Thursday, January 19, 2023

JOE BIDEN - AMERICA'S DRUG DEALER - Fentanyl and methamphetamine come from Mexico; their chemicals come from China. Drug cartels make fentanyl and add it to heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and counterfeit prescription drugs. The fake drugs look like Xanax, Adderall, and other prescription drugs but are laced with fentanyl.

 

The poisoning of America

It's time for a new drug strategy. The Biden Administration's harm reduction strategy isn't working. America is in its worst drug abuse crisis in over a century. According to the CDC,  over 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, and almost 950,000 have died since 1999; figures for 2022 show a slight decline in overdose deaths over the previous year. The leading killer is illicit fentanyl -- a synthetic opioid so powerful that two milligrams can kill you. Fentanyl and methamphetamine come from Mexico; their chemicals come from China. Drug cartels make fentanyl and add it to heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and counterfeit prescription drugs. The fake drugs look like Xanax, Adderall, and other prescription drugs but are laced with fentanyl. It's easy to buy drugs on the Internet and social media. Young people buy “Xanax” and die from fentanyl poisoning. Yet, there is no outrage from our leaders.             

New York had the heroin and crack epidemics of the 70s and 80s. The response was more enforcement and treatment, and it worked for a while. But since then, the drug problem has progressively worsened; drug enforcement and treatment are not priorities for our politicians and government leaders. All aspects of the drug problem have been given a low priority since the mid-90s. Our society tolerates illicit drug use and has legalized marijuana use. Drug traffickers exploit modern technology to their advantage, but the U.S. government lags behind. We suffer the consequences of three decades or more of failed and inconsistent strategies coupled with permissive attitudes toward drug use.           

The Biden administration's drug strategy isn't working, and there is no urgency to address the problem. In 1989 President George H.W. Bush addressed the nation on TV to tell Americans what their government was doing about the drug problem. He announced the first National Drug Control Strategy, which contained substantial resource increases and a solid commitment to enforcement and treatment. He said, "[drugs are] the greatest threat facing our nation today." The current administration rarely mentions the drug crisis. One can barely walk the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities without stepping over addicts, discarded syringes, and crack pipes. Violence in our major cities is often driven by drug-gang conflict. Such human misery is unacceptable in the wealthiest country on earth.

What is our current drug strategy for China and Mexico? These countries are not cooperative and cite America’s drug appetite as the problem -- they are not wrong. U.S. border enforcement officials are overwhelmed by the flood of undocumented migrants and cannot focus on drugs smuggled over the border.

Here are recommendations to save American lives.

First, we need a strategy that includes vigorous enforcement, drug treatment on demand, and education. The administration’s Drug Policy Priorities hardly mention policies that work, such as preventing drug smuggling, extraditing drug kingpins, and reducing supply. Instead, it focuses on harm reduction.           

Second, DEA needs more agents and a bigger budget.  The annual budget and staff levels have remained at about $3 billion per year to support 5,000 special agents worldwide for three years. That’s not enough to address the escalating U.S. drug crisis.           

Third, the administration must use tougher trade sanctions and demand cooperation from China and Mexico. Banks and financial institutions in New York and Europe control transactions through the global banking system. The federal government should use this leverage against Chinese chemical companies, money launderers, and Mexican drug cartels. The Chinese and Mexican governments must be responsible for chemical shipments and drugs that kill Americans. U.S. intelligence agencies should use technology to interfere with Mexican drug cartel communications.       

Fourth, Drug cartels control large swaths of Mexico and corrupt high-level government officials. In 2021, the Lopez-Obrador administration took actions that made collaboration with the DEA virtually impossible. The U.S. should conduct unilateral raids and drone strikes on drug cartel hideouts, chemical and drug shipments, and processing labs to capture kingpins and destroy labs.

Fifth, pressure the Mexican government to extradite more drug traffickers to the U.S. Conduct extraterritorial renditions to bring drug-kingpins to justice, like terrorists. Extradition is the most effective weapon against drug lords. The unprecedented loss of American lives to drugs and widespread corruption in the Mexican government demand new approaches.      

We know what works, and it’s not complacency and business as usual.

Richard LaMagna was a DEA Special Agent for 27 years and was assigned to DEA offices in New York, Asia, Europe, and FBI and DEA HQ. He was Director of Counternarcotics at the White House National Security Council under President George H.W. Bush. He retired as DEA Deputy Chief of Intelligence. He runs LaMagna and Associates, LLC's security consulting firm in Washington, DC.

Image: CDC


Mexican President Celebrates ’40 Million’ Mexicans in the U.S.




President Joe Biden is greeted by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as he arrives at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, Monday, Jan. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
6:13

Mexico’s President Andrés Lopez Obrador says 40 million Mexicans are living in the United States.

“Just imagine: There are 40 million Mexicans in the United States — 40 million [including people] who were born here in Mexico, [or] who are the children of people who were born in Mexico,” President Andrés Lopez Obrador gushed at a January 10 press conference with President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Obrador’s proud Mexican-first advocacy for ethnic Mexicans — including ethnic Mexicans in the United States — is very different from the globalist, investor-first policies pushed by Trudeau and Biden.

At the Tuesday summit, Biden pushed the globalist, pro-migration “Nation of Immigrants” narrative as he described all Americans — including the descendants of Americans — as mere immigrants.

“Look, all of you know all of us in the United States are immigrants,” Biden said. “Mine go all the way back to the Irish famine,” Biden told the press conference.

Biden’s use of “immigrant” demotes the status of American citizens to that of illegal migrants, because the same “immigrant” term is normally used by establishment outlets to promote illegal migrants.

Biden also called for the use of global labor to fill jobs in the U.S. economy, regardless of many sidelined Americans, and regardless of the economic impact on ordinary Americans’ wages and rents:

We cannot wall ourself off from shared problems. We are stronger and better when we work together … At the top of our shared agenda today is keeping North America the most competitive, prosperous, and resilient economic region of the world …  [and creating] pathways for immigrants from Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti that were seeking a better life here in the United States of America.

