Author: mopress

Appearing on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on the day after his Senate testimony, border union president T.J. Bonner repeated his pleas for a crackdown on employers and a single national ID that would specify employment eligibility.

While Bonner’s approach to border issues seems to represent the sincere experience of border agents who take their state boundaries seriously, callers to the program often expressed poisonous opinions about the character of immigrants and the undesirability of their presence. A few callers, however, place their mistrust elsewhere.

The first caller (from Texas) warned that the more border enforcement we have, the more problems we’re likely to see. She suggested more peace observers, because the border patrol "can get away with anything they want to." Bonner replied that 11,000 agents are not enough to patrol 8,000 miles of border. "We need to turn off the employment magnet so that people stop crossing the border," said Bonner.

A Republican caller from Maryland complained that the mayor of Baltimore wants to put trailers in for day workers and her US Senator wants to give more green cards, "So what is the point of border security? They’re going down and they’re getting killed for what? It’s our politicians playing games. They don’t want them here, but yet they bring them here."

"The Democrats can’t control the African Americans anymore. They figure they have them in their pockets, so now they’re using Mexicans." At which point the call was terminated.

Bonner kept his poker face on and highlighted the caller’s concern about the double standard of immigration policy, that, "employers are addicted to illegal alien labor; exploitable, cheap labor; and that has to stop if we are going to gain control of our borders."

In reply to a follow up question by the African-American host of Washington Journal, Bonner explained that Homeland Security structure removed interior enforcement of immigration from border enforcement, so stepping up enforcement on employers within the country is not an option for the border patrol agency, "and that’s part of the problem."

An Independent caller from Vermont suggested that money spent on border enforcement might better be used to subsidize employment opportunities in Mexico.

Bonner first criminalized the problem by noting that from 2 percent to 10 percent of border crossers were criminals. "and some of those are very serious criminals".

"Also, you have massive corruption in those countries. Mexico for example has great natural wealth, but it doesn’t take care of its own people, perhaps because we serve as a pressure release valve for them, and take millions of their citizens and give them jobs, and billions of US dollars go back to Mexico, so there’s no reason for them to take care of their own people. But 95 percent of the wealth in that country is controlled by 17 families. That’s not healthy for their economy. Just pouring money into that problem is not going to solve it."

In response to the moderator, Bonner explained that border agents in the field have good working relations with local law enforcement, but in Washington the fact of that close working relation is minimized, "because it exposes the fallacy of their lie that the border is under control. Anyone who lives along the border knows that is simply not the case."

A Republican caller from Long Island complained that he could not take his lovely daughter to his home town for fear she might be raped by illegals. He was sick and tired of reading about illegals causing crime and would soon have them all deported. While we’re chasing Bin Laden and the Taliban, illegals are committing more crimes per month than the three thousand killed at the World Trade Center.

"Crime by illegal aliens is a serious, serious problem," answered Bonner. Across the country there are fewer than 5,500 criminal investigators said Bonner (referring to Homeland Security?); of those only about 2,000 are "fully trained" in immigration matters and only about 10 percent of those are working on cases.

A caller from North Carolina noted that with the crackdown on suphedrine in the US, methamphetamine production has moved to Mexico where the product is quite pure and harmful. Bonner agreed that meth production has moved south of the border and pointed out that drug interdiction only catches about ten percent of the total traffic.

Fencing is not the answer, said Bonner in reply to the moderator. "Fences slow people down, but if you don’t have the agents in place to get them and send them back," said the labor leader, "it’s pretty ineffective." Bonner recalled catching the same group of people four times in a single 8-hour shift. Until we turn off the employment magnet, "people making $4 per day will continue to come across the border by the millions every year."

From Tallahassee Florida came a suggestion that farming could be further mechanized or prison labor could be put to work in the fields instead of migrant workers, and that would turn off the tap. And why give migrants social services like health care and rental assistance? Bonner thanked the caller for her "very insightful" comments.

A Phoenix caller wanted to know what laws were already on the books to penalize employers and why we weren’t enforcing them. The problem said Bonner is that in order to bust an employer the current law requires proof that the employer knows an employee is illegal, and there are about 100 documents that the employer can accept as proof that the worker is legal. Some bills would narrow the documents to two, but "two is too many" said Bonner as he criticized the McCain-Kennedy plan to provide a database for employment eligibility. What you need is a single document.

A caller from Ohio suggested that next time the Mexican military steps in the USA, a detachment of US Marines should be sent in "to wipe them out." And why not ship all the convicted felons back?

