The State Department’s previous warning from last April advised against travel to all or part of ten states in Mexico. In the new warning, the number of states has increased by four:

Americans should avoid all but essential travel to all or parts of 14 Mexican states, the U.S. State Department warns as violence has spread.

Shootouts, kidnappings and carjackings have climbed, as have cartels, also known as transnational criminal organizations (TCO), the State Department said this week in a broadened travel warning.

While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico every year, the country’s ongoing violence and security concerns pose risks for U.S. citizens, and travelers should take precautions, the State Department advises.

No matter where you’re traveling in Mexico, the State Department recommends that you “lower your profile and avoid displaying any evidence of wealth that might draw attention.” It’s the same advice State gives to Wall Street millionaires planning on walking through “Occupy” encampments.

This map really puts the scope of the problem in perspective (h/t Tammy Bruce and Gretawire):

If you’re not good at reading maps, just remember that it’s like choosing which wine to have with fish: Avoid the red.

Doug Ross:

Say, I’ve got an idea! Let’s have the ATF deliver thousands of weapons to the Mexican drug cartels. Maybe that will help!

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Scroll for updates…Conflicting reports on Giffords’ status in post-shooting chaos…latest as of 2:39pm, Giffords still alive and in surgery…continued prayers…4:216pm Easter…shooter ID’s as Jared Loughner…

Terrible, terrible news today out of Tucson, where a gunman shot and killed Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona) and at least 6 others. Several more were injured in the ambush.

Reuters rounds up breaking news:

Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona died after being shot in the head while meeting constituents at a grocery store in Tucson, NPR reported on Saturday.

Giffords, a 40-year-old Democrat in her third term in Congress, was shot point blank by an unidentified gunman who fired indiscriminately into the crowd, NPR and other U.S. media said.

About a dozen others at the meeting were shot and the gunman was wrestled to the ground and taken into custody, Fox said, citing an eyewitness.

Giffords was married and the mother of two children. She had just returned from Washington after being sworn in for her third term.

NPR:

The 40-year-old Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a “Congress on Your Corner” event at a Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.

At least three other people, including members of her staff, were injured. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson.

Giffords was talking to a couple when the suspect ran up and fired indiscriminately from about four feet away, Michaels said.

The suspect ran off and was tackled by a bystander. He was taken into custody. Witnesses described him as in his late teens or early 20s.

Prayers for all the victims and their families.

More as news develops…

***

Update 2:39pm Eastern: KOLD-TV in Arizona reports that Giffords is still alive and in surgery…

ccording to Darci Slaten, University Medical Center public affairs officer, Gifford’s death has not been confirmed.

“She is alive and in surgery right now,” Slaten said.

Earlier, CNN and Fox News had both confirmed Giffords’ death.
The third-term congresswoman was reportedly shot in the head, according to the “Tuscon Citizen.”

The shooting happened just after 10 a.m. at the Safeway on Ina and Oracle, Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jason Ogan said.

The injured were taken to University Medical Center (UMC) in Tucson.

Darci Slaten confirmed that five to seven patients have been admitted.

Slaten said there were four fatalities, but would not confirm the identities.

***

There is NO indication yet of the gunman’s identity, agenda, or motives, but my Twitter feed is already filled with Tea Party-bashing, Palin-bashing recriminations and accusations that I have “blood on my hands” for advocating border security and 2nd amendment rights.

They never learn.

***

While Republicans are being accused of murder, keep in mind that Giffords provoked the ire of Daily Kos liberals for refusing to vote for Pelosi for House Speaker earlier this week.

(Update: dKos has now yanked the post. Author felt bad about the post.)

***
Livestream of Tuscon Arizona TV station, KOLD here.

An aide to Giffords has reportedly died, pushing the death toll to 5.

Sarah Palin:

On the tragedy in Arizona
by Sarah Palin on Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 1:02pm

My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona.

On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.

- Sarah Palin

GOP House Speaker John Boehner:

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement condemning the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and members of her staff today in Tucson, AZ:

“I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country.”

***

Shameless lefties are making hay out of Sarah Palin’s political target map.

Verum Serum reminds that it’s a bipartisan graphic device:

The one below Palin’s is the target list of the DLC.

And then there’s this one from the left-wing Daily Kos, which “puts a bullseye” on moderate Democrats including…Gabrielle Giffords. So enough already.

