BORDER NEWS WATCH SPECIAL EDITIONS - 4/2020

 

 

4/15/2020 BORDER NEWS WATCH SPECIAL EDITION


VIDEO: Trump's Wall - Also Watch: Trump's Wall from Sea to Shining Sea
https://www.youtube.com/embed/RJ6FX1_yXJU
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Coronavirus
China’s Lack of Transparency About Epidemic Disease
Live-Time Tracking of Immigration Responses to the Coronavirus Crisis
Refugees Were Being Resettled Despite the Coronavirus Outbreak
Mexico Confirms 3rd Mass Coronavirus Contagion in Government Hospitals
Mexican Governors Decry Lacking Equipment as Coronavirus Cases Surpass 5K
Human Smugglers Undeterred by Coronavirus, Says Border Patrol in Arizona
California governor planning coronavirus aid for illegal immigrants
Mexico Sees 39 Coronavirus Fatalities in Single Day
Mexican Hospital ER Director Dies from Coronavirus
Mexico: Coronavirus emergency declared; nonessential activities suspended 30 days
Mexico: Fines, jail time possible for employers who don’t pay wages during emergency
Mexico: Covid-19 patients must isolate or face up to 3 years in prison
Mexico: Hospital staff protest lack of supplies, equipment to combat virus
U.S. Army veteran living in Nogales, Sonora talks about border protest demanding stricter screening for COVID-19
Mexican protesters stop Americans from crossing the border
Updated every minute, 17-year-old whiz kid’s coronavirus site used by millions
https://ncov2019.live/data
NTN
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Corona Virus in Mexico
Mexico: Corona Virus
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Opinion Polls
Poll: Majority of Public Favors Temporary Ban on Immigration from Mexico
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Corona Virus Origin
The first documentary movie on CCP virus, Tracking Down the Origin of the Wuhan Coronavirus
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McSally and Coronavirus
McSally, other senators, call for international ban on wet markets
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"Essential" Workers
Farmworkers, Mostly Undocumented, Become ‘Essential’ During Pandemic
Trump Calls for More Ag Guest Workers
Despite hype, DACA health-care workers not vital in Covid-19 fight
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Opinion
Tom Homan: In fight against coronavirus, enforcing immigration laws saves lives
'Tough Times Call For Tough Measures': Hostility towards immigration law is hurting the fight for elites' credibility
Pandemics and Population: Lessons from the Coronavirus Catastrophe of 2020
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US Congress
Bill establishing coronavirus commission to be introduced in the US Senate
Democrats push for illegal immigrants to get coronavirus stimulus cash
Members of Congress Urge White House Not to Send Those $1,200 Checks to Illegal Aliens
Democrats Introduce Measure to Extend Coronavirus Relief Check to Illegal Aliens
Coronavirus Crisis: Refugee Agencies Lobby for Mass Immigration to U.S.
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Homeland Security: Customs and Immigration
Breitbart News
Judicial Watch
ICE Most Wanted List
CBP Website
ICE Website
FOX News on Immigration
Borderland Beat

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The 'Wall"
Border wall construction surpasses 150 miles: CBP
With US border work on track, rural towns fear virus spread
Smugglers posing as wall construction crew in shootout with border patrol
DHS Issues Six Environmental Waivers To Expedite New Border Wall Projects Across Southwest Border
Groups question risk, expense of border wall construction during coronavirus pandemic

U.S. waives laws, requests input for 91 miles of new border wall construction in Arizona
Border Walls and Crime: Evidence from the Secure Fence Act

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Yes, Physical Barriers Matter on the Border, Says JTFW Director

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DHS
Illegal border crossings drop by half as new coronavirus U.S.-Mexico border policies go into effect: DH
Illegal border crossings drop by half amid coronavirus pandemic, DHS says
REAL ID Delayed Yet Again
Real ID Delayed One Year

