by Bob Price (reposted with permission of author - original link. Agent Terry was murdered in Arizona, so this blog post should be of particular interest to Tucson Citizen readers.)

Nearly two years after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered by a gang of Mexican thugs in the desert night of southeastern Arizona, the federal government has finally secured a conviction. Yesterday, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, plead guilty to the murder but denied being the shooter. He pled guilty in exchange for having the death penalty taken off the table during the sentencing portion of the trial, set for January. Osorio-Arellanes faces life in prison as his maximum punishment. Is this conviction too little, too late from an Obama Administration that appears to be up to their ears in the Fast and Furious program that led to Terry’s murder and its subsequent cover-up?

I spoke with Brian Terry’s brother, Kent Terry, today about this news and his reaction. He indicated he was not aware that the defendant was going to change his plea and said, “I am glad justice was served somewhat.” Terry questioned the timing of this plea bargain and its proximity to the election next week.

As do many Americans, Kent Terry believes that President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are directly involved in the Fast and Furious program that put two of the guns used in Brian Terry’s murder into the hands of these gangsters. Terry said, “I am ashamed of how Obama handled Fast and Furious and Benghazi.” He feels Obama’s failure to comment on Fast and Furious or pressure his Administration to get to the truth about Fast and Furious and Benghazi are indications of Obama’s direct complicity.

Osorio-Arellanes was part of a gang of Mexican bandits who had come into the United States illegally solely for the purpose of committing crimes. In his plea statement, Osorio-Arellanes admitted he was part of this “rip-off” crew. They sneaked into the U.S. from Mexico about a week prior to Agent Terry’s murder. They had stashed food and weapons (including at least two guns from Fast and Furious) and were searching for Mexican marijuana smugglers to rob when they encountered Agent Terry’s BORTAC team and engaged them in a fire fight. Osorio-Arellanes admitted raising his weapon but said he did not fire on the agents. Osorio-Arellanes was shot during the gunfight and has been in federal custody ever since.

Clearly our borders are not secure. Not only are drug smugglers free to traffic their products into our nation. They also are freely engaging in human smuggling, human trafficking and sex-slavery as they bring their human cargo into America. In addition, rip-off gangs like the one Osorio-Arellanes was a part of, freely come and go across our border preying on their victims and endangering our Border Patrol Agents.

President Obama has failed in his primary duty as Commander-in-Chief – that of protecting our borders from an invasion of an army of smugglers and gangsters who endanger the lives of American citizens every day. Brian Terry’s murder is not the only one attributable to Obama’s failure to secure our borders. Many other Americans have lost their lives to bandits like this.

Our nation deserves to have a president who will take seriously, the dangers associated with our unsecured borders. And we deserve the opportunity to engage in real reform of our broken immigration system that makes it too easy for people to enter our country illegally and much too difficult for many to find a legal way to come here.

While immigration reform and border security have not been talked about very much in this presidential election season, it is an important issue and one where Obama has failed. You can make a statement by getting out and voting for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Send a message of overwhelming magnitude and unarguable force that we reject the last four years of this Lawless Presidency and tell the Democrat party they must re-tool their issues from the ground up if they want to remain a viable party in our nation’s political system. You can do this by not just winning this election, but by getting every single voter you know to the polls. Vote a straight Republican ticket to send your message all the way down the ballot!

By Bob Price (reposted with permission from TexasGOPVote)

Perhaps the most lawless act of the Obama Presidency has been its role in Operation Fast and Furious. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been out front in keeping this story in the public’s eye. While in Washington, DC, last month, I spoke with NRA Spokesperson Jacqueline Otto about Fast and Furious. She told me the NRA got “furious fast over Fast and Furious”.

Operation Fast and Furious first came to public attention shortly after the murder of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered during a firefight with Mexican gangsters in December of 2010. In the video below, I talk with Otto about the anti-gun agenda of the Obama Administration and how they created Fast and Furious to create a crisis in order to further their gun-control plans.

Watch the interview here.