Twitter and the left-wing blogs — and now a Fox-bashing Democrat congressman — have gone completely insane trying to politicize the shootings.

Best to tune that all out.

President Obama:

This morning, in an unspeakable tragedy, a number of Americans were shot in Tuscon, Arizona, at a constituent meeting with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. And while we are continuing to receive information, we know that some have passed away, and that Representative Giffords is gravely wounded.

We do not yet have all the answers. What we do know is that such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society. I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping Representative Giffords, the victims of this tragedy, and their families in our prayers.

***

Update: 4:16pm ET…shooter ID’d by Capitol police as Jared Loughner, 21.

YouTube videos.

Via Gabriel Malor, screenshot of shooting suspect Loughner’s MySpace page:

***

Federal judge John Roll was among those killed, according to wire reports.

More from DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano:

“I am deeply saddened by reports that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Chief Judge John Roll and others were attacked this afternoon in Tucson, Arizona. There is no place in our society or discourse for such senseless and unconscionable acts of violence. Gabby is a steadfast representative for southern Arizona and both she and John are dedicated public servants.

“The Department of Homeland Security has offered all possible assistance to the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, who are leading the investigation. My thoughts and prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her family and staff, and all those who were injured in this difficult time.”

A 9-year-old girl is also among the dead.

Good God.

***

Update 4:50pm Eastern President Obama addressed the nation live about the shooting. FBI director Robert Mueller is headed to Tucson. “We are going to get to this bottom of this,” says President Obama. He’s hopeful that Rep. Giffords will pull through.

As are we all.

***

Distraught Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer made a public statement, telling Arizona and the nation she is “heartbroken.” “Gabby is more than a colleague, she’s a friend.”

Arizona flags will be lowered to half-mast.

***

Update 7:08pm Eastern – In one of his YouTube videos, Loughner claimed to be a military recruit. Stars and Stripes reports the Army found no record of any enlistment contract with Loughner.

This is not left or right.

He was a nut:

The man linked to the shooting today of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others is 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, the Associated Press reported.

Police have surrounded a house at 7700 N. Soledad Ave., which is the address listed by a man with the same name on a variety of online accounts and in the volunteer registry for the 2010 Tucson Festival of Books. The home is near West Magee Road and North Thornydale Road on the northwest side, about five miles from the shooting scene.

A former classmate of Loughner at Pima Community College said he was “obviously very disturbed.”

“He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts,” said Lynda Sorenson, who took a math class with Loughner last summer at Pima Community College’s Northwest campus.

Sorenson doesn’t recall if he ever made any threats or uttered political statements but he was very disruptive, she said. He was asked to leave the pre-algebra class several times and eventually was barred from class, said Sorenson, a Tucson resident…

…The online accounts also contain bizarre discussions of a new currency and literacy, as well as threatening and despairing messages.

“WOW! I’m glad i didn’t kill myself. I’ll see you on National T.v.! This is foreshadow …. why doesn’t anyone talk to me?..” he posted on MySpace Dec. 14.

On Dec. 13, he wrote: “I don’t feel good: I’m ready to kill a police officer! I can say it.”

In a posting on YouTube, Loughner wrote repeatedly about a new currency.

“I’m thinking of creating a new currency,” he wrote. “Therefore, I’m thinking of a design for my new coins size, shape, color, material, and image to start a new money system.”

He also wrote repeatedly about literacy. In a written message on YouTube, Loughner said: “The majority of people, who reside in District-8 are illiterate — hilarious. I don’t control your English grammar structure, but you control your English grammar structure.”

In a message posted on his MySpace account, titled “Goodbye friends,” Loughner said: “Dear friends…please don’t be mad at me. The literacy rate is below 5%. I haven’t talked to one person who is literate.” It was unclear when it was posted.

In a MySpace profile, Loughner said “My favorite interest was reading, and I studied grammar. Conscience dreams were a great study in college.”

He lists among his favorite books “Mein Kampf” and “The Communist Manifesto”. But he also includes a broad variety of other titles, including: “Animal Farm,” “Brave New World,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.

Longtime readers know that southern border violence has been one of my primary topics for as long as I’ve been working in daily journalism and writing books.

You also know I mince no words when it comes to Mexico’s hypocritical stance on border enforcement, perpetual state of bloody chaos, open-borders demagoguery/anti-Americanism, and outrageous incursions onto U.S. soil.