Biden recently announced a plan to allow 360,000 people from four countries to move to the United States each year. That huge population transfer from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela is in addition to the global inflow of illegal migrants, and Congress’s normal inflow of roughly one million legal immigrants.

In contrast, the Mexican president repeatedly boasted about how his government policies are making life better for Mexicans, and are reducing the incentives for Mexicans to migrate to the United States:

The [goverenment] budget is used for development and supporting the poorest sectors of our population, today we not only have jobs, employment, we have seen reductions in violence. We have less migration as well. And we’ve also tempered frustration. And what we can see is this flame — this flame which is alive. I’m talking about the flame of hope.

Obrador’s pro-Mexican policies include his demand that Congress give the huge prize of amnesty to Mexico’s illegal migrants in the United States:

I fully trust President Biden … I’ve asked President Biden to insist before the U.S. Congress to regularize the migration situations of millions of Mexicans who have been in the States working, living in the United States, and contributing to the development of that great nation, which is the United States of America.

As an ethnic Mexican nationalist, Obrador opposes Mexican emigration — but he also supports more ethnic Latino migration into the United States:

We do celebrate the fact that the U.S. administration has … made the decision, rather, to have an orderly migration flow in the case, for instance, of our Venezuelan brothers and sisters … Just as I was telling you that in the case of migration, first there were brothers and sisters from Central America and also from Mexico, but now, in recent times, a lot of migrants from Venezuela, from Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador.

Obrador also applauded Trudeau’s decision to import 25,000 Mexican temporary workers for Canadian jobs, such as helping to house and feed Trudeau’s huge wave of global migrants who have been invited into Canada. “This program is already benefiting 25,000 men and women — 25,000 Mexicans,” said Obrador.

“Prime Minister Trudeau is a great ally of Mexico,” he added.

Obrador downplayed the benefits gained by Mexico when U.S. investors moved many manufacturing jobs to Mexico, as he claimed that his pro-Mexican policies are reducing Mexican emigration:

There are less migrants abandoning Mexico now because there’s public investment; because out of 35 million families, 30 million families of Mexican families are now receiving at least a program — a wellbeing program …All the senior citizens, 65 or over, receive a pension … Eleven million students of low-income families, of poor families are getting grants [and] cholarships …. We are planting over 1 million hectares of fruit and timber trees. And we are giving jobs to over 400,000 peasants that are growing, planting those trees … So, then, all these programs help so that people may be staying in their own communities, in their towns.

The U.S. government has long operated a globalist economic policy of “Extraction Migration.” The policy extracts vast amounts of human resources from needy countries, disguised under the Cold War-era “Nation of Immigrants” narrative and deliberately ineffective border security.

The extracted workers, renters, and consumers are used to grow Wall Street and to expand the low-wage service sector in the economy.

This colonization-like policy has killed many thousands of unrecognized migrants, including many on the taxpayer-funded trail through the Darien Gap in Panama.

The migrant inflow has successfully forced down Americans’ wages and boosted rents and housing prices. The inflow has also pushed many native-born Americans out of careers in a wide variety of business sectors, and reduced native-born Americans’ clout in local and national elections, and contributed to the rising death rate of poor Americans.


Mexican President AMLO Praises Biden for Halting Border Wall: ‘Thank You’

Migrants wait in line to be processed by the Border Patrol along the border wall after crossing the Rio Grande river into El Paso, Texas on the US-Mexico border as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico on December 19, 2022. - The US Supreme Court halted December 19, 2022 …
HERIKA MARTINEZ/NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images
1:49

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) thanked President Joe Biden for halting the construction of border wall along the United States-Mexico border at a North American summit on Tuesday.

Alongside Biden and Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, AMLO praised Biden’s immediate halt to border wall construction along the southern border. The day after taking office, Biden signed an executive order that stopped all wall construction that had been underway by former President Trump.

“You, President Biden, you are the first president of the United States in a very long time that has not built, not even one meter, of wall,” AMLO said during remarks at the summit. “In that, we thank you for that sir. Although some might not like it, although the conservatives don’t like it.”

Indeed, as Breitbart News has chronicled, the Biden administration has chosen to leave wide holes in the border wall, rendering the barrier useless in many circumstances for Border Patrol agents trying to reduce illegal immigration from Mexico.

jbinder
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Instead, the Biden administration has spent previously-allocated border wall funds on “environmental remediation” projects, even as some 2.6 million border crossers and illegal aliens are projected to be apprehended this year.

While rejecting the benefits of a border wall to stop illegal immigration into the U.S., Biden is spending nearly half a million dollars in taxpayer money to build a security fence around his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here

In Mexico, Joe Biden Promotes Plan to Make it ‘Easier’ for Migrants Trying to Enter the United States as Part of ‘Greatest Migration in Human History’

President Joe Biden speaks as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador listens during a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the 10th North American Leaders' Summit at the National Palace in Mexico City, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
2:01

President Joe Biden promoted his plan Tuesday to make it easier for migrants to come to the United States after meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.

“This has been the greatest migration in human history around the world as well as in this hemisphere,” Biden said, speaking about the ongoing migration crisis after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a summit in Mexico City.
But the president did not appear troubled by the volume of border crossings and migrants flooding into local communities in the United States, placing a burden on U.S. citizens and legal residents.

He spoke about his administration’s plan for new ways to allow migrants claiming asylum to sign up, get background checks, get a sponsor, and get them examined, allowing them to go directly to a port of entry to make their case.

“We’re trying to make it easier for people to get here, opening up the capacity to get here,” Biden said.

He said that the majority of migrants were fleeing the countries of Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua and that his administration would reach out to them directly to get them to sign up for admission to the United States.

He suggested his new plan would cut down the number of immigrants crossing at the Southern border using cartels and coyotes and getting victimized to make the “god-awful” trip to the United States.

“Look, right now the cartels make a lot of money, which they use for drug trafficking as well,” he said.

He complained that Republicans and even some Democrats were reluctant to work with him on immigration reform, despite a long tradition of immigration to the United States.

