Bracing for more border disorder
I wrote at the end of my year-end state of the borders column last week that blood-stained reality clarifies the mind.
Two new MSM articles on the increasing chaos on the southern border underscore the point.
The NYTimes weighs in with “Kidnappings in Mexico Send Shivers Across Border.”
Four hooded men smashed in the door to the adobe home of an 80-year-old farmer here in November, handcuffing his frail wrists and driving him to a makeshift jail. They released him after relatives and friends paid a $9,000 ransom, which included his life savings.
The kidnapping was a dismal story of cruelty and heartbreak, familiar all across Mexico, but with a new twist: the daughter of this victim lived in the United States and was able to wire money to help assemble his ransom, the farmer, who insisted that he not be identified by name, said in an interview.
A string of similar kidnappings, singling out people with children or spouses in the United States, so panicked this village in the state of Zacatecas that many people boarded up their homes and headed north, some legally and some not, seeking havens with relatives in California and other American states.
“The relatives of Mexicans in the United States have become a new profit center for Mexico’s crime industry,” said Rodolfo García Zamora, a professor at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas who studies migration trends. “Hundreds of families are emigrating out of fear of kidnap or extortion, and Mexicans in the U.S. are doing everything they can to avoid returning. Instead, they’re getting their relatives out.”
The reported rush into the United States by people from the state of Zacatecas is another sign that Mexico’s growing lawlessness is a volatile new factor affecting the flow of migrant workers across America’s border. The violence is adding a new layer of uncertainty to the always fraught issue of Mexican emigration, already in flux because of the economic downturn in the United States.
Academics and policy makers on both sides of the border, who are watching closely for shifts in migration patterns, say it is too early to know the long-term impact of either the drug-related violence or the loss of jobs by thousands of migrant workers in the United States. But so far, earlier predictions of an exodus of out-of-work Mexicans back to their hometowns seem to have been premature.
Instead, it appears that the pattern in the state of Zacatecas — where many people have family in the United States — may be a good indicator of what is happening throughout Mexico. The country’s spiraling criminality appears not only to be keeping some Mexicans in the United States, but it may also be leading more Mexicans to flee their country. “It’s a toxic combination right now,” said Denise Dresser, a political scientist based in Mexico City. “Mexicans north of the border are facing joblessness and persecution, but in their own country the government can’t provide basic security for many of its citizens.”
And the Dallas Morning News reports: “Mexico’s drug violence expected to intensify in ‘09.”
Drug-related violence in Mexico, already at unprecedented levels, is expected to escalate further this year, with targets likely to include top Mexican politicians and law enforcement agents and possibly even U.S. officials, according to diplomats and intelligence experts on both sides of the border.
The warning underscores the difficult choices confronting President Felipe Calderón as he takes on drug cartels while weighing the implications of growing casualties in a year of midterm elections and a slowing economy.
It also reflects rising concern among U.S. officials and analysts about the deteriorating security situation, corruption among Mexico’s top crime fighters, and the vulnerability of the military to possible corruption in battling cartel gangs.
As the war against cartels escalates in 2009, so will the threats, particularly against U.S. officials and other Americans, officials, analysts and diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza, said in recent interviews.
“Calderón must, and will, keep the pressure on the cartels, but look, let’s not be naïve – there will be more violence, more blood, and, yes, things will get worse before they get better. That’s the nature of the battle,” Garza said. “The more pressure the cartels feel, the more they’ll lash out like cornered animals.
“Our folks know exactly how high the stakes are,” Garza said. He advised Americans traveling to Mexico to check State Department travel alerts at www.state.gov.
A U.S. intelligence official based along the Texas border warned that U.S. officials, American businessmen and journalists will “become targets, if they’re not already.”
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we already see the deleterious influence of immigration-related crime with groups like MS-13, Mexican Mafia, etc…it’ll just get worse
sow the wind, reap the whirlwind..