"Well actually we recommended that the US military be sent down to the border on standby to deal with military incursions," said Bonner. But we should not deport alien criminals before they have served their time here, because Mexico will just set them free to cross the border again.

President of the National Border Patrol Council of Federal Employees T.J. Bonner told Senate subcommittees last week that Mexican military support of smugglers is serious enough to warrant presence of US military forces along the border. Then he added a lengthy parenthetical qualification:

"United States military units should be stationed at strategic locations near the southwest border in order to be able to quickly respond to and deal with future armed incursions by the Mexican military. The Border Patrol and other civilian law enforcement agencies do not have the proper equipment nor training to safely and effectively respond to such incursions.
"(This should not be construed as a call for the military to enforce our immigration laws, which would be problematic for two principal reasons. First, it requires a great deal of training to ensure that someone is prepared to effectively enforce our complex immigration laws. Border Patrol agents receive nineteen intensive weeks of basic academy training in a wide variety of topics, and an additional six months of on-the-job training. Attempting to shorten this training would likely result in numerous civil rights violations, including wrongfully arresting and incarcerating people who have a legal right to be in this country.

"Second, training soldiers to enforce civilian laws would needlessly endanger them during military combat situations, as the rules of engagement between the two settings differ dramatically. In civilian law enforcement situations, the use of force is permissible only in self-defense or the defense of an innocent third-party, and even then only as a last resort. It is well-established that people instinctively react in a crisis according to their training. At best, people who are trained as both soldiers and law enforcement officers would hesitate in a crisis situation, endangering themselves. At worst, they would respond inappropriately, potentially endangering innocent people. An unfortunate incident that occurred near Redford, Texas on May 20, 1997 illustrates this problem.

"A squad of four U.S. Marines was conducting counter-drug border surveillance when it was fired upon by an 18-year-old high school student who was tending his family’s herd of goats. The Marines outflanked the youth and fired a single fatal shot at him. While this response would have been appropriate in a military combat situation, it was entirely inappropriate in a civilian law enforcement setting.)"

Sheriff A. D’Wayne Jernigan
Val Verde County, Texas
Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition

Written Testimony on "Federal Strategies to End Border Violence"
before the Senate Judiciary Committee;
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship; and
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security (March 1,  2006)

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittees, it is an honor and a privilege to be invited to appear before you to discuss strategies to combat Border Violence along the United States border and the Republic of Mexico.

On April 18th, 2005, Sheriff Sigi Gonzales sent out letters to the 16 Texas Sheriff’s whose counties border the Republic of Mexico. The letter invited us to a meeting to discuss unique problems that we face along the border. This was done out of frustration in what we felt was the inadequacy of our federal government to protect our border in preventing a potential terrorist from entering our country. We felt that as citizens of this great country, our almost 2,000 miles of border was very porous, that many people whose intentions were unknown were coming into our country. If their intentions were to commit acts similar to or worse than what happened on September 11, 2001, then very little was being done to stop them. All of us expressed the same frustration since we had mentioned this many times to federal and state legislators. We felt that perhaps speaking as one voice we would be heard. We realize that we are a bi-partisan multi ethnic coalition of Law Enforcement professionals. The crisis that we face on our border is not a racial issue, or even one of politics. This crisis is a red white and blue national security crisis.

On May 4th, 2005, we met in Laredo, Texas. As a result we formed the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition. The first and foremost priority of our coalition is protecting all residents of this country against a terrorist act without regard to race, sex, or ethnicity. We continue to believe that many persons have entered our country with intentions of harming us. We are sincere when we tell you that we are not blaming the agents of the United States Border Patrol but, rather, we criticize the policies that they have been shackled with.

I want to make you aware that the Law Enforcement experience of the member sheriffs of this coalition total almost 460 years including 101 years of experience as sheriffs. The oldest serving sheriff of this coalition is El Paso County Sheriff Samaniego with 22 years. I have attached the list of member sheriffs of the coalition with their years of experience and have marked it as Attachment #1. I have served more than 29 of the 42 years of my Law Enforcement career on the Texas/Mexico border. We have seen the border become more violent and criminally active than at any point in our careers. Our officers rarely encounter the socio-economic illegal alien of the past, but routinely encounter criminal illegal aliens.

I have been asked to briefly relate to you some of the problems that we have encountered along the border, specifically the violence along the border and incursions, among other matters. Most of the sheriffs that have encountered these problems are present to answer any questions you may have as they relate to their counties.

