential primary as a party phenomena but dropped out just eight months later as money and fanfare dried up.
“It’s not going to be easy. But it is possible,” O’Rourke said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his announcement. “I do believe, very strongly, from listening to people in this state that they’re very unhappy with the direction that (Gov.) Greg Abbott has taken Texas.”
O’Rourke’s return sets up one of 2022’s highest-profile — and potentially most expensive — races for governor. Abbott, a Republican, is seeking a third term and has put Texas on the vanguard of hard-right policymaking in state capitals and emerged as a national figure. A challenge from O’Rourke, a media-savvy former congressman with a record of generating attention and cash, could tempt Democrats nationwide to pour millions of dollars into trying — again — to flip Texas.
Still, O’Rourke is coming back an underdog. Although the state’s growing population of Latino, young and college-educated voters is a good for Democrats, the party’s spending blitz in the 2020 presidential election left them with nothing.
The outlook for Democrats nationwide is even worse heading into next year’s midterm elections. Texas has not elected a Democratic governor since Ann Richards in 1990. And freshly gerrymandered political maps, signed into law by Abbott in October, bolster Republicans’ standing in booming suburban districts that have been drifting away from the party. That could mean fewer competitive races and lower turnout.
O’Rourke, 49, will have to win over not only hundreds of thousands of new voters but some of his old ones. When O’Rourke lost to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz by just 2.5 percentage points, Abbott won reelection by double digits that same year, reflecting a large number of Texans who voted for O’Rourke and for the GOP governor.
That crossover appeal was a hallmark of a Senate campaign propelled by energetic rallies, ideological blurriness and unscripted livestreams on social media. But as a presidential candidate, O’Rourke molded himself into a liberal champion who called for slashing immigration enforcement and mandatory gun buybacks.
In one pronouncement heard far and wide in firearm-friendly Texas, O’Rourke declared: “Hell, yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15.”
“I don’t think that’s gonna sell real well,” Abbott said in January.
In the interview, O’Rourke signaled he’ll try to reclaim the middle in his bid for governor. He blasted Abbott for a “very extremist, divisive” agenda that caters to the hard right.
Asked about gun control, he said he does not believe Texans want to see their families “shot up with weapons that were designed for war.” But he pivoted quickly to slamming Abbott abolishing background checks and training for concealed handgun permits, gun regulations that once had bipartisan support.
O’Rourke argued that the broad coalition of voters that powered his near-upset in 2018, which included Republican moderates, could be formed again.
“What I’m going to be focused on is listening to and bringing people together to do the big work before us,” he said. “And obviously that first big job is is winning this election. But the voters and the votes are there.”
O’Rourke officially announced his candidacy in a two-minute video, in which he directly speaks to the camera and criticizes a GOP agenda that he says ignores things voters “actually agree on,” such as expanding Medicare and legalizing marijuana. “Those in positions of public trust have stopped listening to, serving and paying attention to the people of Texas,” he said.
O’Rourke isn’t the only one in the race out to regain his footing in Texas.
For most of his six years in office, Abbott has had an aura of political invincibility. But his job approval rating has slipped during the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 70,000 Texans, as well as a deadly winter blackout that darkened the nation’s energy capital and a legislative session that passed new barriers to voting and effectively banned most abortions in the state. Abbott also aggressively bucked the Biden administration’s pandemic policies, angering some of Texas’ largest schools and employers by banning mask and vaccine mandates.
Despite the conservative policy victories, Abbott faces pressure from the right flank of his party. Two conservative firebrands, including former Florida congressman Allen West, have launched primary challenges. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Abbott but also has pressured him to audit the state’s entire 2020 election results over false claims of fraud, even though he won Texas. Abbott has refused.
Still, the Texas governor enters the race with a $55 million campaign war chest, the biggest of any incumbent governor in the country.
“The last thing Texans need is President Biden’s radical liberal agenda coming to Texas under the guise of Beto O’Rourke,” Abbott spokesman Mark Miner said following O’Rourke’s announcement. “The contrast for the direction of Texas couldn’t be clearer.”
Trump’s was a narrow victory by Texas standards, 5.5 percentage points, a closer finish than his win in the storied battleground of Ohio. For deflated Democrats, it was proof that Texas is turning — albeit painfully slowly.
The party struggled for months to identify a challenger to Abbott, resulting in a “Beto or bust” plan reflecting the enduring skepticism even in their own ranks. No other Democrats have entered the race or have flirted with challenging Abbott.
Actor Matthew McConaughey, who lives in Austin, has teased a run for governor for months but has not said whether he would make one as a Republican or a Democrat.
Any shot for O’Rourke will require at least a touch of the magic of his Senate run against Cruz, when the onetime punk rocker from El Paso won over suburban moderates and road-tripped to the reddest of Texas’ 254 counties. He said he will again show up in tough places for Democrats, who for decades have failed to translate torrid growth and demographic shifts in Texas to a path out of the political wilderness.
Supercharged Texas has boomed to nearly 30 million people over the last decade and has five of the nation’s 12 largest cities. Texas’ explosive growth is driven almost entirely by new Latino and Black residents, traditionally Democratic voters, and Democrats say those demographic shifts combined with fatigue over crises and GOP culture wars could drive Abbott out of office.
Republicans have mocked O’Rourke as overhyped since he dropped out of the presidential race. One of O’Rourke’s first projects after ending his White House bid — leading a charge to flip the Texas House — failed to pick up a single additional seat for Democrats.