Otto acknowledged TexasGOPVote’s role in reporting this scandal early on and keeping the story alive until picked up nationally by CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson. Senator Charles Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman Daryl Issa led the way for Congressional investigations leading to Contempt of Congress  charges being levied against Eric Holder for his refusal to provide subpoenaed documents Congress required to carry out its Constitutionally mandated role of oversight.

On the political agenda of the Obama Administration, Otto explained, “Almost from the beginning there was a chorus of Administration officials using the term ’90% of the firearms that were used in Mexican violence”. 90% of firearms they said were coming from America.”

Otto continued, “What they didn’t tell us was that they were the ones sending them there – through Operation Fast and Furious. And, when that story came to light through the murder of Brian Terry and through the hundreds of Mexican citizens who have been murdered through this violence.”

The proof of the gun control agenda soon followed. Otto explained, “They used the 90% figure to justify their new regulatory schemes, their new registration requirements and forcing these federally licensed firearms dealers that are in the border states to jump through more hoops, and do more paperwork and follow more requirements when they weren’t the ones at fault.”

Many of the firearms dealers in Arizona and Texas asked to not participate in this program – fearing violence and death would result from this. They were coerced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE, or ATF) to continue their participations. This was revealed in one of Senator Grassley’s earliest reports.

In my Feb, 2010 article titled, Agent Brian Terry Murder – DOJ Adds to the Cover-up, I wrote, “The licensed gun dealer who sold the weapons allegedly recovered at the scene of Agent Terry’s murder met with the ATF and the Assistant US Attorney as early as December 2009 to discuss his role as a licensed dealer during this investigation. Avila was allowed to continue his purchases, including two .50 caliber rifles as late as June 2010.”

The investigation continues despite an internal DOJ Inspector General report which whitewashed Attorney General Eric Holder’s involvement in Fast and Furious. Ask yourself this, if Holder and Obama are not directly involved, how and why did Obama give Holder Executive Privilege on this scandal?

SEE RELATED STORY FROM EXAMINER.COM - A journalist’s guide to ‘Project Gunwalker’

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Bob Price is a political commentator for TexasGOPVote.com. He is an expert about issues related to border security and illegal immigration and has expanded to cover stories of local, state and national interest from a Conservative Texas Perspective. He also volunteers with US Border Watch, a civilian volunteer border security organization, as Communications Director. He has been with USBW for over five years.

Recently, Price was invited to become the Texas Director of Cafe Con Leche Republicans. CCLR is an organization established to foster better communication within the Republican party toward immigrants.

Price is also a regular political commentator on Houston’s Fox 26 and KHOU, Houston Channel 11 where he regularly debates on a wide variety of political issues. He is frequently asked to speak to organizations on the topic of border security, immigration reform and 2nd Amendment issues.

He is a US Air Force veteran, having served overseas during the Cold War and is a retired Lt. Col. from the US Air Force Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol where he served in command, public relations, emergency services and youth education capacities.

In corporate life, Mr. Price serves as vice president of Novum Solutions, Inc; a Houston based manufacturing company best known for its Blue Wonder Gun Care Products and Novum APR Advanced Pain Relief  brands. Novum also manufactures private label product for Connecticut Valley Arms, Bass Assassin Fishing Lures and Point Blank Body Armor. He is also an Independent Brand Partner for Nerium Age Defying skin care products.

Follow more of Price’s writing and commentary at BobPrice.com.

by Bob Quasius

If you think the Obama administration is pro-Latino then you need to read our news release (below) about the Obama administration’s refusal to recognize the citizenship of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Latino U.S. citizens who were birthed by midwives rather than in hospitals. Our news release resulted two CNN news stories, one in English and one in Spanish.

The problem is especially severe for elderly Latinos from border areas such as South Texas, as there were few hospitals in the Rio Grande valley at the time, and needless to say it’s hard to locate records typically demanded when Obama’s State Department refuses to accept official state-issued birth certificates. For example, how  many of us could locate our own prenatal medical records or records from every school we ever attended? Imagine an elderly person trying to locate these records from over half a century ago! Often, even after producing a mountain of documentation Obama’s State Department still refuses to issue a passport and a lawsuit is necessary.