And you also know that I have long called out fishy hoax crimes however the political/ideological chips fall.

Which brings me to why I did not jump all over the alleged Mexico lake shooting last week involving Tiffany Hartley and her husband, David.

At this point, there are way too many unanswered questions and inconsistencies in Mrs. Hartley’s story/stories.

On Sunday, Mrs. Hartley told the Denver Post she outraced the alleged Mexican pirates trying to gun her down after they murdered her husband:

On Thursday afternoon, Tiffany Hartley said, her husband was shot in the back of the head as they were being chased in Mexican waters on Falcon Reservoir, 2 miles from the Texas border that divides the lake.

Hartley, 29, said she outraced pirates who were shooting at her as she rode a powerful personal watercraft that can reach speeds of 75 mph. Bullets were striking the water all around her and in front of her.

“I’m alive because of God’s protection. There is no other reason,” she said.

She apparently told Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. a similar story, explaining that she had to abandon her attempt to retrieve her husband because she was being shot at:

According to Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr., Tiffany Hartley said she and her husband were returning to U.S. waters after sightseeing and taking photos when they saw armed men aboard some boats.

The couple “observed some boats coming at them at a pretty high rate of speed, noticed that some of the boats were armed so they immediately started, according to her, revving it up and gassing it up to the U.S, side of the border to prevent them getting hurt,” he said. “Then, of course, shots started being fired at them.

“She said she was seeing bullets hitting close to her in the water and realized that her husband had been hit behind the head,” he said. “She went back trying to find, trying to help him. She went in the water trying to load up her husband to her Jet Ski … trying to get his body and Jet Ski back to the U.S. side.

“She was being shot at so she finally had to let go of the body, climb back in her Jet Ski and head back over here to the United States,” he said.

Then, on Wednesday, she gave the Today Show’s Meredith Viera rather different details. She didn’t “outrace” the pirates and wasn’t “being shot at” when she was trying to pull her husband onto her jet ski.

Instead, this:

Viera: Yesterday, you told me, Tiffany, that ‘one of the boats came up to me’ — this is your quote — ‘and had a gun pointed at me, trying to decide what to do with me, and then they left.’ How close did these people come to you? Can you describe them to me?’

Hartley: Honestly, looking at the barrel of the gun is all I saw. I was pretty focused there. I couldn’t tell you what they look like. But they were within the length of my jet ski of me, which is about 10 feet.”

Viera: Why do you think, Tiffany, why do think that they would spare your life? If in fact they had killed your husband. Why would they want anyone around that could possibly ID them?

Hartley: I have no idea. All I can do is give God the glory. That’s all I can do. Is that he had touched them to leave me, and go and figure out with the other two boats what could happen, so I had that time to get away. [Without] God’s grace, I wouldn’t be alive.

On Tuesday night, Hartley appeared on FNC’s On The Record show with Greta Van Susteren.

Asked if the gunmen had gotten close enough to say anything to her, Hartley initially answered: “No, no they didn’t.”

Then there was this eyebrow-raising exchange when Van Susteren asked where exactly the boats were when she was trying to get her husband:

Van Susteren: When you were doing that, when you were attempting to help your husband, where were those other boats?

Hartley: Two were in front of me, uh, quite a ways a way. And one actually came up to my boat — er, my jet ski. And they had pointed the gun at me and they were talking amongst each other and pointed it back at me. And then they decided to leave [crosstalk] and meet up with the other two boats.

Van Susteren: Did you say anything to them?

Hartley: Yeah, I told them please don’t shoot, don’t shoot.

So in one version of the story, she outraces the pirates in back of her with guns blazing and her mortally wounded husband left behind in haste.

In another version, two boats are actually in front of her with a third boat that came within 10 feet of her — with none of them shooting anything at her as she rides towards and past them to get away while her husband’s life vest-encased body floats in the lake. Moreover, she simultaneously claims that the gunmen didn’t get close enough to say anything to her and can’t remember anything about what they looked like, but also that she a) looked down the barrel of their gun and b) told them not to shoot her.

Which is it?

Hartley tossed in more new details in an interview with CNN Headline News on Thursday: The alleged gunmen actually waved at them as they initially headed out on the lake. Yeah. A “friendly wave:”

:21 mark – Hartley: “When we were coming out, we saw them. They just waved at us. Like we were friendly. A very friendly wave.”

Watch the whole clip until the very end, when she adds more new details about yelling at her husband in the water, “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know I don’t know.”

