Pinal County Sheriff: Mexican drug cartels now control parts of Arizona
by Hugh Holub on Jun. 15, 2010, under border issues, politics, SB 1070
Would drug smugglers try and cross the border if this was waiting for them?
The headline read “Pinal County Sheriff: Mexican drug cartels now control parts of Arizona”
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu claimed recently that the western portion of his county had essentially been taken over by the Mexican drug cartel. This is the area where one his deputies was shot by a cartel gunman, and where 2 gunshot victims were found recently.
On Wednesday June 15 the Nogales International reported camouflaged gunmen shot a border crosser near Rio Rico.
There are obvious two very different problems going on along the border.
The first problem is a lot of people crossing to get work or join their families. These folks are not a threat to the health, safety and welfare of Arizonans. They are not killing other people.
The second problem involved guys armed with automatic weapons smuggling drugs and shooting up other people, including killing worker migrants, and shooting at our cops.
You’d think by now with more and more of the countryside being taken over by the cartel and the violence escalating, the United States government would get really serious and saturate the border zone with Border Patrol agents so no one can even cross the border in the first place without being apprehended within yards of the line.
Not happening.
One can understand the frustration evident in SB 1070…but that nasty piece of legislation doesn’t address the real problem…the cartelistas and their growing reign of terror along the border.
If these guys with their automatic weapons were al Queda, you’d bet there would be a serious response. I don’t get the distinction. A terrorist is a terrorist, and the cartelistas are terrorists. They are moving from terrorizing their side of the border and now reaching into our side and extendng their terroristacts to our law enforcement people.
For those who want a military solution, the problem is the Posse Comitatus Act.
The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Navy, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order” on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.
The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act.
–Wikipedia
The first question to ask, is the invasion of the borderlands by cartel terrorists purely a law enforcement problem, or is it something more?
Sure, both those who cross the border illegaly to find work and those who cross the border with guns are violating the law. But the second group is killing people.
Dealing with the problem from a purely law enforcement angle is not working here. The law enforcement approach is basically run around trying to catch the bad guys after they violate the law.
What is badly needed is a preventative strategy that secures the border from the armed gunmen getting into the US in the first place. That requires a military-type strategy….concentrating resources along the border.
However, because of Possee Comitatus, the National Guard cannot be used in anything except a support role.
Maybe one solution is to deputize all the National Guard troops as county sheriff deputies.
Or we dig a big moat along the border and put the Coast Guard out there.
Or the state legislature, since it is inclined to pass futile laws about the problem, could ban Border Patrol agents from being any farther from the border than 10 miles.
Or the federal government could do the obvious thing and concentrate the existing Border Patrol resources at the border and not all over place like they are now.
The demands of securing the border at the border are coming from everywhere now.
Is anybody in Washington listening?
June 15th, 2010 on 10:20 am
“Move along folks, nothing to see here. The border is secure.” – Janet Napalitano, Head of Homeland Security. – June, 2010.
June 15th, 2010 on 10:53 am
Are you kidding? This Arizona border is not secure. What city are you living in? The drug cartel are here and have been here for a very long time. Our children are falling prey to these criminals and becoming “their” family. Wake up US!!!! Help Arizona!!!
June 15th, 2010 on 11:06 am
Hey Tammy: Who are YOU going to believe? Your beloved ex-Gov. and now Head of Homeland Security in the most open and transparent administration on our Nation’s history (just ask Dear Leader,) or your lying eyes and ears? Shame on you! – Still yer pal, Ferrari Bubba
June 15th, 2010 on 10:46 am
Janet Napalitano has sold-out Arizona to become Obama’s Phinochio.Her nose gets longer every day.She has brought great embarisment to Good people of Arizona.
Shame on you Janet.
E Scott
June 15th, 2010 on 10:51 am
Hugh,
the fact that you make a distinction between the illegal crossers who are ” not a threat to the health, safety and welfare of Arizonans”, and the members of these cartels is the biggest problem.
There is NO way to accurately distinguish between a man who is here illegally to pick cotton, and one who is here illegally to smuggle drugs. By the time that distinction is made, it is too late.
Both of those men use THE EXACT SAME CHANNELS. In fact, they are often the same person. You cannot be naive enough to beleive that someone who is offered a large sum of money for strapping on a backpack is going to turn it down? Especially for a trip that they are going to make anyway? A trip that only offers them a fraction of that money in “honest” wages?
If they are as poor and down-trodden as many would have us beleive- if they are desperate enough to risk their lives on that walk in the first place- then certainly they would consider the allure of that quick payday. Right? Of course they would. And do. Everyday.
I am not saying that all illegal crossers are evil, murderous thugs. What I am saying is that because they are both acting illegally, and moving in illegal circles, until their intentions are exposed, how do you know?
You don’t.
If you allow one group to circumvent the law, you open the door for ANYONE to circumvent the law.
And an open door is exactly what we’ve ended up with isn;t it?
June 15th, 2010 on 12:20 pm
If the federal government won’t secure the border because of workers crossing….then maybe they’ll secure it to keep gunmen from crossing.
Arguing about the illegality of the workers and trying to hunt them down using local cops has nothing to do with securing the border. And if the border is secure, no one gets across.
June 15th, 2010 on 12:46 pm
The cops are doing all they can and are being over run we need to do it ourselves and protect our country from these scum.
June 15th, 2010 on 2:55 pm
You might be able to “squeeze the balloon” on Arizona and get the traffic to move elsewhere, but there is too much money to be made selling drugs to Americans for enforcement alone to work. We made our bed, and now we will lie in it.
June 15th, 2010 on 5:10 pm
kevinp…well saod.
I noticed that too. OK for illegals, they are just sweet people looking for a job. The Cartels are the bad guys.
We are in a war but dont even realize it.
June 15th, 2010 on 5:25 pm
At least the Pinal County Sherifff calls it correctly.
June 15th, 2010 on 7:37 pm
The border is just one aspect of the crisis. If the government wants to close the border by using the military, they can and will. There is nothing in Federal Law that would prohibit it. There are examples of the military assisted Law Enforcement throughout our History. If they don’t want to call it assisting Law Enforcement they will just call it something else. It’s all up to Obama. When the government wants to do something they will find a way to do it. Thus far they have not! The cartels and human smugglers wouldn’t be here were it not for millions pouring over the border, getting jobs, health service, education, and so on. It’s all connected! The boarder needs to be secured and the invaders removed from our country. Legal immigration only!
June 15th, 2010 on 9:12 pm
“The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Navy, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order” on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.”
If the military is ever deployed to maintain border security, it will be FEDERAL Immigration Law, not Arizona State law that they would enforce.
June 20th, 2010 on 8:01 am
There’s another solution…consider this act of aggression as an attack on the US and declare war. Then it is a military action, not a police action. 100,000 US troops on the border with orders to shoot to kill will deter the terrorists coming over the border.
June 30th, 2010 on 2:38 pm
The problem is really not that tough to solve. Tough times call for tough measures, and the answer is simply making an example out of people trying to cross. Yes im saying use lethal force, and leave the examples laying on the ground. I bet it wouldnt take long for people to start asking themselves if its really worth it to try. Yes it may seem barbaric, and its unfortunate, but its barbaric the way the crimes are committed and they get away with it.