Ironically, even though the U.S. Supreme Court upheld voter photo ID, Obama’s DOJ is making an all-out effort to block states from requiring photo ID to vote, claiming there’s a disparate impact on minority voters who supposedly are less likely to already have photo ID. The courts have generally upheld voter photo ID because those who don’t already have ID can obtain state-issued photo ID at no charge. The only government agency denying photo IDs to minorities is Obama’s State Department! Doesn’t the State Department’s practice of denying passports to Latino citizens birthed by midwives have a disparate impact on Latinos? We don’t know of a single state denying photo IDs to U.S. Citizens based upon Hispanic surname and midwife birth. Why isn’t Obama’s DOJ investigating Obama’s State Department?

National pro-immigrant group Cafe Con Leche Republicans today blasted the Obama administration for stripping U.S. Citizens of their citizenship under the pretext of fighting birth certificate fraud. Overzealous officials from the Department of Homeland Security and State Department are refusing to issue U.S. passports and in some cases have cancelled passports for U.S. Citizens who were birthed by midwives. One U.S. Citizen was trapped in Mexico for two years when his U.S. passport was confiscated by CBP in Laredo, following a visit with his dying Grandmother in Mexico. The alleged basis was a typographical error in his birth registration card, supposedly showing that he had been registered a few days before he was born. Another U.S. citizen had his passport voided during a visit to Mexico, resulting in his inability to return home for many months while litigation was pending. Many others have experienced similar problems.

Also, many of these U.S. Citizens have been detained for hours, sometimes days, by agents of Customs and Border Protection and pressured into signing false statements admitting they were born in Mexico, and then returned to Mexico, where it is very difficult, if not impossible, for them to prove their U.S. citizenship. According to the Government, even people with facially valid U.S. passports are not entitled to counsel when stopped at the border, or challenged at a U.S. Consulate abroad, unless and until criminal or immigration charges have been filed. Unlike criminal cases, ICE and CBP have broad discretion to detain suspected undocumented immigrants, with no right to bond. Often these citizens have limited English proficiency and do not understand legalese, and are pressured or tricked into signing these untrue statements to get out of detention, not realizing they will be deported and potentially barred for life from the nation where they were born and spent most or all their lives. This reminds us of pre-Miranda days when police often detained suspects for hours, perhaps days, pressuring them until they signed confessions.

This problem is especially severe for the elderly on fixed incomes and the mentally disabled, who often do not comprehend the complex legal issues involved with immigration law, or simply lack the estimated $5,000 to $15,000 to bring a legal case to defend their citizenship in court. Local immigration attorneys claim there are now over 500, and possibly as many as 1,000 Latino U.S. passport applications were denied, and many more Latinos likely have not applied for passports due to the issue. Local immigration attorneys are seeking class action certification in pending legal cases due to the thousands of citizens affected by this travesty of justice.
Lawsuit

The South Texas counties affected by this travesty of justice are 90% Latino. 44 States allow midwives to create documentation that result in issuance of birth certificates, yet amazingly this intense level of scrutiny only seems to be applied in predominately Latino communities.

There have been isolated instances of a few Rio Grande Valley midwives issuing false documents for births that actually took place in Mexico. However, the reaction from the Bush and Obama administrations is symptomatic of the ‘enforcement on steroids’ climate promoted by DHS under the leadership of Janet Napolitano in response to heavy public pressure to “secure the borders” before true immigration reform can be addressed . Not surprisingly, a recent report found 3,600 U.S. Citizens had been arrested and detained by ICE under the Secure Communities Program, 93% of those detained under Secure Communities are Latino versus 78% of the undocumented population, and non-criminal arrests are approaching 50%, a strong indication that Latinos stopped for traffic or other minor infractions are being arrested rather than cited in order to funnel them through jail house screening.

We call on the Obama administration to cease and desist from this appalling practice of citizenship stripping, and we call for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to conduct a complete and thorough investigation and hold those responsible accountable.