The areas of Val Verde and Maverick Counties, specifically, continue to see many persons from countries other that Mexico entering the country and being let loose in our counties. I and Sheriff Tomas Herrera have been very concerned with these persons since it is not known how many potential special interest aliens were being released into our great country with what we term as a “notice to disappear”. We did not know what diseases, if any, these persons may have had. These persons, when released, would trek into town through day care centers and schools. After we complained of this practice, Border Patrol, changed their policy and began to transport them to bus stations. The most damaging part of the “catch and release policy” was the debilitating effect on agent moral. These illegal immigrants who were apprehended and then released would photograph themselves and send the pictures back to their respective countries to show that they had made it to America. I have attached one such photograph and marked it as Attachment #2. The photograph shows them holding their “permission” papers.

All of us are concerned that the border with Mexico is being used as the open door to this country. Most of the illegal immigrants from countries of special interest that are apprehended are apprehended along the southwest border. I have attached these lists and have marked them as Attachment #3.

Through intelligence information we have also learned that several murders in Laredo, Webb County, Texas, have been orchestrated by members of drug cartels operating in both countries. These drug cartel enforcers cross the Rio Grande River, commit their murders in the United States, then head back to Mexico, again, via the Rio Grande River. We have all seen in the media the reports of the murders in Nuevo Laredo, 24 so far in the first 36 days of 2006. These murders are connected to organizations in both Mexico and the United States. In February, a Task Force in Laredo Texas confiscated Improvised Explosive Devices as well as items used to make explosive devices. Border Patrol agents and deputy sheriffs have been shot at from Mexico on a routine basis. Just last month a sniper in Mexico shot at agents that were working along the banks of the river in the area of the cities of Rio Bravo/El Cenizo. This continued, sporadically, for three days. Agents reported seeing several individuals wearing military style uniforms on a hill on the Mexican side, one of them was using what was believed to be a high powered rifle with scope.

The Rio Grande Valley, Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr Counties, have continuous problems with pseudo-cops coming from Mexico to extort and kidnap citizens in these counties. This area is the fastest growing area in the nation. They have seen their share of terrorist activity as it relates to the migration of many members of ruthless gangs that come into this country for reasons other than legitimate employment. Sometime last year, a woman was taken off an airplane at the McAllen, Texas, airport. She had come in from Mexico, through the river, as her clothes were still wet, and had a passport from Africa. She was from a special interest country and had come in to Mexico using a passport from a friendly country to avoid detection. Who knows what her intentions were. Thanks to an officer at the airport she was taken off the plane.

During this same time period, a high-ranking member of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, was apprehended in the Brooks County area, also in south Texas. He had entered the country illegally. This MS-13 member is believed to have been responsible for the killing of close to 30 persons, or more, in a bus explosion in his native country. It is my understanding that he had a lengthy criminal record in the United States. This person, as many others, find it very easy to come into our country through a very porous, wide-open, and unprotected border. Twenty seven members of the MS-13 were apprehended entering the United States in the Del Rio area of operations during the month of January, 2006.

We have received information that the drug trafficking organizations immediately across our border are planning on killing as many police officers as possible on the United States side. This is being planned for the purpose of attempting to “scare us” away from the border. The recent activities of the drug trafficking organization operating in the Hudspeth, El Paso County areas have included threats against the families of Deputy Sheriff’s. In one incident subjects made threats to the wife of a Hudspeth County Sheriff

’s Sergeant at their home. The drug trafficking organizations have the money, equipment, and stamina to carry out their threats. They are determined to protect their illicit trade. It is my opinion that these drug trafficking organizations may form an alliance with Islamo Fascist terrorist organizations. The Department of Homeland Security recently issued Officer Alerts warning their agents of such potential threats. We, the local officers, learned about the warning through the news media.

The cartels operating in Mexico and the United States have demonstrated that the weapons they posses can and will be used in protecting their caches. I have attached photographs showing some of the weapons that these cartels possess. The photos have been marked as Attachment #4. In Val Verde County a fragmentation hand grenade was discovered on one of the trails near the Rio Grande where drugs are frequently smuggled into the United States.

Local, state, and federal officers have found many items along the banks of the Rio Grande River that indicate possible ties to terrorist organizations or members of military units of Mexico. Currency, clothing, are common finds. Recently, a jacket with patches was found in Jim Hogg County, Texas, by agents of U. S. Border Patrol. The patches on the jacket show an Arabic military badge with one depicting an airplane flying over a building and heading towards a tower, and another showing an image of a lion’s head with wings and a parachute emanating from the animal (lion). It is believed from an undisclosed document that Department of Homeland Security translators concluded that the patches read “defense center”, “minister of defense”, or “defense headquarters”. The bottom of one patch read “martyr”, “way to eternal life” or “way to immortality”.