Am I the only one who finds her demeanor throughout this entire interview…strange?

Hartley says her husband was wearing a life vest. Neither a body in a vest or a vest adrift have been found. His jet ski is also still missing. There is a witness, though what exactly was witnessed is unclear and incomplete (the witness reportedly saw a boat chasing Hartley, but the reports do not say whether the witness saw or heard any shooting or whether the witness was able to describe who was in the boat). There is also police dash-cam video of the couple’s jet skis on a trailer and their truck, which was pulled over a few hours before the alleged murder because it carried expired registration stickers.

Mrs. Hartley’s life vest is in the possession of law enforcement and a small drop of blood on it is being tested:

Blood evidence would lend credence to Tiffany Young-Hartley’s harrowing tale of three boats of gunmen opening fire on the couple Sept. 30 as they were riding personal watercraft on the Mexican side of the lake, fatally shooting her husband in the head. Or the test results could raise more questions about what happened to David Hartley and what role his wife played in those events.

There are also strange variations in her accounts of where her husband was shot and how she realized or discovered the wound.

On Fox and Friends, she confirms he was shot in the back of the head — and then makes a point of adding the qualifier “as far as I know.”

A weird thing to say given the certainty with which she described him repeatedly as having been hit in the back of the head by a gun shot and then splashing forward over the top of the jet ski.

And then there’s this from the Today Show interview:

“I had to turn him over because he was face down in the water. I turned him over and he was shot in the head.

So was he shot in the front of the head or the back? Which is it?

Wendy Murphy has her own set of doubts and suggests that Mrs. Hartley may have murdered her husband.

Murphy omits another possibility: That perhaps Mrs. Hartley’s husband is still alive and counting on not being found. And that would be the best-case scenario. Ugh.

Other possibilities: Murder-for-hire plot. Drug deal gone awry. An attempt to cover up an accidental death. Or perhaps some version of one of Mrs. Hartley’s stories actually did happen.

There is no question that drug cartels and gangs are wreaking havoc at the border and on Falcon Lake. Nor is there any question that corrupt and impotent Mexican government officials, police, and judges have allowed violence to flourish unchecked.

But those facts should not blind anyone to the troubling wrinkles and holes in Mrs. Hartley’s story/stories.

GOP Texas Gov. Rick Perry is wrong to condemn anyone asking questions about Mrs. Hartley’s account(s) as “reprehensible.” Such politically expedient grandstanding only harms bona fide victims of southern border violence.

As for Mrs. Hartley, the more she talks, the more convoluted the story gets. Soon enough, hiding behind “God’s grace” and “giving God the glory” aren’t going to cut it anymore.

***

New poll (fixed previous version which omitted “Tiffany Hartley killed her husband)):

***

Update: Hartley expresses doubts about two men ID’d as persons of interest, via FNC:

The wife of an American man allegedly gunned down by Mexican pirates said she’s unsure that the two suspects named by Mexican authorities are the men responsible for her husband’s murder.

Tiffany Hartley, whose husband, David, was shot and killed on a U.S.-Mexico border lake, said she hopes that the two drug cartel suspects reportedly named by Mexican officials are behind the attack.

“It’s definitely frustrating because we don’t really know if these two people were actually involved in the shooting,” Hartley said in an interview Monday with Fox News. “Are they (Mexican authorities) just using two names that they’ve known that have been part of the other attacks?

“Hopefully these two guys are the ones that are responsible,” she said. “It’s frustrating because you don’t know what to believe.”

Indeed.

Sarah Palin was on Fox News this morning with Chris Wallace, and boiled down the battle over the Arizona immigration law in her own distinctive way:

Though the Obama administration this month will begin deploying 1,200 more National Guard troops to the southwest border, Palin said on “Fox News Sunday” that Brewer is tackling border security and putting her faith in legal immigration where Obama is not.

“Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have,” she said. “If our own president will not enforce our federal law, more power to Jan Brewer.”

Here’s video of Palin’s segment. The money quote hits at about 3:35…

Unfortunately, all too often, the only balls to be found in Washington are the inaugural kind. The women of the right may soon change that.

(h/t to HAP for the video)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

It seems that “Visit Mexico” bought an ad that ran in yesterday’s Arizona Republic (how long it’s been running and if it’s in there today, I’m not sure).