“All of you know, all of us in the United States are immigrants,” he said, speaking of his own Irish ancestors who came to the U.S. during the potato famine in Ireland.


Mexico’s President Says Biden Responsible for Migrant Surge at Border

ILDEFONSO ORTIZ and BRANDON DARBY

Expectations created by President Joe Biden about better treatment for migrants led to the current border surge, said Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO).

During his daily news conference, AMLO spoke about the ongoing border crisis and said the increase in migrants entering Mexico and heading to the U.S. is partly due to the expectations created by President Biden.

AMLO: “Expectations were created that with the Government of President Biden there would be a better treatment of migrants. And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so” pic.twitter.com/TNrZQamuWK

— José Díaz-Briseño (@diazbriseno) March 23, 2021

“Expectations were created that with the Government of President Biden there would be a better treatment of migrants. And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so,” AMLO said.

The statements come one day after Mexico’s military confirmed the deployment of 8,700 soldiers to curb the growing number of migrants traveling through the country.

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.     


Mexico’s president says he will share with President Joe Biden his willingness to find a way to legalize the flow of migrants from Central America and Mexico as a way to meet American labor needs.

“I have a teleconference with Biden on Monday and we are going to talk about that topic,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) said this weekend during one of his news conferences. “Let’s fix the migratory flow, legalizing it, to give guarantees to the workers so they don’t risk their lives, and that their human rights are protected.”

During the conference, AMLO said the U.S. would need about 600,000 to 800,000 laborers per year for economic growth. The Mexican politician brought up the Bracero program when the U.S. provided migrant farmworkers with permits during World War II.

The topic of the migrant workflow had not been previously discussed publicly by the Foreign Relations Ministry or the Interior Secretariat ahead of the virtual meeting between Lopez Obrador and Biden.

The issue comes as Mexican authorities see a dramatic rise in human smuggling activities as thousands of Central American migrants continue to make their way north. Mexican officials predicted a dramatic rise in migratory flows at the start of 2021 due to work shortages from the pandemic and recent natural disasters that shook Central America. Officials in Mexico did not publicly discuss the political effect that a Biden Administration would have on the matter.

Mexican authorities have found several large groups of migrants at hotels or being moved in tractor-trailers in recent weeks. Officials are also seeing a spike in ransom kidnappings where cartel-connected human smugglers hold migrants to further extort their families.

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.     


 CUT AND PASTE YOUTUB LINKS


How Foreign Drug Operations Are Taking Over California’s Desert Towns: Jorge Ventura

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL86snd4dP8

 

POSSIBLE DRUG CARTEL MURDER IN MEX-OCCUPIED CA  - 

Shooter stood over California mom holding baby, killed both

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPXjo57sImo

A shooter stood over a 16-year-old mother clutching her 10-month-old baby and pumped bullets into their heads in a brazen attack in a central California farming community that left six dead at a home linked to drugs and guns, a sheriff said Tuesday. Ellina Abovian reports for the KTLA 5 Morning News on Jan. 18, 2023. Details: https://ktla.com/news/nexstar-media-w...


Shooter stood over California mom holding baby, killed both

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A shooter stood over a 16-year-old mother clutching her 10-month-old baby and shot and killed them in a brazen attack in a central California farming community that left six dead, a sheriff said Tuesday.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said the teenager was fleeing the violence early Monday when the killers caught up to her outside the home in Goshen, a central California community of about 3,000 residents in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, and shot the young mother and her child “assassination-style.”

The other four victims ranged from 19 to 72 years old, including a grandmother who was shot as she slept. Their autopsies are expected to be completed later in the week.

Authorities said they were searching for two suspects and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to their arrests.

“None of this was by accident," Boudreaux said during a news conference Tuesday. "It was deliberate, intentional and horrific.”

Boudreaux walked back his earlier comments to reporters that the attack was likely a cartel hit, saying that investigators are also looking into whether it was gang violence.

“I am not eliminating that possibility,” the sheriff said. “These people were clearly shot in the head and they were also shot in places where the shooter would know that a quick death would occur ... This is also similar to high-ranking gang affiliation and the style of executions that they commit.”

Law enforcement is familiar with the home, the sheriff said, citing gang activity there that “has routinely occurred in the past” without giving any specifics.

The sheriff's department on Tuesday identified the victims as: Rosa Parraz, 72; Eladio Parraz, Jr., 52; Jennifer Analla, 49; Marcos Parraz, 19; Alissa Parraz, 16; and Nycholas Parraz, 10 months.

Boudreaux said “there was no reason” for the shooters to kill the young mother and her child.

“I know for a fact this 10-month-old baby was relying on the comfort of his mother. There was no reason for them to shoot that baby, but they did," he said.

Samuel Pina said Alissa was his granddaughter and the baby, Nycholas, was his great-grandson.

“I can’t wrap my head around what kind of monster would do this,” he told The Associated Press on Monday.

Pina said Parraz and her baby were living with her father’s side of the family in Goshen, and that her dad’s uncle, her dad’s cousin, her grandmother and her great-grandmother were also killed.

He said the family is in shock.

“It comes in big waves,” he said.

Authorities received a call at 3:38 a.m. Monday about multiple shots being fired — so many that it initially seemed like an active shooter situation — at the residence in the town of Goshen, some 170 miles (273.59 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles.

It was later determined the person who made the call was someone hiding at the property. Deputies arrived seven minutes later and found two bodies outside the home in the street, and a third body at the doorstep, Boudreaux said.

Deputies found more victims inside the home, including the grandmother. Down the street they discovered the teen mom and her baby. A forensics investigation revealed she had tried to run away before the shooter caught up with her and stood over her and fired multiple rounds into her skull, Boudreaux said.

“It is very clear that this family was a target,” he said.

Three people survived and will be interviewed by authorities. They include a man who hid in the home as the killings happened.

“He was in such a state of fear that all he could do was hold the door, hoping he was not the next victim,” Boudreaux said.