I am so glad we gave truck loads of our taxpayer Money to Mexico to fix all this border chaos.
**Comment above brought to you by the fine folks at Sarcasm Incorporated**
What a pile of horse dung. This is how this should read…
And we’re supposed to feel sorry for them because…..?
I’m sure we all feel better knowing our taxpayer money has made Mexico’s southern border more secure.
…because there is no guarantee that the criminals are going to keep their attacks limited to people from their country?
No way the chaos crosses the border. It is an established fact that only the purest of innocence crosses the border. /sarc
It’ll take a large American body count to militarize our borders. Border militarization would have been a reasonable action for any country to protect itself after an attack like 9/11. As if sovereignty wasn’t enough of an excuse to control the flow of people and goods into a nation.
Instead, we’ll get the same tired “it’s too bad it took this blah blah blah” from Congress and the presiding administration. My bet is that the equipment we sent to Mexico will be used against us.
Eventually, we may learn a lesson along the way, but I’ll not hold my breath.
Once again…instead of staying and working to straighten out their country, they
invade ours. We are going to be in for more lawlessness in this country because there
won’t be jobs for these people and eventually U.S. taxpayers are going to become fed
up with the dems wanting to put all of these people on welfare.
The first baby born in Dallas (at county hospital/Parkland) has been drawing a lot of
ugly comments from people in this area. It has become so bad that Bud Kennedy wrote an article for the Star-Telegram, about the birth. The Mother is 15, Father, 20
and at least she, and her Parents, do not speak English. He (half Mexican) took all of
the people that commented negatively on the birth to task about how this baby is an
American and will be an asset to this country. Well, what I think is, there would be no need for her or her parents to be here if Mexico would fix itself.
I do know that there have been Mexican on Mexican kidnappings in Texas in 2008. It has
already jumped the border and is happening in Houston and Dallas, for certain. A friend
says that it has happened in San Antonio, where she lives but I haven’t read anything on
that one.
We need a fence and military at the border!!
I dont remember “persecuting” anyone from Mexico, or anywhere else? Whats wrong with asking people to please obey our laws, and follow the proper immigration requirements?
“But abstract…we dont have time for rational solutions!”
Honestly, I cannot think of an effective way to break the hold of drug cartels and the rampant corruption present in Mexico…without citing ways that would end up getting alot of people hurt or killed.
It’s a sad state of affairs, literally and figuratively. But I still don’t want illegals crossing the border. And I certainly don’t want the drug runners, their scum cartel friends, and their pushers here either.
Let Mexico fix its own problems, in its own country.
Can our border guards start shooting now??
I have a friend who is very high up in the Department of Public Safety here in Arizona. He works closely with Mexican police as part of his job. What you read in the paper does not reflect how serious the problem in Mexico is. There is far more murder, corruption and lawlessness than we hear about. If the narcoterrorists want to kill someone they just go do it with no concern about collateral damage. It does not matter who you are, if they want you dead, you’re dead. They have so far limited themselves to Mexicans, but the time will shortly come when they realize the U.S. will not mount a serious defense and they will begin to target American law enforcement as well.
Mexico does not have a functional government. The only differences between Mexico and Somalia are the heavy weapons and the kidnappings are of people on dry land instead of ships at sea. Additionally, instead of Islam being the oppressive force, it’s narcotrafficing. Corruption is endemic to the entire culture, and it has destroyed the leadership of a nation that could be very prosperous for all its citizens.
Sadly, out government does not care to protect us from this scourge. The violence is here, more is coming and the lawless mindset infiltrates our own society one illegal at a time. Wall it off to contain it, keep it out of my country.
Massive kidnappings are already here – almost ONE A DAY in Phoenix during 2007!
Build the Wall!
Prosecute employers that hire illegals!
Require proof of citizenship for government benefits!
Deport all illegals that come to the attention of authorities!
Stop prosecuting Border Patrol agents that are doing their jobs!
Aaaaaaargh!!!