I got the heads-up about it after seeing this Twitter post from Sheriff Joe Arpaio:

So I clicked on the link and checked out the ad.

If you live in Arizona (or anywhere else in the US for that matter), does this make you want to visit Sonora, “Arizona’s neighbor”?

The ad certainly doesn’t imply that somebody in Mexico is on the lookout for you so they can bring over the welcome wagon, does it?

Update: “Visit Mexico” might be a little more welcoming to Belinda Carlisle — and they can have her.

**Written by guest-blogger Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

***

Update (MM): Via commenter beachmom:

I just called and spoke to a man from the Mexican tourism board in Sonora.

Apparently, the Arizona Republic cut off half the ad. It was supposed to say …looking for people from Arizona who want to have fun” There are also supposed to be families having fun reflected in the glasses. The A. Republic is supposed to print corrections today and tomorrow.

By the way, they aren’t mad about Arizona’s law. They want the drugs and illegals to stop too. He said the drug and illegals trade are hurting them badly.

I suggested they call Fox News and ask to come on to talk about it. He wrote it down and said he is going to tell his boss. We’ll see.

The state of Sonora has actually been pretty supportive of the efforts to stop illegals and drugs. Their governor has a history of going against the rest of Mexico.
We’ll see, as I said. Maybe he was telling me the truth. He seemed upset and he loves the US. He went to school in VT.

And exactly how do we know who needs to register without checking IDs? Naturally, Obama doesn’t mean any of it — except maybe the “register” part. I have no doubt the goal is to get illegals to register… as Democrat voters.

As a Senator, Obama voted “no” on making English the official language for the US government. If Obama doesn’t care if I can understand what the clerk at the DMV is saying when I’m trying to renew my driver’s license (which I have to produce papers for, by the way), I seriously doubt he cares if a construction worker in Tuscon can speak English.

The “wink, nudge” factor from this speech yesterday in Iowa is enough to knock you off your chair — and if that doesn’t do it, you’ll fall off the chair laughing:

Help is on the way though, because according to Drudge, the Department of Homeland Security will soon have unmanned drones patrolling the Texas border, meaning that before too long we might see a drone sporting 50 legs and a sombrero running across the border while Janet Napolitano points at them as evidence that “the system is working.”

The Obama administration’s plan is for the drones to patrol the border, and if a US government official notices a threat and tries to actually do something about it, the drone will be programmed to quickly eliminate said government official.

The only remaining question is whether or not Eric Holder’s review of the Arizona law will lead to a civil trial or a military tribunal for Governor Jan Brewer.

(h/t FreedomsLighthouse)

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Arizona ranchers continue to raise their voices about chaos on the southern border in the wake of Robert Krentz’s murder in the Douglas-area:

Given Mr. Krentz’s radio transmission, the footprints and heavy drug and illegal immigrant trafficking in that area, investigators are working on the assumption that he encountered a smuggler, possibly heading back to Mexico.

“You never know who you’re dealing with out here because you get all kinds of traffic through here,” said William McDonald, a fellow rancher on the vast mesquite scrubland pocked with canyons and scattered mountain ranges floating on the horizon like islands.

Mr. McDonald and other residents said that in the last year or two the traffic had taken a more sinister turn, with larger numbers of drug smugglers, many clad in black and led by armed scouts.

“It was only a matter of time,” he said. “Everything was in place for something like this to happen.”

Sheriff Larry A. Dever of Cochise County said if it was related to smuggling, it would be the first such killing of a rancher in more than three decades. But as local, state and federal investigators pore over the case, no motive has been ruled out, Sheriff Dever said.

Mr. Krentz’s family, in a statement last week, said they had little doubt that the killing was related to smuggling. They went on to vent frustration at what they said was a lack of concern by federal leaders.

“We hold no malice towards the Mexican people for this senseless act but do hold the political forces in this country and Mexico accountable for what has happened,” the family said. “Their disregard of our repeated pleas and warnings of impending violence towards our community fell on deaf ears shrouded in political correctness. As a result, we have paid the ultimate price for their negligence in credibly securing our borderlands.”

Reader Billie e-mails along more info via Arizona native Caren Cowen, now director of New Mexico Cattlemen:

A rosary will be held for Rob Krentz at St. Luke’s Catholic Church, 211 E. 15th St., Douglas, Arizona, on Friday, April 9th, at 6:00 pm. A memorial service will be held at Douglas High School Gym, 1550 East 15th St on Saturday April 10th at 10:00 am. A reception will follow at the Gadsden Hotel, 1046 G Avenue in Douglas.