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About Us – Cafe Con Leche Republicans is a national organization of Republicans who welcome “New Americans”, defined as immigrants and family of recent immigrants. Our mission is to make America and the GOP, more welcoming to “New Immigrants” through political activism, “in-reach” and education within the Republican Party, and lobbying government to adopt more immigrant friendly policies. We also seek to bring more conservative and moderate “New Americans” to the Republican Party. These efforts will strengthen the GOP, and lead more Republicans to embrace welcoming policies for immigrants and their families. We have chapters in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Our members and leadership are predominantly Hispanic, though we define ourselves by mission and guiding principles, not ethnicity, and we welcome all who share our goals. Our leadership is 100% Republican.

National pro-immigrant group Cafe Con Leche Republicans today reacted to Univisión’s bombshell news report about ‘Fast and Furious’ which aired Sunday night (Link).

Bob Quasius, President, stated: “President Obama promised the most transparent administration in history. We’ve watched with dismay as the ‘fast and furious’ scandal unfolded. With last night’s bombshell revelations by Univision of dozens of murders in Mexico, it is obvious this scandal is unparalleled in American history.

Worst of all is the cover-up by Eric Holder, far worse than Watergate. Members of Congress began asking for documents related to ‘Fast and Furious’ in January 2011, yet continued to hit a ‘stone wall’ from the Obama Administration. Even after issuing a proper subpoena in June 2012, the Obama administration continued to obstruct the investigation, claiming executive privilege even when it is apparent the documents requested are not protected by privilege.

Congress took the unprecedented step of holding Eric Holder in contempt, and yet the Obama administration persists in covering up this scandal. The U.S. attorney refused to prosecute Holder for criminal contempt, although Holder’s cover-up is clearly a criminal act.

The Obama administration has attempted to spin ‘Fast and Furious’ as a Bush era program, ‘Operation Wide Receiver’, but the two were totally separate programs. ‘Wide Receiver’ worked closely with the Mexican government and actually traced the guns with RFID chips, while Fast and Furious did neither.

Now it is apparent why the Obama administration is so desperate to cover up this scandal. It’s bad enough that Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and ICE officer Jamie Zapata were murdered by weapons allowed to walk by our own government, but now it turns out that dozens, perhaps hundreds, in Mexico and Central America were murdered with weapons sold by our government to drug cartels, including many innocent children. The Univision documentary is totally shocking.

It is time for Eric Holder to step down as attorney general, and if he will not step down then President Obama should fire him. To date no one has been fired for their actions in ‘Fast and Furious’ and it’s past time to hold accountable those responsible for both the scandal and the ensuing cover-up.”

By Raoul Lowery Contreras (re-posted from Cafe Con Leche Republicans with permission – original)

How many Mexicans have died, killed by rifles the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF & E) and the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office allowed to be taken illegally into Mexico for use by the Mexican drug cartels?

A dozen..? A hundred..? A thousand..?

A 500-page report by the Department of Justice Inspector General cleared the Attorney General who was the head mucky muck in charge but who saw no evil, which heard no evil and spoke no evil because he didn’t know what was going on. Some head mucky-muck Eric Holder is.

One of his top assistants resigned because the report stated clearly that he knew or should have known what a boneheaded program “Fast and Furious” was. The former head of the ATF &E who had been allowed to take another job in Washington after he left the ATF & E officially retired within minutes of the report’s release.

No one has been fired. Thousands of Mexicans have died by those guns these clowns let go to Mexico and no one was fired. The U.S. Attorney in Phoenix resigned; he was not fired. No one has been fired.

The report was based on thousands of documents from the DOJ which the department has refused to turn over to Congressman Darrell Issa’s House Committee. The refusal is so blatantly wrong that the entire House has voted to cite the Attorney general with a contempt citation. Covering up for this worst Attorney General in modern history, the President has been persuaded to invoke “Executive Privilege” — just another Washington cover-up.