On January 28th, 2006, USBP Chief David Aguilar was asked by a reporter from KGNS television station in Laredo, Texas, what the outcome of the investigation of the jacket was. Chief Aguilar responded that the patches were not from Al Qaeda but from countries in which Al Qaeda was known to operate. He also stated that the investigation was turned over to the proper authorities who had already concluded their investigation. He knew nothing further.

On February 2nd of this year, deputies in Zavala County discovered an 18” duffle bag approximately 8 miles North of Zapata by the highway right of way. This duffel bag had “Armada de Mexico” embroidered on the bag. Inside the bag were several items that are commonly used to maintain higher levels of physical exertion. Inside the bag, a bus ticket with an origin of Veracruz, Mexico was found. I have attached photographs of the duffle bag and marked it as Attachment #5.

Employees of our offices have also seen incursions into this country of persons dressed in battle dress uniforms (BDUs), carrying what officers believe to be automatic weapons, very clean cut, and in very good physical condition. On March 3rd, 2005, several officers assigned to do surveillance by the Rio Grande River by the Zapata/Webb County line observed approximately 20-25 subjects dressed as indicated above. The subjects were walking on a gravel road, coming from riverbank, and marching in a cadence. The deputy observed these individuals through his borrowed night vision goggles. These individuals were carrying large duffle bags and walking two abreast. They were each armed with assault rifles.

In the town site of Zapata, residents report subjects getting off boats wearing BDUs, backpacks, and carrying weapons. The residents describe them as soldiers.

In Val Verde County, two illegal aliens were apprehended during a burglary near the Port of Entry. One of the aliens fled on foot and was apprehended by Deputies and Agents of the Border Patrol. The alien who was apprehended inside the residence was later identified as a career criminal with a twenty four page rap sheet. His criminal career included offenses in Florida and Texas. His clothing was still wet from his illegal entry that night. For over a year, groups of male subjects illegally crossed the river into the United States and burglarized remote ranch homes. These subjects took items from the homes that they burglarized, and would abandon the property at the next home that they burglarized. The only items that they routinely kept were firearms. During one burglary the subjects brought electric hair clippers with them and cut their hair in a distinctive pattern. When theses subjects would encounter law enforcement they conducted sophisticated escape and evasion tactics to break contact. In one incident the subjects traveled twenty miles a day on foot across harsh landscape. The last subject apprehended in that group had traveled over eighty miles on foot before his arrest. The subjects were always physically fit. It is my opinion that these subjects were trained for escape and evasion.

The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition is very concerned about the unique problems along our border. The United States Border Patrol is doing the best that they can with the resources they have been provided. Immediate help is needed for them and for the protection of our country. We have implemented Operation Linebacker, a second line of defense in the protection of our country. The problems along the border are federal problems. Our governor, the Honorable Rick Perry, did not wait for a peace officer to get killed along the border to take action. He, just as we, is very much concerned. He has appropriated $6 million for us to start the operation. Just last month he announced an additional $3.8 million that he will grant our coalition. This much needed assistance provided by Governor Perry has already produced measurable results, but this assistance is only a stopgap measure. More help is necessary if we are to see an acceptable level of security exist on the border. The problems along the border will continue unless our federal government does something about it soon. Must we wait until an officer gets killed or until another terrorist act occurs?

I have addressed many of the enforcement issues facing the border today in my written testimony, but another crisis faces us. The Judicial system on the border is strained to failure. In Val Verde County, the annual budget for jury trials will be exhausted in March, only half way through the fiscal year. An examination of the caseload of the United States District Court, Western District, demonstrates this crisis irrefutably. I have attached a report that demonstrates the ten year record of civil filings within the Western District of Texas. It is marked as Attachment 6. The number of filings of civil cases across the District has remained fairly level with only minor increases consistent with population growth. If you examine the criminal filings, Attachment 7, for the same period an alarming trend is evident. The two District Courts on the border have seen dramatic caseload increases with little or no population increase.

Attachment 8 shows the caseload of the two United States Magistrates in Del Rio. As you can see each of their caseloads equals the caseload of the other Magistrates in the Western District combined. The other District Courts in the Western District have seen small increases in their caseloads. What is not reflected in these statistics is the number of criminal subjects who are apprehended with commercial quantities of drugs, but who fall under the quantity threshold arbitrarily established by the United States Attorney’s office. These subjects who have been apprehended by authorities are released without prosecution.