A Robert Krentz Memorial Fund has been established at Wells Fargo Bank to aid the family. Anyone that would like to donate to this fund may do so at any Wells Fargo using the following account number: 5560960899. A calf donated by Sunny Shores will be auctioned and re-auctioned at the Willcox Livestock Auction April 8, with proceeds to the Memorial Fund.

As I noted last month, the Arizona Cattle Growers Association is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murder of Rob Krentz and is collecting contributions and pledges to supplement the ACGA’s own contribution to the fund of $5,000. The New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association is contributing $1,000 to this fund. ICE/DHS are also offering a $25,000 reward.

***

Previous:

March 30 – From the front lines: Ranchers speak out on border chaos

March 29 – The death of an Arizona rancher; Updated: Cattle growers’ association offers reward; new details of the murder; suspect foot tracks into Mexico

I will continue to keep you updated on the investigation into Arizona rancher Rob Krentz’s brutal murder. The latest:

*Funeral services have been set for April 9-10 in Douglas.

*Police are working on theories about the shooter possibly belonging to “a drug cartel scout or a band of thieves terrorizing Arizona ranches.”

*Open-borders Sen. Johnny Come Lately McCain, in the political battle of his life, is now calling for the National Guard. Don’t read his lips. Read his border security-undermining, law enforcement-abandoning record.

*The Arizona Farm Bureau sends the following statement:

“The murder of Cochise County rancher Rob Krentz this last weekend should not have happened and was preventable,” said Arizona Farm Bureau President Kevin Rogers. He and his organization send their deepest sympathy to the Krentz family for their loss.

According to Rogers, the ranching and farming community along the border, have been asking for a secure border for many years. “Our members are the ones who see the illegal traffic including drug and human cargo smuggling coming across their farms and ranches.” Rogers explained that over the last several years, his members have reported coming face to face with these smugglers that are well armed and menacing. “It is time for the federal government to fix this problem before another one of our ranch or farm families are injured or killed. No family should have to endure what the Krentz family is experiencing.”

Rogers said inaction by Congress can no longer be tolerated. “The border needs to be secured,” said Rogers. His organization has long called for securing the border and fixing the worker visa program so we know who is coming into the U.S. and who is overstaying their permission to be here. “Fixing the worker visa program becomes part of securing the border,” he emphasized.

If this tragedy is connected to smuggling from Mexico, swift action is needed to make sure this will not lead to an escalation in Arizona of the violence associated with the drug cartel brutality now just south of our border. “Until Congress addresses securing the border, all necessary resources should be focused on Arizona’s border,” concluded Rogers.

Letters from ranchers along the southern border are pouring into my e-mail box. Here’s a sample of messages from the front lines:

From Michael in Florence, AZ…

Thanks for mentioning the story about Bob Krentz’ death. This hit my own family pretty hard at the nearby Riggs Ranch. We’ve been their neighbors for over 100 years, our own place established in 1881 in Dos Cabezas. This Government of ours just won’t provide the protection needed to secure this border, and the media is not even on the same planet with reporting about it. When the US Customs office located at the Maricopa BOT in Nogales got machined gunned last December by one of the cartels, not even the Arizona Republic did the episode any justice. The Fourth Estate doesn’t exist anymore; today, its just a propaganda outlet for special interests.

Thanks for your good work.

From Danielle…

The cartels have been cultivating deep reaches into US communities for many years. They front legitimate businesses on this side of the border. Cartel members have used these “respectable faces” to gain influence and seats on school boards and city and county governments as well as working in many of our law enforcement agencies.

From Billie in CA…

Michelle,

…As a ranching wife, my heart goes out to Bob’s family and especially his wife Susan. No one outside the ranching community knows how hard a life this is ( in terms of physical work never being done). To those of us who love it, the price is well worth the benefits. But not for Susan Krentz. I cannot imagine what she must feel, knowing they have been robbed before, vandalized and terrorized.

Ranching families work hard as teams to get everything done to care for their animals. They are usually short on help considering all that needs to be done. I hope that Susan’s loss of her husband, her partner in the business and the head of a multi generational legacy is not lost in the reporting. Her life is forever changed and helping her find a sense of peace and sanity is what we all need to think about.