And free Compean and Ramos!!!
My mother, a self described aging hippie, has her own ideas on solving this issue.
Let the Marines at Pendleton and 29 Palms move south and get some live fire training.
Her attitude might have something to do with being an ER nurse and having to deal with illegal aliens in her job.
The local media in San Antonio is running warnings from officials that the drug violence will come here. The law enforcement here is good, but I worry about our “neighbor,” Houston. Dallas isn’t a great city for enforcement, either (sorry, all you law-abiding citizens from Fort Worth!).
In 1916-17, our government dispatched the US Army on an expedition into Mexico to chase down Pancho Villa, who was making raids into the US.
If we only still had a government concerned with our nations health and safety, as it once did.
NO…
Signed …. Jorge “Mexico First” Bush
Endorsed by…John “American Workers can shove it” McCain and Lindsey “Limp Wrist” Graham.
Read my lips: Mexico is a failed state, as anarchic as during the Pancho Villa era. Now, what are we going to do about instability on our border? Stick our head up our collective anal cavity and wish it away?
Where has the NYTimes been all this time? Those articles could have been written in 1970.
They already do live fire training and the USAF does bombing in the Goldwater range in southern Arizona. And guess what? When illegals are spotted crossing, all exercises are suspended until the people are rounded up.
We need to start thinking of Mexico as another Cuba and no longer permit citizens to go there. A rule like this from homeland security would send shock waves throughout Mexico. Either cleanup the crime, or face economic disaster.
I got a bit lost when the article claimed that the people running from the drug gangs were now migrant workers. Which is it, migrant workers or refugees?
Obama must declare them all refugees and grant them immediate US citizenship.
Why not keep a couple-three AC-130 Spectre gunships on permanent station over the border? A regular hosing of the real estate there should calm things down a bit and provide good training for the air force.
We’re screwed.
Hey Michele, don’t forget to add the WSJ article about the hispanic homebuyer’s remorse as they lose homes left and right….Of course the fact that they really didn’t qualify for home loans is besides the point……..
“mired in the mess…or the cause of the mess? You decide.Because the WSJ won’t pin the tail where it belongs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123111072368352309.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
I will never set foot in Mexico! I have neighbors who vacation there every year. I have no desire to go down there. And, if you think we Minnesotans have something strange in our drinking water…try drinking Mexico’s! We.Must.Seal.The.Border.Tight.
For #s 13 and 17…I do live relatively close to Ft Worth, but am not near Dallas, thank
goodness. Dallas and Houston pride themselves on being sanctuary cities and one
day will have to face up to the stupidity of their actions.
Right now the kidnappings are Mexican on Mexican but one of these days, the gangs
will realize that they can make a lot more money by kidnapping Anglos. When that
day happens we will hear a lot of “not my fault,” from the leaders of these two cities.
We are having regular incursions of Mexican police and military, not to mention the
narcotraffickers and illegals into Texas. My cousin still owns his ranch on the border
but he has hired a lot of armed help and a friend is trying to get his parents to move
away from Falfurrias. This is the stuff of nightmares and is what happens when a
prosperous country has a third world country right on its (open) border.
Don’t know why my computer has started to do this.
Need to change from safari to firefox to see if it helps.
add to that repeal the anchor baby amendment and make it retroactive to 1985…..
Maybe we should hire these folks.
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/01/satellite-firm-tracking-pirates-update.html
If history serves me right, that was the first use of an aerial vessel to conduct a combat mission – the hot air balloon. We actually do still use balloons to patrol the border. They’re called TARS (Tethered Aerostat Radar Surveillance), and used for drug interdiction around Marfa and McAllen TX. I’ve been in one to maintain the radar in it. Oops! Sorry to get off subject
PATRONEDHEART #33 mentioned a hot air balloon as being used during the U.S. Army incursion into Mexico looking for General Francisco (aka Pancho) Villa.