DHS Deploys Border Patrol Agents to Review Asylum Claims

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CBP
Report: CBP Turned Back 10K Migrants Under Coronavirus Policy
U.S. Southwestern Border Apprehensions Drop Slightly amid Coronavirus
The Coronavirus Is Trump’s Latest Excuse to Militarize the Border
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Border  Patrol
Border Patrol Agent Stops Assault Incident in Texas Restaurant Drive-Thru, Say Feds
Human Smugglers Undeterred by Coronavirus, Says Border Patrol in Arizona
Border Patrol in Arizona won't say how many agents or migrants have been exposed to coronavirus
US sending 540 troops to Mexico border to assist agents during pandemic
Trudeau: U.S. standing down plan to send soldiers to backstop northern border
Migrants Crossing Illegally into U.S. Out in 96 Minutes
Border Patrol not disclosing that agents are testing positive for coronavirus
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ICE
ICE releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants due to coronavirus risk
Sheriff: Illegal immigrants released over COVID-19 will disappear
Open Borders Coalition Demands All Illegal Immigrants Freed from Custody Over Coronavirus
Panel: Should ICE Release or Continue Detention for Aliens during Pandemic?
Immigrants Self-Deporting from U.S. to Avoid Possible Coronavirus Infection
Immigration Enforcement Tops Prosecutions in 2019
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Drugs of Abuse Fact Guide
DRUGS OF ABUSE FACT GUIDE 2020
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US-MX TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
Trump announces U.S.-Mexico border closure to stem spread of coronavirus
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Border Smuggling and immigration Perspective
How is coronavirus affecting immigration into the US?
Public Health Security Is National Security
DHS: Pandemic measures cut illegal border crossings by…

The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers

How Many Illegal Aliens Live in the United States?
Best of 2019: Immigration Reads You May Have Missed

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Illegal Immigration: MPP Policy
U.S. postpones “Remain in Mexico” hearings due to coronavirus

Report: Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Stopping Anchor Baby Schemes

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Asylum
Undocumented aliens should stay away as COVID-19 rages in the US
U.N. Halts Refugee Flights Amid Coronavirus Panic

DHS Deploys Border Patrol Agents to Review Asylum Claims
Lots of Useful Information in the Refugee Report to Congress
Trump orders overhaul of asylum system, would force applicants to pay fees

Asylum Explained
Mexico’s Refugees
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Refugee Resettlement Impacts
Refugees Are Being Resettled Despite the Coronavirus Outbreak

The Fiscal Impact of Refugee Resettlement

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Sanctuaries
Judges Hand Sanctuary Cities Major Victory During National Crisis
Trump: Government will start withholding funds from sanctuary cities after court ruling

The Supreme Court Could End Sanctuary Policies Nationwide

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VISAS
Extra H-2B visas put on hold amid massive job losses
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Judicial
Immigration jumps to No. 1 federal crime
Lawyers Sue to Keep Foreign Workers in U.S. Despite 96.8 Mil Americans out of Work Force
DACA Attorneys Request Delay of Supreme Court Decision
9th Circ. Pauses Speedy Trial Rights In Calif. Southern District

Mass Immigration Prosecutions on the Border Are Currently on Hold. What Comes Next Is Uncertain.
Horowitz: Litigation invasion: Losing our border one lawsuit at a time
Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Sanctuary Cities
The Supreme Court Could End Sanctuary Policies Nationwide

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Anchor Babies
Immigrant and Native-Born Fertility, 2008 to 2018
Report: Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Stopping Anchor Baby Schemes

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Canada
Trudeau Government Asks US To Not Deport Illegal Migrants Refused Entry To Canada 
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Politics
Extra H-2B visas put on hold amid massive job losses
Ilhan Omar faces pushback after defending illegal immigrants as 'American taxpayers'
AOC claims Trump's 'xenophobic COVID response' making people 'too scared' to go to hospital
Illegals demand $1,200 checks from Americans and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez steps up to the plate for them
‘Disregarding Fundamental Human Rights’: Democrats Criticize Border Closure Meant To Protect US From Coronavirus
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GOM
Mexican Government Confirms Journalist from Acapulco was Beheaded
Coronavirus-Related Spike in Highway Robberies Expected in Mexican Border State
AMLO ignores crime victims but salutes drug trafficker’s mother: LeBaron
Migrant dies in Mexico detention center riot over virus fear

President of Mexico now being called 'Trump's enforcer'

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Tunnels
New Drug Tunnel Found That was Half Mile Long
San Diego Tunnel Task Force uncovers sophisticated cross-border drug tunnel under the US/Mexico border
Mexican Drug Tunnel Exits in U.S. Warehouse Run by Illegal Aliens Near CBP Crossing
Sixth drug tunnel in Yuma Sector uncovered near San Luis Port of Entry
Large Cache of Illegal Drugs Seized in Tunnel Stretching Across US-Mexico Border
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Selected Incidents
$45K in Unreported Cash Seized at Texas Border Crossing to Mexico
Cocaine Smuggler Arrested at Immigration Checkpoint
Smugglers posing as wall construction crew in shootout with border patrol
Four More Sex Fiends Bagged at Border, Another Truckload Stopped. Reentering Felons Not Deported.
Smuggling Attempts at Border Continue Despite Chinese Virus, More Sex Perverts Caught
Deported Sex Offenders Arrested Crossing Texas, Arizona Borders
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Cartels
Mexican Cartel Gunmen Distribute Food Baskets amid Coronavirus, Easter