Remember that only a percentage of all drug and alien traffickers are apprehended, and then, a portion of those apprehended are released without prosecution due to budgetary constraints. The criminals grow more educated by the system each time we handle them. We must restore Justice to the

Border by immediately providing additional District Judges, Magistrates and Prosecuting Attorneys, as well as economic subsidies to effected State District Courts and Prosecuting Attorneys who have become incapacitated by the increasing crime on the border.

I am convinced that by funding additional Deputy Sheriff’s on the border, our nation will accomplish a cost effective, and immediate solution to the burgeoning scourge of violence creeping North into our nation. Along most of the border, it is a Deputy Sheriff who receives the first call of suspicious activity and encounters subjects who may be crossing the border only for a new and better life in the North, or who may have far more sinister intentions. No matter how much more efficient we are made by the utilization of emerging technology, it is still necessary that a trained and experienced officer be available to respond to the identified threat.

I want to express my most sincere appreciation for allowing us the opportunity to appear before you and thank you for the work you do for our country, the United States of America.

Sheriff Larry A. Dever of Cochise County, AZ says he has witnessed a tenfold increase in border patrol agents in his county (from 100 to 1,000) but the problems of violence have only increased in scale and volatility.

Dever’s March 1 testimony before a US Senate subcommittee on border violence narrates a history that begins with times past when drug smugglers would just drop their stuff and run. Today, smuggling and human trafficking have become big business, and smugglers come armed for a fight.

Dever tells stories of carjackings, of shots fired into a home of a narcotics agent, of ‘rape trees’ where human traffickers abuse their charges, and of powerful weapons that face border cops.

As Dever looks to the future, he asks for local involvement in new federal powers, but we might ask, is there not another way?

People living in border states have an opportunity to call out for decriminalization. Or they can experience their home territories subjected to an increasing spiral of violence and militarization.

Read the testimony of Sheriff Dever under "Read More" and ask yourself: is it not time to take the profit out of border violence and start work on a future of peace?–gm

Testimony of The Honorable Larry A. Dever to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Immigration, Border Security, and Citizenship and Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, March 1, 2006
:

1987. That was the year we first organized the Border Alliance Group narcotics task force in Cochise County to jointly combat the burgeoning cocaine smuggling business that had developed in the area. At that time there were no DEA agents in Cochise County, no FBI, only four Customs Office of Enforcement agents and maybe a total of 100 border patrol agents. Today, they are all there, along with over a thousand Border Patrol agents. And yet, as you have also heard, in spite of the tremendous increase in the law enforcement presence, or as some suggest, because of it, violence associated with narcotics and people smuggling activities has markedly increased.

Twenty to twenty-five years ago, we would intercept smugglers right on the border fence. Most would simply abandon their cargo and flee on foot back south. It wasn’t unusual to have some just give up. Today, the expected response to an attempted interdiction is a fight. Smugglers are armed with high capacity assault weapons and with orders to protect their cargo at all costs. They operate under the watchful eye of scouts equipped with sophisticated observation and communications equipment. Failure to make safe delivery is not acceptable and many who do fail are executed. The stakes are extremely high.

High speed chases on congested public highways and through populated residential areas are common. Most of the vehicles they are driving are stolen from the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Just recently two local residents were killed and several others seriously injured when a ruthless smuggler driving a stolen truck at reckless speeds crashed head on into a group of vehicles sitting at a stop light.

The people smuggling culture is one marked by little if any value of life or respect for persons or property. This is reflected in their response to authority and their treatment of their human cargo. One study estimates that over 80% of people being smuggled into this country become the victims of criminal activity before they ever cross the border. And in many cases the atrocities continue even after they successfully enter. Smuggling routes are often marked with “rape trees”—women’s under garments hung on tree limbs where a raped occurred, warning everyone of the failure to cooperate with the coyotes who prey on them.

Running gun battles with fleeing felons occur much too frequently placing law-enforcement officers and the public alike at great risk of serious consequences. Gang activity and its associated violence are on the rise as these groups become more competitive in the lucrative people smuggling trade. Just last week one of my deputies, the supervisor of the narcotics task force, was the victim of a drive-by shooting at his home. Thankfully, no one was injured.

The law-enforcement effort and the communities we serve desperately need your attention to our situation along the border. You should be aware that in our area, almost ten percent of the illegal aliens that are apprehended have criminal records in this country. When we are unsuccessful in catching them there, these predators find their way to communities all over the nation where they threaten the safety and welfare of local populations.

When planning strategies for improved enforcement efforts and providing adequate resources, it is important to remember that every federal initiative has a local consequence. It is critical that local authorities be involved in the early stages of the planning process to assure that these consequences are clearly understood and considered.