On Jan. 3, a search warrant at the home led to the arrest of Eladio Parraz Jr., a convicted felon who was killed in the shooting Monday — though Boudreaux said Parraz Jr. was not the “initial intended target” and declined to elaborate. Parraz Jr., 52, had an extensive criminal record including driving recklessly to evade arrest, and possessing firearms and drugs, according to prison records.

The search warrant stemmed from a parole compliance check during which investigators found shell casings on the ground, the sheriff said. The occupants refused to let officials inside the home, Boudreaux said.

They returned with a search warrant and arrested Parraz Jr. after discovering ammunition, a rifle, a shotgun and methamphetamine in the home, court records show. He was released on bail four days later.

Rural California is no stranger to drug-related violence. In 2020, seven people were fatally shot in a small, rural Riverside County town where the property had been used for an illegal marijuana growing operation — a common practice in that area.

The following year, a man accidentally shot himself while working at his family's illegal marijuana grow in Butte County's Forbestown. His father and two brothers were accused of moving his body to prevent investigators from discovering the grow site.

__

Associated Press writer Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz contributed to this report. Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York and Video Producer Javier Arciga in San Diego contributed to this report.

__

This story has been corrected to show that Goshen is north of Los Angeles, not south.


California Detectives Seize 90 Pounds of Fentanyl: Enough to Kill Millions of Americans

6Alameda County Sheriff's Office Facebook

PENNY STARR

25 Apr 20220

1:57

The Alameda County Narcotics Task Force conducted the biggest

drug bust in the county’s history, seizing 90 pounds of fentanyl

Friday that authorities said have a street value of $4.2 million,

according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

Lt. Ray Kelly, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said detectives found a fentanyl manufacturing lab last week after serving two search warrants in Oakland and Hayward in the California Bay Area.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the operation, which involved enough fentanyl to kill millions of Americans:

Detectives at the manufacturing lab found 92.58 pounds of fentanyl and two illegal firearms. One suspect involved in the manufacturing of fentanyl was taken into custody, and authorities are searching for a second suspect “on the run,” Kelly said. Neither suspects’ identities nor the exact location of the fentanyl lab were disclosed.

Bay Area public health officials say fentanyl, a synthetic opioid far more potent than heroin, has been the driver of the region’s opioid epidemic in recent years. About seven in 10 drug-related deaths in San Francisco involve fentanyl, according to figures from the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the illicit drug can be lethal even in small amounts.

 

The sheriff’s office noted on their Facebook account that “per the dea.gov one kilogram of fentanyl can kill 500,000 people.”

“This shows you just how prolific our fentanyl problem is,” Kelly said in the article. “Every day, people in the Bay Area continue to overdose, young people suffering from addiction, and they’re dying at unacceptable rates. So this is just one dent that we feel we took.”

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter

 

Pelosi on Legalizing Marijuana: 'I'm All for It'

By Susan Jones | March 31, 2022 | 11:45am EDT

 

 

 

 

 

One of the marijuana dispensaries (stores) along Highway 50 as viewed on October 17, 2021, in South Lake Tahoe, California. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - At many of her news conferences, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) talks about her concern for children -- "my reason to be here" (in the Congress), she said again on Thursday.

Also at Thursday's news conference, Pelosi expressed her support for the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which decriminalizes marijuana and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana. "I'm all for it," she said.

The bill also makes other changes (see below) --  including a name change -- "cannabis" instead of "marijuana" in federal legislation:

"The MORE Act that is on the floor today," Pelosi said in her opening remarks. "It's a major criminal reform bill that helps end the racial and economic injustice of marijuana decriminalization. It, ah, it's -- we're very proud of the work that has gone into it, and we would hope that it has support in the Senate."

Pelosi said the bill "is about justice."

Later, a reporter asked Pelosi what concerns Americans may have about the bill.

She noted that many states already have decriminalized marijuana, "and so this is consistent with what is happening in many states across the country. And it also addresses the injustices of it, because of what penalties had been (imposed) before the decriminalization took place. So I'm all for it," she said.

Pelosi then mentioned the "fact" that marijuana exists, is being used, and "we've got to address how it is treated legally and not in a way that mistreats people on the lower income scale -- not says, if you're wealthy, you can be engaged in all of this, but if you’re not, there are barriers to your even getting banking services in order to do it. So it's a fact of life that needed appropriate public policy to address it."

The MORE Act also:

--replaces statutory references to marijuana and marihuana with cannabis,

--requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees,

--establishes a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs,

--imposes an excise tax on cannabis products produced in or imported into the United States and an occupational tax on cannabis production facilities and export warehouses,

--makes Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers,

--prohibits the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions,

--prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of a cannabis-related event (e.g., conduct or a conviction),

--establishes a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses, and

--directs the Government Accountability Office to study the societal impact of cannabis legalization.

 

Meth disguised as onions in California drug bust

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKoLpXYdk_E&list=WL&index=14

 

NAFTA JOE BIDEN = DRUG DEALER

Jesse Watters: Why is Biden betraying us?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efkARlNJeyI

 

 

How California Law Created A Massive Marijuana Black Market | John Nores Jr.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z0gX0vKWjM

  

 

2,000 members of Mexican National Guard sent to Tijuana to deal with cartel caused violence

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2WpqRS7A5Q

 

Ordinary people are taking the law into their own hands to counter cartel threat

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VqjAZhJobE

 

Tom Cotton: Joe Biden Will Keep Foreign Drug Dealers in U.S.

NEIL MUNRO

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) slammed President Joe Biden’s administration amid evidence that his deputies want to minimize the deportation of illegal migrants who are caught dealing deadly drugs.

“It’s the Biden administration policy to allow illegal aliens to stay in America even after they: -Deal fentanyl and heroin -Commit fraud -Commit assault -Drive drunk -Launder money,” Cotton tweeted February 8.

“More than 80,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year. And the Biden administration just announced that deporting illegal alien cartel members who deal with fentanyl and heroin is no longer a priority for his administration,” he added.

For more than 20 years, many Americans have been killed by drunk-driving illegals, including many killed after federal and state officials decide not to deport illegals.