*  Two Mex-to-USA tunnels recently located:

1)  Yuma, AZ -- Border Patrol Agents located a "sinkhole" along the border fence, just west of the San Luis, AZ Port of Entry; the hole revealed a tunnel that started on the immediate southside of the fence and ended just north; when called to the area, Mexican law enforcement counterparts discovered a similar sinkhole, or cave-in, on their side.  NOTE:  The area in question is considered river flood basin--the joining of the Gila River and Colorado River just north and east of this area contributes to a shallow groundwater level -- the ground is sandy and porous, and the remnants of the river actually flow mostly underground into Mexico right at the border fence.  This makes it more difficult to successfully tunnel in the Yuma-to-San Luis area, and although a number of tunnels have been used and discovered, some of them were discovered by cave-ins, unlike those more sturdily built in Nogales, San Diego (Tijuana), Douglas, Campo and Naco.  

2)  Tunnel Task Force personnel discovered an active tunnel in the Otay Mesa area of the border between Tijuana and San Diego.  The tunnel was measured to be approx. 2,000 ft. in length & about 30-31 feet in average depth from the ground surface.  L.E. agents were able to interdict 1,300 lbs. of Cocaine; 86 lbs. of Meth.; 17 lbs. of Heroin; 2 lbs. of Fentanyl, and 3,000 lbs of Marijuana.  Quite a haul!

 

*  Rafael Caro-Quintero is still at it, and still in hiding; he was reputedly the cartel boss who ordered the kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA Agent Kiki Camarena, back in the mid-eighties.  A Mexican Fed. Judge released him a couple of years ago, and the USA still has an open extradition warrant on him.  He is hiding out, but has gone public in recent times declaring that he is out of the narco business ever since his twenty-eight of time served in a Mexican prison.

HOWEVER:  The Mexican government (GOM) just seized 18 separate bank accounts known to belong to Caro-Quintero, and fourteen (14) of them are linked to the Sinaloa Cartel (Chapo Guzman, Mayo Zambada, et al).  So much for staying out of the Bad Boy Business!

 

*  Chihuahua, Mex.:  A gunfight between two Cd. Juarez (El Paso) based narco-gangs named "La Linea," and "Los Aztecas" occurred the other day in Madera, Chih., Mex.  Nineteen (19) gangbangers were killed, between the 2 groups.  There were approx. 60 shooters involved, as estimated by local witnesses.  Their turf war started in Cd. Juarez, and as both gangs have grown and expanded their operations, they are now seen fighting throughout the entire state of Chihuahua.  Possibly related:  around the same time, eleven (11) people were pulled out of homes and businesses in the towns of Cuauhtémoc and Parral, Chih., lined up and gunned down.  

 

*  The Mexican state of Guanajuato, once considered one of the more peaceful states, is averaging 10 narco-killings per day, while Baja California (Tijuana, Ensenada, Rosarita) averages a little over six per day.  

NOTE:  This is just a sampling of the current state of affairs in Mexico...AND ON THAT NOTE:  The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador was recently spotted and filmed meeting and dining with the mother of Joaquin Guzman-Loera, better known as "El Chapo" (serving time in the USA as a narco kingpin).

 

That's it for now!

--R

Ruthless Mexican cartel led by DEA's most-wanted fugitive is "taking over everywhere"
Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG)
Inside massive DEA raid targetting drug cartel
A Full-Bore Bloodbath South of the Border
Mexico's cartel crisis – and ours
US, Mexican lawmen going after border’s ‘most wanted’ criminals

Borderland Beat
Breitbart News

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Homeland Security: Customs and Immigration
Breitbart News
Judicial Watch
ICE Most Wanted List
CBP Website
ICE Website
FOX News on Immigration
Borderland Beat
USInc
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Cartel Terrorism
Bill classifies seven Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations

Part I, "A New Terror Travel Tactic is Born;
Part II; “New Study Explains Why Islamic Terrorists Have Not Attacked Through America’s Southern Border;
Part III, “Like in Europe, America’s Broken Asylum System Enables Terrorist Infiltration Over U.S.-Mexico Border”
Part IV: Five Ways America Should Secure the Border Against European-Style Terrorist Infiltration ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FBI: BPA Nick Ivie
Border Patrol Agent Nick Ivie Was Killed By Smugglers, Not Friendly Fire
    https://www.amazon.com/Shot-Nick-Ivie-Huey-Freeman/dp/1734295104
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Enrique "Kiki" Camarena
Killed by a cartel. Betrayed by his own? US reexamines murder of federal agent featured in ‘Narcos’
  Rafael Caro Quintero __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2019 Preliminary Semiannual Crime Statistics Overview
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Books:
Leo Banks is a Tucson-based reporter who covers border-related issues.