Rob Krentz was a Cochise County, AZ cattle farmer who had battled the bloody consequences of illegal immigration for years. Over the weekend, his dead body was found on his ranch. The longtime rancher had been gunned down. Police are investigating the homicide.

The Arizona Star reports:

A longtime rancher was killed on his Douglas-area property over the weekend, and neighbors worried that his homicide was connected to increasing border-related crime in the area.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office offered little information into the late-Saturday shooting death of 58-year-old Robert Krentz, whose family began the Krentz Ranch more than 100 years ago.

Krentz’s body was found on his land, which is about 35 miles northeast of Douglas, just before midnight Saturday, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office, aided by the U.S. Border Patrol, had no suspects Sunday and continued to follow leads, Capas said. She declined to comment on reports from neighbors and border activists that Krentz’s death was related to smuggling in the area.

Area residents said Krentz had no enemies, and they could think of no motive for his death other than the possibility it was related to what they called the growing level of crime in the area related to illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.

Tom Tancredo, a former U.S. representative from Colorado, was visiting ranchers near Douglas to discuss border issues when he heard of Krentz’s death.

Tancredo said he and Krentz were friends and that he was “a mild-mannered guy” who was known for providing illegal immigrants with food and water.

Digger’s Realm has more. R.I.P.

***

The Tuscon Weekly adds:

The event has rocked the towns of Douglas and Portal, and the ranches in between, both of which have been under siege by cross-border smugglers for years.

As the Weekly has reported, the situation in the so-called Chiricahua Corridor has deteriorated lately, leaving residents fearful that an episode of this kind was inevitable. The grief is great for the Krentz family and their many friends throughout Southeast Arizona; Krentzes have been ranching in Cochise County for more than a century.

The Weekly has received word that a representative for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has placed calls to Cochise County, trying to set up a community meeting, either Monday or Tuesday at 11 a.m., possibly at the Apache School. The Giffords’ rep making the arrangements said it is possible she will ask the president to place military units in the besieged area

A source tells the Weekly the practical impact of Giffords’ actions might be small, but at least she is paying attention. The source said, “Kolbe laughed at us when we complained, and McCain worries about getting his patent leather shoes dirty when he’s down here.”

Related: The slaughter on the southern border – March 17, 2010

***

John McCain and his open-borders, Soros-funded advisor Juan Hernandez have no comment yet.

***

Reader Billie e-mails:

Michelle,

Billie R.
Chico, CA

***

Update: Just received this statement from the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association…

ACGA Alert

March 28, 2010

Phoenix, AZ – The thoughts and prayers of the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association are with the family of Sue and Rob Krentz. Rob’s tragic death truly leaves a hole in the community and his family. Everyone in Arizona’s ranching community will be saddened to hear of this tragedy.

Rob Krentz was a caretaker – he cared for his family, he cared for the land and he cared for the animals he and his family raised on the Krentz Ranch. These traits have been passed down through the Krentz family from one generation to the next. This is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Sue and their children.

Rob and his dog were found shot early this morning after he left on his four-wheeler late yesterday to check fence on his ranch. While reports of this tragedy and investigation advance the ACGA is prepared to assist in gathering facts about the incident with the offer of a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of individuals involved in the tragic shooting of Rob Krentz.

***

Update: New details from the Arizona Republic about the crime…

A prominent southeast Arizona rancher sped away in his all-terrain vehicle after being shot, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said Monday in releasing more details into Saturday’s slaying near the Mexico border.

The body of Robert Krentz, 58, was located before midnight Saturday on his 35,000 acre ranch about 35 miles northeast of Douglas after his brother reported that he had lost radio contact with Krentz earlier in the day.

Krentz apparently came upon one person when he was shot and his dog was wounded, detectives said.

While Krentz was still in his vehicle, mortally wounded, he managed to drive the ATV away from the scene at a high rate of speed before becoming unconscious, investigators said.

Foot tracks were identified and followed approximately 20 miles south to the Mexico border by sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Border Patrol trackers and Department of Corrections dog chase teams, authorities said.

So far, there have been no suspects identified and no arrests.

***

Homeland security? What homeland security?

The system is not working.

***

The slaughter on the southern border
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010

At a joint press conference with Mexican president Felipe Calderon last year, President Obama vowed to make ending border violence a “top priority.” How’s that hope and change working out? Drug-related crime is out of control, the State Department is warning spring-break vacationers to avoid the Mexican states of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua, and the bloodshed has now reached the U.S. consulate’s office.