It's the Biden administration policy to allow illegal aliens to stay in America even after they:

-Deal fentanyl and heroin
-Commit fraud
-Commit assault
-Drive drunk
-Launder moneyhttps://t.co/Vr0RhYAJQV

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) February 8, 2021

The Washington Post reported February 7 how Biden’s deputies are changing deportation priorities for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency:

While ICE’s new operational plans are not yet final, interim instructions sent to senior officials point to a major shift in enforcement. Agents will no longer seek to deport immigrants for crimes such as driving under the influence and assault, and will focus instead on national security threats, recent border crossers and people completing prison and jail terms for aggravated felony convictions.

“Generally, these convictions would not include drug based crimes (less serious offenses), simple assault, DUI, money laundering, property crimes, fraud, tax crimes, solicitation, or charges without convictions,” acting director Tae Johnson told senior officials in a Thursday email advising them on how to operate while new guidelines are finalized.

“The priority for the enforcement of immigration laws will be on those who are imposing a national security threat, of course, a public safety threat, and on recent arrivals,” Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in the February 8 White House press briefing:

Nobody is saying that DUIs or assaults are acceptable behavior, and those arrested for such activities should be tried and sentenced as appropriate by local law enforcement. But we’re talking about the prioritization of who is going to be deported from the country.

The priority list for deportations also excludes migrants who take American’ jobs and wages. This policy will largely abandon the task of protecting Americans’ right to a national labor market.

Biden has repeatedly declared he wants to make the nation’s immigration system more “fair” to migrants. Since January 20, he has minimized deportations, stopped construction of the border wall, offered an amnesty to migrants, broken anti-migration deals with three counties, and has lowered legal barriers to migration.

However, he has said little or nothing about how he will protect Americans’ rights, wages, safe streets, and reasonable housing from foreign criminals or job seekers. A February 2 statement said:

President Biden’s strategy is centered on the basic premise that our country is saferstronger, and more prosperous with a fair, safe and orderly immigration system that welcomes immigrants, keeps families together, and allows people—both newly arrived immigrants and people who have lived here for generations—to more fully contribute to our country.

Amid Biden’s inrush of migrants and shutdown of deportations, more than 20 million Americans are unemployed or are stuck in part-time jobs.

Biden is also rolling back protections for American graduates, who have lost at least one million jobs because Fortune 500 CEOs and their subcontractors have hired more than 1 million foreign graduates for jobs sought by Americans.

In a separate tweet, Cotton lambasted Biden’s team for dropping a rule that would protect American graduate from losing jobs to H-1B graduate visa-workers who are willing to work for low wages in the hope of getting green cards:

Big Tech abuses the H-1B visa program to hire cheap foreign labor instead of Americans. That isn’t good for American workers, but the Biden administration is letting companies get away with it.https://t.co/YIolIoyqJl

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 5, 2021

For years, a wide variety of pollsters have shown deep and broad opposition to labor migration — or the hiring of temporary contract workers into the jobs sought by young U.S. graduates.

The multiracialcross-sexnon-racistclass-basedpriority-driven, and solidarity-themed opposition to labor migration coexists with generally favorable personal feelings toward legal immigrants and immigration in theory.

Joe Biden's deputies attack Americans' right to their own national labor market, by quietly barring the deportation of illegal migrants who take Americans' wages and jobs.
That labor policy helps corporate donors.
But hurts blue collars & college grads. https://t.co/RNCMFv4aJh

— Neil Munro (@NeilMunroDC) February 8, 2021

 

FBI Raids Arrest Gang Members In


Anaheim, Pico Rivera

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxBqmy7RNs


 Alleged F13 gang members charged in slaying of off-duty LAPD officer, authorities said l ABC7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmyRC0RIYXE

 

 

Alleged F-13 gang members arrested in death of LAPD officer facing federal charges

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MWM1nDyojw


IMAGES OF MEX-OCCUPIED LOS ANGELES - MEXICO'S SECOND LARGEST CITY 


Gang Lands # 9 The Last Crips of Boyle Heights

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSvU7tt12Y8

 


Gang Lands # 10 Gangs of Downtown Los Angeles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBs7M28EwF0

 

Central America Town in Los Angeles California

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChLZy9bSLXQ

 

A HISTORY OF MEX GANGS

VERDUGO MEXICAN GANGS

https://unitedgangs.com/verdugo-gangsters/

 

When La Raza “The Race” Supremacist Kamala Harris was Attorney General of California, she announced that nearly half the murders in Mex-occupied California were perpetrated by Mexican gangs. That didn’t stop her hispandering!


If you go to the Los Angeles Police 200 most wanted criminals, 186 are Mexicans.


When Mexican M.E.Ch.A. separatist and La Raza member Xavier Becerra became Attorney General of California, the first thing he did as AG was delete from the State of California AG website the list of California's ten most wanted criminals: they were all Mexicans


Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeles’s largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. 


Congressman: Illegal Antelope Valley Pot Grows Being Run By International Drug Cartels

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-XCBPMgDUc

  

FBI Arrests Dozens of Drug Ring Members Around Inland Empire | NBCLA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMt5JUwDhMo

 “Joe Biden is great on immigration. I guess depends on your perspective. If you’re a human trafficker, or drug dealer, you’d give him an A-plus, but theAmerican people would give him an F. The crisis at our border was not only entirely predictable, it was predicted. I predicted that if you campaign all year long on open borders, amnesty, and health care for illegals, you’re going to get more migrants at the border. That’s what’s happened since the election.”

                                                                               SEN. TOM COTTON

 

 MEXICO = DRUGS AND UNREGISTERED DEM VOTERS!

Desert towns in California have seen a dramatic increase of illegal marijuana plantations, operating through means of water theft, human trafficking, and violence.


How Foreign Drug Operations Are Taking Over California’s Desert Towns: Jorge Ventura

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL86snd4dP8

 

“All our street gangs are a problem,” Lawhead said. “They create an environment of fear. Gangs in general are responsible for a majority of our homicides and a lot of the other illegal activity in the city.”