Novels by Leo W Banks:

Double Wide
Champagne Cowboys (Whip Stark)

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Our 50-State Border Crisis by Howard G. Buffett
Also see:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/our-50-state-border-crisis-howard-buffett/1127331052
https://www.amazon.com/Our-50-State-Border-Crisis-Epidemic-ebook/dp/B074M6FT8F
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/howard-g-buffett/our-50-state-border-crisis/Books

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NEW BOOK by Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton: Clean House: Exposing Our Government's Secrets and Lies

Judicial Watch: Open Records Laws and Resources

  _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

·        Can Mexico’s Jalisco Cartel Win the Turf War for Michoacán?

·        Internal Strife Within the CJNG in Baja California, Mexico

·        Could the Jalisco Cartel’s ‘El Mencho’ Really Be a Billionaire?

·        Legal Loophole Allows Mexico Drug Lord Luxury Jail Conditions

·        Walled Inside Homes, Corpses of Mexico’s Disappeared Evade Authorities

·        Is the Jalisco Cartel Winning the Battle for Mexico’s Caribbean?

·        Migrants Easy Prey Under US ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program

·        The Flight and Capture of a Cartel Man

·        The School of Terror: Inside a Jalisco Cartel Training Camp in Mexico

 


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Archive

Fast and Furious

All--

See below article, forwarded to me by a friend.

Thanks,

Ron C.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

The deadly-but-forgotten government gun-running scandal known as “Fast and Furious” has lain dormant for years, thanks to White House stonewalling and media compliance. But newly uncovered emails have reopened the case, exposing the anatomy of a coverup by an administration that promised to be the most transparent in history.

At least 20 other deaths or violent crimes have been linked to Fast and Furious-trafficked guns.

A federal judge has forced the release of more than 20,000 pages of emails and memos previously locked up under President Obama’s phony executive-privilege claim. A preliminary review shows top Obama officials deliberately obstructing congressional probes into the border gun-running operation.

Fast and Furious was a Justice Department program that allowed assault weapons — including .50-caliber rifles powerful enough to take down a helicopter — to be sold to Mexican drug cartels allegedly as a way to track them. But internal documents later revealed the real goal was to gin up a crisis requiring a crackdown on guns in America. Fast and Furious was merely a pretext for imposing stricter gun laws.

Only the scheme backfired when Justice agents lost track of the nearly 2,000 guns sold through the program and they started turning up at murder scenes on both sides of the border — including one that claimed the life of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

While then-Attorney General Eric Holder was focused on politics, people were dying. At least 20 other deaths or violent crimes have been linked to Fast and Furious-trafficked guns.

The program came to light only after Terry’s 2010 death at the hands of Mexican bandits, who shot him in the back with government-issued semiautomatic weapons. Caught red-handed, “the most transparent administration in history” flat-out lied about the program to Congress, denying it ever even existed.

Then Team Obama conspired to derail investigations into who was responsible by first withholding documents under subpoena — for which Holder earned a contempt-of-Congress citation — and later claiming executive privilege to keep evidence sealed.READ

MORE:  https://nypost.com/2016/05/21/the-scandal-in-washington-no-one-is-talking-about/

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Birth Tourism
372,000 Born to Illegal Aliens and Visitors Every Year, 33,000 to 'Birth Tourists'

We Say it Often, Numbers Count. And Here's An Example of Why
With reduction in migration flow, agents return focus to border crime
DHS ‘Reprograms’ Budgets as More Illegal Aliens Go Free
The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers
The United States Loses $150 Billion Annually in Remittances
A shifting border policy
The Real Cost of 'Free' Health Insurance for Illegal Immigrants
American-Made .50-Caliber Rifles Help Fuel Mexican Cartel Violence
Where does Mexico really get its guns?
 
Flores Settlement Agreement
What Ending the Flores Agreement on Detention of Immigrant Children Really Means
California, 18 Other States, and D.C. Sue over Flores Regulation: My take: Insufferable, politically motivated, taxpayer-funded bloviation
Finally, a Final Rule to Fix the Flores Loophole: But there are hurdles ahead
Why Trump wants to detain immigrant children longer
FAIR Applauds Trump Administration on Closing Flores Loophole
Flores Settlement Agreement
How Can Congress Address the Current Border Crisis?