***
I never read about the balloon–but a biplane left Ft. Bliss / Biggs Field in El Paso at first light and located Villa’s position. Then they flew back to the U.S. Army force location and dropped a message in a weighted tube to the Army. I think a late afternoon flight also occurred. No radios in those days.
***
Villa always moved out of the way in time–the Army never got a good hit on him. He was too fast and tricky.
***
Villa later had his own 1 biplane “air force”. His pilot–with one of Villa’s staff in the rear seat with a pistol for insurance–dropped sacks full of dynamite and nails on the enemy’s front line machine gun and cannon positions just before some of the battles.
***
The South facing upper floor windows on the old El Paso Del Norte (now Westin) Hotel still have bullet hole damage from the Pancho Villa revolution–lots of stray shots.
***
John Bibb
Wow, you’re certainly more of a historian than I am rocket. Good info! I just remembered that when I was studying for my Staff Sgt. test in the Air Force back in ‘04, our PFE manual mentioned it in the AF history section. I’m not sure what capacity they used them for, but balloons were used, probably as surveillance, and possibly to drop bombs? I’ll have to go back and read up on it.
The violence has already spread to Washington State.
My grandfather rode with the calvary when he was a young 16 year old soldier looking for Villa. I have a picture of a group of soldiers standing by a jiro plane which looked like a crude helocopter from then. Perhaps it was used also in the search.
If only our govt cared enough now like they did then to protect our borders….sigh…
Having been raised right on the border,
I know that there are illegals living in all of the border
towns and illegals coming across to attend our schools and this has been going on since both of our
countries came into being. The only way to stop this
is to either put our military, shoulder to shoulder, on
the border or build an impregnable fence that cannot
be tunneled under. I do not see either of these things
happening, so we may be overrun by illegals within
the next five years. Then what?
I don’t think it will take that long, TXRose. I live in Weatherford and have decided we’re already being overrun.
How about a 2 fence solution? One on the border and 1; a hundred yards inside our border? Allow a free-fire zone between, for scope-sighting purposes, of course. Alternatively, let’s use Mexican law; which allows citizen arrest of suspected illegal aliens, against them.
I’m all for citizen arrest. It’s not racism to follow Mexican law, is it?
When even Mexico’s Grand Warlock is predicting it, you know it’s true !
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20090103/D95FSTIO0.html
Who wants to take a guess that somehow this will be used to paint every Mexican citizen as a refugee seeking asylum. Abierto de floodgates.
Why don’t we see the post in #36 all over the national news? Hmmmm.
Probably because it doesn’t fit with the story that they are all coming here just to make a living that all the news media are trying to shove down our throats.
While I advocate sealing the border by whatever lawful means at our disposal (i.e. militarization), we Americans need to make a decision.
Most of the narco-terrorism in Mexico is a result of the demand for illicit drugs in this country.
We need to decide whether to legalize drugs OR crack down on the consumers in this country. It’s ridiculous to demand that Mexico or whoever cut off the supply. We don’t have the stomach for the battle here so we fix it so the really harsh stuff goes on somewhere else. Short of summary executions in the field, the lure of big money is stronger than the fear of arrest (especially given that the vast sums involved can be used to compromise government officials).
If we’re serious then we start meting out draconian sentences for people possessing a joint or miniscule amount of cocaine (or whatever they’re snorting these days). And we start executing traffickers caught in this country (and building all the prison space it will take to hold all these people).
It’s that or legalization (which I think will just cause far more misery as more people take up the habit). Of course, we’ll have to create more “helping agencies” to assist addicts and their neglected kids and so on.
It’s a tough choice – I don’t know what the answer is.
It seems as odd as it is sad that the same government who wants to confer OUR “constitutional rights” on illegal aliens (and more but I will not discuss that here) yet is just as quick to relieve us of our God-given rights and all the while, ignore one of the “few and well defined” powers that they really are given according to our constitution.
I am afraid it will take more than just a few aspirin to make this headache go away.