The release said the Verdugo gang and its affiliates are linked to the Mexican Mafia prison gang. The indictment outlines how some of the proceeds generated by narcotic sales were funneled to the Mexican Mafia.

“Joe Biden is great on immigration. I guess depends on your perspective. If you’re a human trafficker, or drug dealer, you’d give him an A-plus, but theAmerican people would give him an F. The crisis at our border was not only entirely predictable, it was predicted. I predicted that if you campaign all year long on open borders, amnesty, and health care for illegals, you’re going to get more migrants at the border. That’s what’s happened since the election.”                                                  SEN. TOM COTTON

JUDICIAL WATCH

THE GRUESOME MS-13 GANGS FROM LOS ANGELES: THEIR MURDER, RAPE, AND CRIME TIDAL WAVE IN AMERICA’S OPEN BORDERS

http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2017/11/judicial-watch-deported-gangster.html

The illegal stabbed her to death with a screwdriver and then ran her over with her car.

JUDICIAL WATCH:

 

“The greatest criminal threat to the daily lives of American citizens are the Mexican drug cartels.”

 

http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-american-border-with-narcomex.html 

 

 

“Mexican drug cartels are the “other” terrorist threat to 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.” JUDICIAL WATCH

“Mexican authorities have arrested the former mayor of a rural community in the border state of Coahuila in connection with the kidnapping, murder and incineration of hundreds of victims through a network of ovens at the hands of the Los Zetas cartel. The arrest comes after Breitbart Texas exposed not only the horrors of the mass extermination, but also the cover-up and complicity of the Mexican government.”

“Heroin is not produced in the United States. Every gram of heroin present in the United States provides unequivocal evidence of a failure of border security because every gram of heroin was smuggled into the United States. Indeed, this is precisely a point that Attorney General Jeff Sessions made during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on October 18, 2017 when he again raised the need to secure the U.S./Mexican border to protect American lives.” Michael Cutler …..FrontPageMag.com

A HISTORY OF MEX GANGS

VERDUGO MEXICAN GANGS

https://unitedgangs.com/verdugo-gangsters/

 

Attorney General Bonta Announces 180 Felony Arrests During Investigation Targeting Westside Verdugo Criminal Street Gang in San Bernardino

 

Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

SAN BERNARDINO  California Attorney General Rob Bonta, San Bernardino Police Chief David Green, and San Bernardino District Attorney Jason Anderson today announced the results of a joint investigation into the Westside Verdugo criminal street gang. In June, the police department requested assistance with its investigation of the gang’s violent criminal activity from the California Department of Justice’s Special Operations Unit. Together with the district attorney’s office and other local law enforcement partners, the team made 180 felony arrests, shut down 30 illegal gambling establishments, and seized 92 handguns, 19 assault weapons, $295,870 in U.S. currency, as well as hundreds of pounds of illicit drugs over the course of the investigation. Yesterday, the investigation culminated in a largescale operation with agents executing 34 search warrants, arresting 31 suspects, and seizing 11 firearms at multiple sites in San Bernardino County.

“Members and associates of this gang have committed violent crimes in San Bernardino with no regard for the people in the community who are directly or indirectly harmed,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “This investigation and yesterday’s arrests and seizures have removed dangerous individuals from our streets and firearms from the hands of those who would choose to commit violent crimes. The results of this investigation could also assist law enforcement in solving other cases in the area. The partnership between our agents and local law enforcement made this possible, and I’m thankful to every person involved in this successful investigation.” 

“As decriminalization initiatives continue to undermine the safety of our community, we have never been more reliant on our law enforcement partners,” said San Bernardino Police Chief David Green

“The scale of this multiagency operation speaks to the commitment we have to eradicate criminal street gangs across San Bernardino County, particularly one with such a violent history as the Westside Verdugo gang,” said San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson. “Violent crime is on the rise, and several of the defendants we have filed against are facing their 3rd strike, indicating a propensity for criminal behavior. The success of this takedown was due to the tremendous efforts of the San Bernardino Police Department and the Department of Justice in conducting the investigation, and the tenacity of our specialized gang unit prosecutors. We will use everything in our toolkit including weapon enhancements, gang enhancements, prior convictions, and prior strike convictions to ensure maximum accountability from these defendants, keeping career criminals off the streets of San Bernardino and out of our communities.”

Westside Verdugo has an extensive criminal history in the San Bernardino area. The gang is suspected of multiple violent crimes including assault, attempted murder, and murder. 

Over the course of the investigation, numerous violent crimes were prevented, including shootings and armed robberies. Evidence collected during the investigation also assisted in solving two homicides in the area. Agents also shut down 30 illegal gambling establishments and seized over 100 illegal gambling machines and devices. These establishments were operated by members and associates of Westside Verdugo and brought in tens of thousands of dollars a week for the gang. In 2021, five homicides, four attempted murders, and multiple other crimes were linked to these sites.

DOJ’s Special Operations Unit is a collaborative investigative effort between DOJ and the California Highway Patrol. The unit provides statewide enforcement for combating violent career criminals, gangs, and organized crime groups, along with intrastate drug traffickers. These unique and essential teams use the latest technology and advanced investigative techniques and work alongside local law enforcement to enhance investigations into violent criminals and organized crime throughout the state.

 

 

SAN BERNARDINO: 52 gang members indicted in drug sales, smuggling case

 

 

By BRIAN ROKOS | brokos@scng.com | The Press-Enterprise

 

Fifty-two members and associates of San Bernardino’s largest criminal gang were indicted Thursday on narcotics trafficking charges, the FBI said.

Of those 52, 21 people were arrested Thursday, and 22 already were in custody on unrelated charges, according to an FBI news release. The other  nine are being sought.

All were charged with conspiracy to distribute and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin. Seven also are charged with distributing the narcotics, the FBI said. The indictment, unsealed Thursday, was the result of a yearslong investigation by federal, state, county and city authorities that targeted the West Side Verdugo gang.

The defendants face 10 years to life in prison if convicted, the FBI said.