20 Times Breitbart Reported on Migrant Deaths During Obama-Biden Years and No One Cared
The Other Border Crisis
Release of Illegal Aliens into U.S. Drops 65 Percent Since Trump-Mexico Deal
Report: Fewer Illegals Will Cross the Border in June. But the Invasion Will Continue
100K Illegals Got Away From Border Agents
Illegal immigrants learn a trick to sneak in: Dress like drug smugglers
Mexico Sends Almost 15,000 Troops to US-Mexico Border to Curb Illegal Immigration
Mexico says it has deployed 15,000 forces in the north to halt U.S.-bound migration
Agents confront challenging border dynamics
Tucson Border Patrol Agents Confront Challenging Border Dynamics
Lessons From The Border’s Volatile History.
Trump admin program sends asylum-seekers to await claims in Mexico, despite fears of violence: report
Migrants rush to enter Mexico ahead of security crackdown demanded by Trump
Deal Or Not, Mexico Can’t Stop The Border Crisis On Its Own
At Mexico’s southern border, migrants feel the pinch of a crackdown spurred by U.S.
House Republicans: DHS Failed to Implement Available Border Fixes

How Can Congress Address the Current Border Crisis ?
What’s behind the spike in immigrants at the border
Illegal Aliens Are Caught — Then Released Into U.S. Interior
5 facts about illegal immigration in the U.S. 
A Growing Border Crisis: A report from Arizona
What's It Gonna Be...A Welfare State or Open Borders?
Americans Clueless About Border Invasion, Illegals Dumped Into the Heartland
What a real border crisis looks like, in a chart

Understanding Trump's Mexico Tariffs: A Reader's Digest Of 9 Important Points On The Border Crisis

Explainer: How does the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border compare with the past?
Remittances Key to Central American Economies: Incentivizing the departure of their nationals?
The Conservative Hispanic army that’s fighting hard for President Trump
Ninth Circuit Hands Trump a Win on 'Return to Mexico: The court still misses a major point
Appeals Court Rules Trump Administration Can Keep Sending Asylum-Seekers To Mexico
Appeals court: Trump can make asylum seekers wait in Mexico
Border Patrol chief warns of more releases of migrant families into communities
Rising cost of migrant health care is straining charities, Border Patrol
YOUR questions answered by Center for Immigration Studies
Why US Aid Cuts to Central America Will Help Organized Crime
US Corruption List Highlights Northern Triangle Presidents’ Criminal Ties

Talking Points Suggest E-Verify Is Part of the President’s New Immigration Plan: The key that shuts off the jobs magnet
What’s to Fear About Social Security’s No-Match Letters?
Radio ads offer to 'help out' migrants trying to enter US, Border Patrol official says
Why Immigrants Who Overstay U.S. Visas Are So Difficult To Track
2019 Border Tour Videos
Government Releasing Sick Illegals in American Communities
Illegal-alien Invasion Crisis Not Just at the Border
A Bipartisan Panel Reports Alarming Findings on the Border Crisis
Expand Expedited Removal, Mr. President
Can the President Shut Down the Border?
Buttressing The Border – On Both Sides
History of U.S. Immigration
The History of the Flores Settlement: How a 1997 agreement cracked open our detention laws

Cannabis Effects
Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence
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The following was excerpted from: Breitbart News  See: https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/01/08/29-facts-about-the-border-and-mexican-cartels-you-need-to-know/

29 Facts About the Border and Mexican Cartels You Need to Know

As the debate about the construction of a wall and other border security issues, here are 29 facts that you need to know. The topics came up during the most recent episode of “Coffee with Scott Adams.” Brandon Darby, the Managing Editor for Breitbart’s Border and Cartel Chronicles, sat down with the famed creator of the Dilbert comics to discuss the intricacies of border security.

1) No one is proposing a wall between all of Mexico and the U.S.—the U.S. southern border is approximately 2,000 miles. The discussion is about 1,000 miles of physical barriers in regions that are heavily controlled by drug cartels.

2) The Texas border is about 1,200 miles of the approximately 2,000 miles of the total southern border. Most of that border is the Rio Grande, a river which varies in intensity with respect to currents.

3) Mexico has numerous states under the direct influence of drug cartels that have standing armies with access to RPGs, armored vehicles, artillery, and explosives. Most of Mexico has military forces patrolling streets to deal with cartel paramilitary forces.

4) The most violent drug cartels operate south of the Texas border. Factions of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel routinely allow their violence to spill over to the average person.

5) The border city of Tijuana has some of the highest murder statistics in all of Mexico. Despite record-setting figures, most of the victims tend to be tied to drug trafficking.

6) Border cities south of Texas like Reynosa, Tamaulipas, have much lower murder rates than Tijuana. Despite the difference, average citizens are often touched by cartels including shootouts, kidnappings, and other violent activities.