For the past one-and-a-half years California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa has chaired the Government Operations Committee and gone after the ATF & E and the DOJ for negligence and maybe criminal activity that resulted in illegally purchased guns to move across the border and have been proven to have been used in murders on both sides of the border. One American Border Agent was killed in Arizona and weapons found at the scene of the gunfight were guns that were part of the “Fast and Furious” Obama Administration program.

Let us be clear the Inspector general’s report did not accuse the President or the Attorney General of any wrongdoing but if the President is going to take credit for the killing of Osama Bin Laden he must accept the blame for the murder of the American Border Patrol Agent and the hundreds of Mexicans that were slaughtered sometimes 50 at a time.

Moreover, the President personally must take responsibility for the cover up that has occurred since February, 2011. That month an assistant Attorney general wrote a letter to Issa’s Committee that denied any negligent or illegal activity by the DOJ and the ATF & E. The letter flatly denied any wrongdoing. Ten months later, the DOJ requested that the letter be returned and that the DOJ had allowed that letter out to Congress when its denials were not true.

So, who in the DOJ lied? Was it the Assistant Attorney General (Senate confirmed) who signed the letter or his assistants who composed the letter or the U. S. Attorney General in Arizona who personally approved “Fast and Furious” or the head of the ATF & E who also personally approved the program, who?

No one has been fired. No presentations have been made to a Federal Grand Jury; Attorney General Eric Holder is running around spiking the football because the IG report stated he knew nothing about the program. It appears that the principals involved will walk away without punishment, with full government pensions and health insurance paid for by us.

We won’t, therefore, see men in coats and ties handcuffed and “perp” walked on television night after night. What we should see is a barrage of 30-second TV ads between now and the election quoting from the IG’s report and we should see pictures or tape of every individual named in the report that is blamed for this stupid program that is responsible for the deaths of many.

The words used in these spots should be: “Mr. President, Border Patrol Agent Terry was killed by guns your administration allowed into Mexico. Mr. President, hundreds of Mexican men, women and children were slaughtered with guns your administration allowed into Mexico. Mr. President, why have you not personally fired each and every one of your appointed officials named in this report? Why haven’t you fired Attorney General Eric Holder who should have known this program existed? Mr. President, why have you not spoken out on this program since the Inspector General released his report? Why, Mr. President why are you silent? Mr. President, Magna cum Laude “graduate” from Harvard Law, Mr. President are you acquainted with this legal concept – SILENCE IS CONSENT.

Editor’s Note: as with all postings appearing with a by-line, this op-ed is the author’s opinion, and not necessarily the official position of Cafe Con Leche Republicans.

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Raoul Lowery Contreras (1941) was born in Mexico, raised in the USA. Former U.S. Marine, athlete, Dean’s List at San Diego State. Professional political consultant and California Republican Party official(1963-65)…Television news commentator, radio talk show host…published Op-Ed writer (1988 to present)…author of 12 books (as of 1-05-12). His books are available on Amazon.com.

by Andy Kirchoff (Reposted from Cafe Con Leche Republicans with permission)

It’s been a tumultuous 3 years for the U.S. Catholic Bishops. The Obama Administration’s HHS mandate caught even the most liberal Catholic by surprise, and the economic recession has forced many a Diocese to either close or consolidate many parishes and schools. At the administrative level, the Bishops’ Conference is undergoing a period of “generational shift”: as many elderly Bishops retire, Pope Benedict XVI has often assigned young, conservative-leaning Priests to take their place. Many prominent laity have quietly retired from influential positions in the USCCB’s lobbying arm (the retirement of 30-year USCCB lobbying veteran John Carr being the most recent example), leaving a void that only the new “John Paul II” generation of Catholics seems eager to fill. Demographic shifts among the laity, largely due to immigration, continue to transform parishes and schools from “close-knit” mono-cultural institutions into multi-ethnic communities.

Needless to say, these changes are having profound impacts on the Bishops’ political advocacy. It has left them open to charges of “Republican partisanship” because of their strong pro-life advocacy and their admirable defense of their religious freedom, even as their lobbying efforts include promoting issues such as immigration reform, environmental sustainability, and other causes more often associated with political liberalism.