San Bernardino police Lt. Rich Lawhead, who was part of the team that made the arrests, said that in addition to drug pushing, West Side Verdugo members are responsible for several homicides and assaults in the city.

“All our street gangs are a problem,” Lawhead said. “They create an environment of fear. Gangs in general are responsible for a majority of our homicides and a lot of the other illegal activity in the city.”

Most of the 90-page indictment is devoted to summaries of 502 separate phone calls or text messages intercepted by authorities in which the sales of heroin and meth were discussed in coded language. Other messages discussed smuggling drugs to inmates, including those in the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, and Corcoran and Ironwood state prisons.

There were also conversations about money owed, the collection of “drug taxes” from dealers allowed to set up in gang territory, and the enforcement of gang rules.

The conversations occurred from Aug. 26, 2010, to Jan. 16, 2012.

“A lot of these people were shocked when we showed up,” Lawhead said, noting the amount of time that had passed since the investigation began. “But the wheels of justice do move.”

Lawhead said he hoped the arrests would dissuade youngsters from joining gangs.

The release said the Verdugo gang and its affiliates are linked to the Mexican Mafia prison gang. The indictment outlines how some of the proceeds generated by narcotic sales were funneled to the Mexican Mafia.

Some of the drugs were dealt at what was described as the “7th Street Park.” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said that was a reference to La Plaza Park on Mt. Vernon Avenue, at Seventh Street on San Bernardino’s west side.

Lawhead said heroin has been sold at that park for years, and that the city’s officers patrol La Plaza and other parks in an effort to deter drug dealers.

Gang members went to great lengths to smuggle drugs to inmates, according to the indictment. One person, identified as “Martinez,” was told to sneak drugs into West Valley Detention Center by getting himself arrested and booked into the facility. His plan was foiled, however, when a police officer merely wrote a citation for an unspecified offense.

“There wasn’t anyone who wanted to go to jail today – I guarantee you that,” Lawhead said.

Other agencies participating in the investigation and arrests, according to the FBI, were the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, San Bernardino County Probation Department, Los Angeles Police Department, LA County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol, Drug Enforcement Administration and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Joint investigation into San Bernardino street gang nets 180 arrests, firearms, drugs

Tentacles of operation allegedly reached into Los Angeles and Orange counties

· 

By JOE NELSON | San Bernardino Sun

A yearlong investigation into a San Bernardino street gang’s criminal activity has netted 180 arrests, shuttered 30 illegal gambling operations and resulted in the seizure of more than 100 assault weapons and handguns, authorities announced Thursday.

San Bernardino police last year began investigating illegal firearms sales involving Westside Verdugo, a Latino street gang rooted in the city for roughly 70 years.

But early on in the investigation, police realized they were dealing with something much bigger than just illicit gun sales, Police Chief David Green said during a news conference Thursday at the San Bernardino Police Department, where dozens of assault weapons and handguns seized by police during the investigation were spread across a table. Also on display was a large electronic gambling machine.San Bernardino Police Chief David Green announces 180 arrests made and 111 firearms seized during a multiagency operation targeting the Westside Verdugo criminal street gang during a press conference at the San Bernardino Police Station in San Bernardino on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) 

“As they started doing more analysis on these cases, they were recognizing it was a little more coordinated and a little more significant than what they initially realized, and that’s when they started pursuing it as more of a conspiracy type of investigation,” Green said. The investigation and subsequent arrests extended into Orange and Los Angeles counties, he said.

Several agencies enlisted

In June, the investigation ramped up when the San Bernardino Police Department asked the state attorney general’s Special Operations Unit to join in. The Santa Ana Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol also assisted in the investigation, which culminated Wednesday when officers fanned out across San Bernardino County, serving 34 search warrants, arresting 31 people and seizing 111 firearms at multiple locations.

During the course of the investigation, coined “Operation Westside Jenga,” police seized 92 handguns, 19 assault weapons, more than $295,000 in cash and hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin and fentanyl. Several potential shootings and armed robberies were thwarted, and evidence collected by investigators during the investigation assisted in the closure of two homicide cases, police said.

Additionally, investigators infiltrated and shut down 30 illegal gambling operations and seized more than 100 high-end gambling machines. The facilities were linked to five homicides, four attempted murders and other crimes in 2021, authorities said.

Gambling operations

The gambling operations — which housed high-end gambling machines, most of them acquired on the black market and imported from China — were bringing in tens of thousands of dollars a week and were operated out of private residences, warehouses and closed businesses, Green said.

He said the gambling facilities were a joint-enterprise between Westside Verdugo and the Mexican Mafia, the patriarchal prison gang that receives a share of profits from drug sales and other illicit business carried out by Westside Verdugo and other Latino street gangs in the form of “taxes.” Some of that revenue was reinvested into the gambling operations.

“It has a hierarchy. It has its own business model. It’s an illicit business model, but it’s one that’s very lucrative nonetheless,” Green said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the people of San Bernardino “can go to bed tonight knowing their community is safer.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announces the results of a multiagency operation targeting the Westside Verdugo criminal street gang that resulted in 180 arrests and shutdown of 30 illegal gambling operations during a press conference at the San Bernardino Police Station in San Bernardino on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) 

“We’re putting serious criminals behind bars,” Bonta said, adding that he was proud of the results of the investigation not only as attorney general, but also as a father. “Every child in California deserves to grow up in a safe neighborhood — a neighborhood that is free from violence, a neighborhood without gun violence.”

Feds not involved

Green said authorities opted to handle the prosecution locally without the help of the federal government, which often takes down such large criminal enterprises using the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, referred to as the RICO Act.

“We’re not pursuing a federal prosecution in this case because we have the local District Attorney’s Office that we feel is going to be able to give us a successful prosecutorial outcome,” Green said. “But these types of cases are often handled by federal prosecutors under that RICO statute.”

San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said his office has so far charged 45 defendants with various felony offenses, which include a total of 57 firearm enhancements and 41 gang enhancements. Six of the defendants are facing third strikes, Anderson said.