7) Most of the efforts by drug cartels to control migration happens South of the Texas border. Criminal organizations like the Reynosa faction of the Gulf Cartel profit more from human smuggling than drug trafficking.

8) The majority of tunnels are found on the Arizona and California borders. The tunnels are generally discovered in areas where there are population centers on both sides of the border and a wall or fence is already in place. Few have been found in Texas, where there is a river.

9) Most tunnels are discovered thanks to informants; law enforcement technology has rarely been successful in locating border tunnels.

10) Most of the border does not have a drug tunnel problem. They are typically found in Douglas and Nogales, Arizona, as well as Mexicali, San Diego/San Isidro, California.

11) Cartels spend a lot of money building a tunnel–only to be discovered shortly after.

12) Claims by Democrats about the low crime rates in El Paso are an example of walls working. In areas with considerable border barriers such as El Paso, the regional criminal groups turn more professional and shy away from illegal immigration to traffic harder drugs through ports of entry.

13) The presence of physical barriers in cities like El Paso has led to fewer people coming over the border to commit petty crimes or bring loads of drugs on their backs. The criminal organizations in the area shifted toward corrupting U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to smuggle harder drugs.

14) A partially secured border is more deadly than an open or well-secured one. Previous administrations put barriers south of most cities in Arizona and California to funnel illicit traffic into areas that were easier to manage or too desolate to cross. This led to a spike in deaths since the desire of people to reach the U.S. pushes them to more remote and dangerous areas

15) Human smuggling and illegal immigration will continue to be a problem until economic opportunities improve in Mexico and in Central America.

16) Mexican transnational criminal groups and their leaders have grown beyond the size and power of the American mafia from Prohibition Era and Al Capone. Cartels are integrated into the Mexican political culture and bureaucracy. Legalization would not stop them.

17) The decriminalization of marijuana and the production of higher quality plants in the U.S. versus Mexico had a series of unspoken consequences. After marijuana from Mexico was not able to compete with U.S.-grown plants, some cartels shifted their model more toward human smuggling–becoming a factor in the 2014 migrant crisis and the current one at the U.S. border.

18) After marijuana decriminalization in the U.S., cartels shifted to increase their cultivation of poppies and the production of black tar heroin. In order to compete with the Asian product, cartels use fentanyl–playing a role in the current opioid overdose epidemic.

19) The U.S. State Department influences how hard authorities crack down on cartels. U.S. agencies have been told to “measure their law enforcement priorities with the State Department’s diplomatic concerns.”

20) A cartel’s power in Mexico comes not from kingpins, but from politicians, financiers, lawyers, and money launderers. U.S. authorities and diplomats routinely focus on kingpins such as “El Chapo” and his lieutenants, but never go after the rest of the circle.

21) The state of Tamaulipas, directly south of Texas, has two former governors currently indicted for their alleged roles in helping cartels. One remains in Mexico, while the other is in U.S. custody awaiting trial.

22) U.S. diplomats are negotiating and playing along with the same Mexican politicians that protect cartels, in the interest of trade and diplomacy.

23) Certain factions of drug cartels have crossed the line into terrorism and should classified as such. The designation would change the way the U.S. alienates them from banks, financial resources, and politicians. Other cartels would be forced to tone down their actions or risk similar consequences.

24) Worries of Middle Eastern terrorists crossing the southwestern border are at times mitigated by cartel members who are informants for U.S. agencies that enjoy handsome incentives to turn people in.

25) The more likely scenario for terrorism deals with people flying into Canada and then entering the U.S. with visas. Most people on the terror watch list who try to enter the U.S. across the southern border are Somalis or Kurds.

26) Certain organizations like Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel present more of an imminent threat than foreign terrorists entering through the southern border.

27) Mexico’s ongoing cartel violence and drug war has led to more murders and disappearances than some international wars. Mexico has suffered more than 250,000 homicides and at least 30,000 disappearances since 2009.

28) Up to 70 percent of the women and girls from Central America who come through Mexico to the U.S. are sexually assaulted en route. Most women who leave Central America for the U.S. have the expectation of facing multiple abuses at the hands of cartel-connected human smugglers.

29) The State Department keeps U.S. law enforcement from being more aggressive against cartels. The State Department has everything to do with how law enforcement and intelligence agencies operate in Mexico–and any effort to secure the border without addressing the Department’s timidity in Mexico will likely fail or be less successful than it otherwise could be.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon.  You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
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From ICE Acting Director Homan:

Excerpt from: https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/blame-congress-rapid-rise-illegal-border-crossings

REFORM THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT (TVPRA) -- Commonly referred to as the William Wilberforce Act, TVPRA prohibits Border Patrol from quickly removing unaccompanied children from non-contiguous countries who attempt to cross the border illegally. UACs from Mexico and Canada can be quickly returned once Border Patrol is able to determine that they're not victims of human trafficking. But for minors from countries outside of Mexico and Canada, minors must be turned over to Health and Human Services, allowing them to stay in the country indefinitely.