Additionally, for some Catholics, the Bishops’ efforts to be pro-life without being partisan aren’t enough. A petition to “stop the scandal” of Obama’s appearance at the Catholic Charities annual Al Smith Dinner has been making the rounds among conservative pro-life Catholics, despite Cardinal Dolan’s insistence that his decision to host the dinner doesn’t amount to an endorsement. Likewise for liberal Catholics, opposing Paul Ryan’s budget plan isn’t enough; no, protests at Georgetown University and castigations of Ryan “the Ayn Rand worshipper” are the response the Bishops should take, as far as these “more Catholic than the Pope” types are concerned.

The reality that escapes both of these sects (and other rabble-rousing groups within the Church) is that the Bishop’s methods of non-partisan advocacy is the correct course of action, from both a Catholic and a political point of view. Indeed, it is because of these lobbying methods that the USCCB commands bi-partisan respect on Capitol Hill. It’s also the reason why Obama’s HHS mandate is causing such angst among even the most liberal Bishops in the Conference today.

Catholics of all political persuasions would do well to support their Bishop’s recent advocacy campaigns, rather than whining that these efforts are somehow insufficient. As a Catholic who also happens to be a Republican, I applaud the Bishops’ method of utilizing their moral authority without descending into partisan politics. To quote my own Ordinary, Cardinal Francis George, “The Church cannot be seen as yet another political party, because it would lose its moral voice.”

Nowhere is the fruit of this strategy more apparent than in Arizona, where the Diocese has been careful to both praise Gov. Jan Brewer’s laudable pro-life/pro-religious liberty legislation as well as denouncing her trademark immigration legislation, sb1070.

Contrast the Diocese’s statement regarding HB2625…

“PHOENIX (May 11, 2012) — The Bishops of the Arizona Catholic Conference are grateful that Governor Jan Brewer has signed HB 2625 into law.
HB 2625 will be very helpful in protecting religious liberty for religiously affiliated employers who have an objection to abortion inducing drugs and contraceptives.

This new law will not preempt the HHS contraceptive mandate, if it is upheld. However, if it is not, religious freedom in Arizona will be better protected.

We also want to especially thank the bill’s sponsor Representative Debbie Lesko, as well as Senator Nancy Barto, for their tremendous effort in shepherding HB 2625 through the legislative process and their unwavering support of religious liberty.”"

…with their reaction to today’s injunction regarding sb1070:

PHOENIX (Sept. 19, 2012) — Yesterday, in accordance with the earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling on SB 1070, the injunction was lifted against the provision essentially requiring state and local officers to inquire about the immigration status of any person stopped, detained, or arrested, if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is not lawfully present in the United States.

With SB 1070 now in effect, it is imperative that racial profiling does not occur in its implementation. In particular, the Arizona Catholic Bishops are sympathetic to the difficult situation facing police officers throughout Arizona who will face intense scrutiny while trying to properly implement this new law without unjust discrimination.

As we noted in our earlier statements, this provision of law does not fix the broken federal immigration policy in our country, but has the possibility of heightening fear in the immigrant community, sowing seeds of distrust, and separating families.

Accordingly, the Arizona Bishops will continue to work with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in advocating for comprehensive immigration policy reform that will address needed border security, provide legal avenues for workers to assist employers in our country, and to resolve the legal status of nearly 12 million hard working people who now live in the shadows.”

These are very different reactions to very different pieces of legislation, but that doesn’t mean the Bishops are “showing weakness” or are “politically schizophrenic.” It’s an acknowledgement that morality transcends political partisanship. In a hyper-charged political environment, that’s a message that desperately needs to be heard, and one that all Americans – and indeed, all people – will benefit from.

So, fellow conservative Catholics: How about a prayer of thanksgiving for the Bishops, instead of a whining session? I guarantee you that Obama – who only reluctantly accepted Cardinal Dolan’s offer to pray at the DNC in Charlotte – fears the former more than the latter.