Still, it began a reboot for O’Rourke, who teased his run for president with a cover story in Vanity Fair and soul-searching blog posts but has spent much of the past 18 months as a party activist and organizer. He knocked on doors along the Texas-Mexico border to sign up new voters and led a nearly 30-mile (48-kilometer) march to the state Capitol.
He has also proved that he can still tap into a large network of donors, who fueled his record $80 million in fundraising during his Senate campaign.
Group of 225 Migrants Apprehended in West Texas Border Town
Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a large group of migrants who illegally crossed near Eagle Pass, Texas. The group of 250 is part of an increasing number of migrants apprehended in the Eagle Pass Station area of responsibility.
“The station is averaging over 500 apprehensions per day so far this month, making Eagle Pass the new hot spot for Del Rio Sector,” Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials tweeted. “We continue to adjust operations with our constant focus on national security.”
Border Patrol officials previously stated that human smugglers utilize large groups, like this group of 250 migrants, to tie up law enforcement assets in the area in order to run drugs or so-called “high-value” migrants into the U.S.
In September, Haitian migrants make the Del Rio Sector and the city of Del Rio, Texas, the new ground zero of human smuggling activity along the U.S.-Mexico Border. Del Rio Sector officials say that with 500 migrants being apprehended per day, Eagle Pass is now that center of activity.
Over the weekend, Eagle Pass Station agents apprehended more than 1,600 migrants.
During the month of October, the first month of the new fiscal year, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended 28,073 migrants, Breitbart Texas reported. This represents an apprehension rate of about 900 migrants per day. Now, Eagle Pass Station agents alone are apprehended about 500 per day.
These apprehensions are part of the nearly 160,000 migrant apprehensions in October detailed in a leaked Border Patrol document reviewed by Breitbart. This is up by 129 percent from the previous October report.
A source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection speaking to Breitbart under the condition of anonymity said that of the more than 158,000 migrants apprehended in October, only 59,000 were returned to Mexico under the Title 42 coronavirus protection protocol put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Trump administration.
Nearly 100,000 migrants required longer detention in temporary holding facilities while awaiting processing for delayed removal under the order or in the case of more than 60,000 migrants, release into the United States.
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, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.
NARCOMEX ON, OVER, UNDER AND IN OUR OPEN BORDERS AND VOTING DEMOCRAT FOR MORE
Congressman: Illegal Antelope Valley Pot Grows Being Run By International Drug Cartels
Human Smuggler in Texas Sentenced to Prison for Locking Migrants in Tanker Truck
A federal court in South Texas sentenced a member of the Mexican Mafia gang to 33 months in prison for his role in a human smuggling scheme. The conviction came from a May 2021 incident where Rafael Alberto Cazarez, Jr. drove 54 migrants trapped inside a tank.
The tanker, driven by Cazarez, approached an immigration checkpoint located west of Laredo, Texas, on May 28, according to court documents reviewed by Breitbart Texas. A Border Patrol K-9 alerted to the possible presence of drug or human cargo coming from the tanker trailer.
Agents inspected the compartment and found 54 migrants. The migrants had no means of escaping from their captivity in the event of a crash or abandonment.
Cazarez told Border Patrol investigators he is a member of the Mexican Mafia gang, court records revealed. He admitted to at least seven other smuggling incidents where he was paid a flat rate of $50,000 per load.
Homeland Security Investigations special agents utilized some of the migrants packed inside the trailer as material witnesses against the three people involved in the smuggling incident.
The Mexican national pleaded guilty in July and was ordered held in custody pending a November sentencing hearing, the court’s records indicate.
The court sentenced Cazarez, Jr. on November 10, 2021, to spend 33 months in federal prison, the Laredo Morning Times reported.
Also involved in the incident were Ricardo Javier Vela and Jaime Villarreal Vigil who also pleaded guilty in July. They were sentenced in October to 44 months and 33 months respectively, the local news outlet stated.
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
EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Travelers Kidnapped by Cartel Gunmen in Mexico near Texas
Mexican military forces are looking into the alleged kidnapping of two U.S. citizens and their driver by a group of cartel gunmen south of the border with Texas. The case has been kept under close guard by Mexican officials.
Breitbart Texas spoke with military figures in Tamaulipas who revealed the kidnapping took place in the early morning of November 3, along the highway that connects the border city of Nuevo Laredo with Antiguo Guerrero. The victims were chased and shot at by cartel gunmen. The attackers are believed to be members of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas.
The victims were identified as 41-year-old Ishnanda H. and 36-year-old Kairsten H. who were riding a Toyota Camry driven by 35-year-old Marcos Solorzano. The two U.S. citizens reside in San Antonio, Texas, and were traveling to Veracruz for meetings.
According to the victims’ statements, when they were getting close to Antiguo Guerrero, a blue SUV cut them off so they turned around and headed back to Nuevo Laredo. The victims claimed the SUV chased them until one of their tires was shot, forcing a stop.
The victims tried to run and hide in the brush but additional gunmen arrived and found them. The gunmen beat and accusing them of being members of the Gulf Cartel. They were handcuffed and loaded into the bed of a pickup.
According to the information the victims gave the Mexican military, Kairsten and Solorzano eventually bailed out of the vehicle. They wandered for several hours until they spotted police patrolling the highway. The officers rushed the victims to a hospital where authorities interviewed Solorzano while Kairsten was taken to intensive care. Ishnanda’s location remains unknown, military sources revealed.
The highway where the kidnapping took place is considered very dangerous due to its proximity to the Rio Grande and is commonly used by cartels for smuggling into Texas. The CDN-Los Zetas are waging a fierce turf war with the Gulf Cartel for control of the area — leading to an increase in cartel convoys on the highway.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas.
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