REFORM THE ASYLUM PROCESS -- Under existing law, anyone apprehended at the border who makes a credible fear claim that passes the initial screening is released. Since 2008, there's been a 1700% spike in the number of credible fear claims made at the Southern border, and 80% pass the credible fear screening. However, only 20% of those who pass the credible fear screening are granted asylum by a federal judge.

MANDATE E-VERIFY -- Foreign nationals cross the border illegally because they can obtain jobs in the U.S. Homan said requiring all employers to use E-Verify would discourage most illegal immigration to the United States and dramatically reduce the number of illegal border crossings.

END SANCTUARY CITIES -- At last count, more than 300 sanctuary jurisdictions exist across the country, including California which recently passed legislation making it a sanctuary state. Jurisdictions that protect illegal aliens from removal encourages illegal border crossings because illegal aliens know they have hundreds of safe-havens to choose from once they get here.

TERMINATE FLORES AGREEMENT -- The spike in the apprehension of family units is a result of the Flores Agreement, which restricts the period of time that Border Patrol can detain family units. The Flores Agreement encourages illegal border crossers to cross with children, knowing that Border Patrol has to release them after a certain period of time. If BP were able to hold family units until their court date, family units would be less likely to cross the border illegally.

All of Homan's policy recommendations are included in Rep. Bob Goodlatte's H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act, but not surprisingly, none are part of the ongoing DACA amnesty negotiations between House Republicans.

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Mexico
Here’s How Mexico Treats Illegal Immigrants

Authored by: Matt Palumbo

While combating illegal immigration has long been a bipartisan issue, the so-called anti-Trump “resistance” has decided that guilt tripping anyone who supports a sensible immigration policy is a viable political strategy. We’ve all heard the arguments; that opposing illegal immigration is preventing people from “just looking for a better life,” or over the past few months, is “separating families.” And of course there’s the most common insult, that enforcing immigration laws is “racist.”

But are America’s immigration laws, or our treatment of illegal immigrants uniquely awful?

To answer that question, let’s examine the situation in another nation: Mexico.

Mexico Rejects More Asylum Requests than the U.S. 

Speaking of the rise in asylum request rejections under Trump, a writer at the American-Statesman noted a “dramatic” change. They write, “Immigration judges, who are employed by the Justice Department and not the judicial branch like other federal judges, rejected 61.8 percent of asylum cases decided in 2017, the highest denial rate since 2005.”

Meanwhile in Mexico, nearly 90 percent of asylum requests are denied (and the figures are similarly high for other Latin American countries, such as El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala).

Mexico Regulates Immigration Based on Race

I only bring this up, because for all the rhetoric about Trump’s supposed racism or disdain for certain immigrants, there is one country that does regulate their immigration flows by race, and that’s the country Trump is most accused of being racist against.

In Article 37 of Mexico’s General Law of Population, we learn that their Department of the Interior shall be able to deny foreigners entry into Mexico, if, among other reasons, they may disrupt the “domestic demographic equilibrium.” Additionally, Article 37 also states that immigrants can be removed if they’re detrimental to “economic or national interests.”

Mexico Deports More Central American Illegal Immigrants than the United States

In July 2014, former Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto and former president of Guatemala Otto Pérez Molina, announced the start of a migration security project called Plan Frontera Sur (Southern Border Plan). The U.S. has committed at least $100 million towards this plan to help aid Mexican border security, because it’s mutually beneficial. Both Mexico and the U.S. want to keep out Central American illegal immigrants (and they have to pass through Mexico to reach the U.S.)..

Since Plan Frontera Sur, Mexico has deported more central American illegal immigrants than we have in the U.S. Even CNN had to acknowledge that:

According to statistics from the US and Mexican governments compiled by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, Mexico in 2015 apprehended tens of thousands more Central Americans in its country than the US did at its border, and in 2015 and 2016 it deported roughly twice as many Central Americans as the US did.Since migrant children are the hot-button topic in the American immigration debate currently; In 2014 there were 18,169 migrant children were deported from Mexico, and 8,350 deported to Central America the year before. From January 2015 to July 2016, 39,751 unaccompanied minors were put in the custody of Mexican authorities.

A report this year from Amnesty International concluded that “Mexican migration authorities are routinely turning back thousands of people from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to their countries without considering the risk to their life and security upon return, in many cases violating international and domestic law by doing so.”