“Our role is twofold in this particular instance. Number one is we are going to punish these individuals as severely as we possibly can, and number two, we’re going to separate them from an otherwise law-abiding community for as long as we can,” Anderson said.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson speaks during a press conference at the San Bernardino Police Station in San Bernardino on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. Authorities announced the results of a multiagency operation targeting the Westside Verdugo criminal street gang that resulted in 180 arrests and shutdown of 30 illegal gambling operations. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) 

More criminal charges are expected, authorities said.

“Many of these cases are still under review, and we are expecting many more charges to be filed,” Green said. “Some of them will be tried jointly, and some of them will be parsed out separately.”

A secret look at a Mexican cartel's low-tech, multimillion-dollar fentanyl operation

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdoRAjilrhs

 

Fentanyl is making its way into various drugs sold in the U.S. Here's how it gets there

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH_OJbfFuN0

 

Cartels Are Making Millions on Fentanyl-Laced Medicine | Crimewave

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV6qS8xH24M

 

"This is how they will destroy America from within.  The leftist billionaires who orchestrate these plans are wealthy. Those tasked with representing us in Congress will never be exposed to the cost of the invasion of millions of migrants.  They have nothing but contempt for those of us who must endure the consequences of our communities being intruded upon by gang members, drug dealers and human traffickers.  These people have no intention of becoming Americans; like the Democrats who welcome them, they have contempt for us." PATRICIA McCARTHY

Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeles’s largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. 

Texas DPS: Mexican Cartels Committing Murders in the U.S.

 

ILDEFONSO ORTIZ and BRANDON DARBY

Drug cartel gunmen are crossing the border to commit murders in Texas, authorities claim. The statements by officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety directly clash with longstanding claims by local police chiefs who routinely say that border cities are safe.

“These criminal organizations come across from Mexico to the U.S. side and they kill individuals. they murder individuals,” Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Lieutenant Chris Olivarez told Sara Carter with Fox News. “We have had several incidents that have taken place along the border using professional-type weapons the way they carry out these killings, very professional, very methodical.”

The statements by Olivarez come at a time when both DPS and the Texas National Guard increased their law enforcement presence along the border in response to record-breaking human and drug smuggling activity by criminal organizations like the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas.

The statements made by Olivarez clash with the longstanding narrative by several politicians, local police chiefs, and sheriffs who claim that border cities are safe. Those claims are usually backed up by statistics from the FBI Uniform Crime Report. However as Breitbart Texas has reported, the UCR only looks at seven specific crimes and does not account for criminal activity that is specific to border cities such as kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking, human smuggling, and human trafficking.

Additionally, the terminology used by police departments for the UCR report allows them to hide the severity of certain crimes. One example particular to border cities deals with home invasions, where teams of gunmen storm into a house looking for drugs or cash. As Breitbart Texas has reported, home invasions are reported in the UCR report only as robberies.

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.     

 

Surge in Fentanyl Seizures Show Cartels Taking Advantage of Lax Border Policies, DHS Officials Say

A DEA agent checks pills containing fentanyl / Getty ImagesJoseph Simonson • November 17, 2021 5:00 am

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Customs and Border Protection's fentanyl seizures skyrocketed by over 40 percent in the month of October, as drug traffickers and cartels take advantage of the border crisis.

Agency data show that CBP agents last month captured nearly 1,050 pounds of the lethal opioid, the fifth-highest amount in three years. For comparison, the amount of fentanyl seized in October is more than 2.5 times the amount the agency seized in the first three months of 2019 and roughly 40 percent of the amount seized in all of 2019.

The high amount of fentanyl busts coincides with skyrocketing opiate overdoses across the country—the Centers for Disease Control recorded a record-high 12-month overdose death toll between March 2020 and March 2021 with no signs of deceleration through the end of this year. The seizures also come as President Joe Biden reverses a number of border policies, a decision that critics say grants more opportunities for criminal elements to smuggle drugs into the country.

One senior Department of Homeland Security official told the Washington Free Beacon that drug smugglers are accelerating their operations as agents on the border face resource and manpower constraints with processing asylum claims instead of trying to stop drug smugglers.

"Cartels are exploiting the migrant crisis to expand drug and human smuggling," one senior DHS official said. "The administration knew full well that using agents to process mass groups of economic migrants would mean reducing the effort to combat crime. They alone own these failures."

The Biden administration has touted high seizure numbers as a success. Deputy White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates on Nov. 2 tweeted out an excerpt from an MSNBC piece that said, "The [fentanyl] seizures disprove one of the [GOP's] favorite talking points: If the president had implemented an ‘open-border' policy, as the right routinely claims, U.S. Customs and Border Protection wouldn't have stopped these shipments."

Officials within Border Patrol and DHS disputed that characterization by the White House, with the senior DHS official calling Bates's comment "galaxy brain" thinking.

Many states have pinned much of the blame for the opioid crisis on the Biden administration's immigration policies, calling them reckless and a public health threat.

West Virginia, which has been among the states hardest hit by the opioid crisis, in August filed a lawsuit against DHS and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the department's decision to end the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols, which force asylum seekers to remain in Mexico before their court dates in the United States. The state alleged in court that the decision contributed to the "devastating deadly flood of fentanyl across the Southwest border."

"By its consequences burdening and distracting the Border Patrol, the termination of the [Migrant Protection Protocols] decreases the security of the border against fentanyl trafficking between ports of entry, leading directly to both increased numbers of smuggling attempts and increased rates of success in evading Border Patrol," the lawsuit stated. Missouri in April filed a similar suit against DHS.

Research has found that just two milligrams of fentanyl can cause a lethal overdose in people with no prior use of the drug, meaning the amount of the drug seized in October alone could kill over 200 million people.

The influx of fentanyl from across the border has led to bipartisan efforts in Congress to ramp up law-enforcement efforts to arrest and prosecute dealers and traffickers. A group of Republican and Democratic senators in September introduced the Providing Officers with Electronic Resources Act, which provides grants to local law-enforcement agencies for portable fentanyl screening devices.

 

 

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