Mexico Has Their Own Southern Border – and Invisible Wall

For us much as Donald Trump is criticized by the political class in Mexico for wanting to beef up security on the U.S.-Mexico border, as previously mentioned, Mexico has accepted our help in enforcing their immigration laws on their own southern border with Guatemala. While they don’t have a literal border fence, they do have checkpoints, patrols, raids, etc. According to NPR:

Rather than amassing troops on its border with Guatemala, Mexico stations migration agents, local and federal police, soldiers and marines to create a kind of containment zone in Chiapas state. With roving checkpoints and raids, Mexican migration agents have formed a formidable deportation force.
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14 killed in shooting attacks in Mexican border city

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/64717234.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_cam____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In Homan's conversation with CIS's Jessica Vaughan, he identified five actions that Congress can take to end the surge of illegal border crossings.


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The Current "Wall" Images

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Excerpt from CIS: https://cis.org/Fact-Sheet/Asylum-Removal-and-Immigration-Courts

Asylum

Definition:

An applicant for asylum has the burden to demonstrate that he or she is eligible for that protection. To satisfy that burden, the applicant must prove that he or she is a refugee. A “refugee” is a person outside of his or her country of nationality or habitual residence who is “unable or unwilling” to return to that country “because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Talking Points:

Expedited Removal

Definition:

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allows immigration officers — rather than judges — to order the deportation of arriving aliens who are inadmissible because of fraud or misrepresentation, because they have no documentation (like a passport or a visa) that would allow them to be admitted, or because they entered illegally and are apprehended within 100 miles of the border and 14 days of entry.

Talking Point:

Credible Fear

Definition:

If an alien in expedited removal asserts a fear of persecution, the arresting officer will refer the alien to an asylum officer for a “credible fear interview”. If the asylum officer determines that the alien has a credible fear, the alien is placed in removal proceedings before an immigration judge, where the alien can file his or her application for asylum. Under the INA, the term “‘credible fear of persecution’ means that there is a significant possibility, taking into account the credibility of the statements made by the alien in support of the alien’s claim and such other facts as are known to the officer, that the alien could establish eligibility for asylum under section 208.” This is a very low standard, and credible fear is found in 75 to 90 percent of all cases in which an alien claims credible fear.

Talking Points:

Bond

Definition:

“Bond” is the term used in immigration for the release of an alien pending removal proceedings or removal. Aliens can be released on their own recognizance, or on a minimum bond of $1,500. Bond can be granted by either an immigration judge or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Parole

Definition:

“Parole” is the term used in immigration for the release of an arriving alien. It can only be granted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Again, DHS can release an alien on parole on his or her own recognizance, or for a sum of money as bond.

Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC)

Definition:

An alien under the age of 18 who enters the United States or is apprehended by DHS who does not have a parent or guardian in the United States. Under section 462 of the Homeland Security Act (2002), UACs must be turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), not DHS, for detention.

Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA)

Definition:

Modified the rules governing the detention of unaccompanied alien children (UACs). Under the TVPRA, UACs must be turned over to HHS within 48 hours of detention by DHS, or identification as a UAC, and “promptly placed in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child,” generally meaning release to a family member or friend.

Talking Point:

Flores Settlement Agreement

Definition:

An agreement between the then-Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and a class of alien minors in 1997, which is currently overseen by Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In 2016, it was read to create a presumption in favor of the release of all alien minors, even those alien minors who arrive with their parents.

Talking Points:

Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)

Definition:

Agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ) with jurisdiction over the immigration courts and the Board of immigration appeals (BIA).

Immigration Courts

Definition:

Courts with primary jurisdiction over removal proceedings. Immigration judges in these courts determine removability, set bond where they have jurisdiction, and can adjudicate applications for relief from removal, including asylum.

Talking Point:

Backlog

Definition:

Cases that have been pending before the immigration courts for more than one year. The backlog more than doubled from FYs 2006 through 2015, primarily due to declining numbers of cases completed per year. There were 437,000 pending cases at the start of FY 2015, when the median pending time was 404 days.

Talking Points:

Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)

Definition:

 Appellate tribunal with jurisdiction over appeals from immigration courts. Most aliens have a right to appeal immigration court decisions to the BIA.

Topics: Immigration Courts, Asylum

Fact Sheet
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Southwest Border Tour, Spring 2019: Hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies
Read Accounts and View Pictures of Past Tours:
Unrest in the Rio Grande Valley
Diligence on a Changing Canadian Border
Constant Activity on the California Border
Holding Steady in West Texas
A Washington Narrative Meets Reality
Sunshine, Saguaros, and Smugglers
Reflections from the Border

End of 4/15/2020 BORDER NEWS WATCH SPECIAL EDITION