A young American consulate worker and her unborn baby were slain this weekend in Mexico, along with her U.S. detention officer husband and the Mexican husband of another consulate worker. The wanton murders appear to have been a coordinated drug cartel hit; the victims had all just left a children’s birthday party in Juarez and were headed across the border back into Texas. The pregnant American official, Lesley Enriquez, is reportedly the first consulate employee to die in drug-related violence since 1985. Her 7-month-old daughter, terrorized by the gunfire while strapped in her car seat, was the lone survivor of the attack.

The State Department has now authorized the evacuation of dependents of U.S. personnel in six Mexican cities along its northern border with the U.S. And the resort town of Acapulco saw at least 13 murdered over the past week – including four beheadings. The total death toll over the last three years is nearing 20,000.

Mexican government officials have been quite content to blame their neighbors for the outbreaks; play the race card; demand blanket amnesty for illegal aliens from their country trying to flee the violence and misery; and collect massive infusions of U.S. aid that have fallen into the wrong hands. The question for this White House is: How many more Americans will be targeted for execution before we stop rewarding such fatally arrogant behavior?

Reminder: With bipartisan support, the Bush administration handed over $1.6 billion to help Mexico control its border chaos in 2008. The crime-fighting package known as the “Merida Initiative” funded helicopters, surveillance equipment, computer infrastructure, expansion of intelligence databases, anti-corruption initiatives, human rights education and training, and anti-money laundering program to our southern neighbors. President Obama accelerated the release of Merida Initiative cash to Mexico and tossed even more taxpayer funding into the mix. All of this while our own measly border enforcement initiatives have been short-changed, demagogued, or completely abandoned.

Critics of the Merida Initiative (including yours truly) warned that lax oversight would lead to inevitable plundering of the money by corrupt Mexican government officials and more unabated bloodshed. Calderon cried “racist!” and demanded that the aid be forked over with no strings attached: “”Give it to me. And give it to me without conditions,” he told Congress.

Well, who’s watching over the program now? Who’s measuring its success or failure? Judging from the endless pile of corpses and horrific headlines, the Merida Initiative has turned out to be a boon and a boondoggle for the Mexican thugocracy. The civilian police force is notoriously under the thumb of the drug networks across the country. Infiltrators have penetrated at all levels.

The Brookings Institute warned two years ago: “Multiple Federal agencies have earned a reputation for ineffectiveness and corruption; among them, the Attorney General’s Federal Investigative Agency, the Ministry of Public Security’s Federal Preventive Police Force, the Ministry of Government’s Center for Investigation and National Security and the Ministry of Finance’s Customs Administration…State security agencies and the courts have not protected the citizenry effectively. According to surveys carried out by Transparencia Mexicana, the police and justice system are perceived as having worse problems of corruption and inefficiency than other public agencies.”

Yet, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the lesson of this weekend’s killing spree is that the U.S. needs to work even closer with the Calderon administration — and at least one House Democrat in Texas, Henry Cuellar, is calling for a second Merida Initiative package.

This is a recipe for an even bloodier Mexican Drug Cartel Stimulus Package. If you subsidize it, you’ll get more of it. Loco.

He left behind a wife and two children.

His community in Arizona has set up several memorial funds.

The website “chipin” has a memorial page set up in honor of Agent Rosas. People can pay via credit or debit card. Proceeds will go to Rosas’ wife and children and to help pay for the funeral.

That website is here.

There is also a memorial fund set up at Sun Community Banks in the Imperial Valley. Checks can be made out to the Robert W. Rosas Memorial Fund. The account number is 5159280.

A memorial fund has also been set up at San Diego’s Cabrillo Federal Credit Union. Checks can be made out to Agent Robert Rosas. That account number is 186716-02.

Keep the family in your thoughts and prayers. And help honor Rosas’ service by helping his family and keeping his legacy alive.

Border Agent Robert Rosas, Jr., killed in the line of duty

In my State of the Borders column in January, I warned that Mexican Army incursions into U.S. territory remain a regular occurrence.

Off the Obama radar screen, violence on the southern border rages unchecked.

Now this:

A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was shot and killed Thursday night was responding to a potential incursion into the United States, authorities said.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says, “This act of violence will not stand.”

Agent Robert Rosas suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene around 9 p.m. in the Campo area in San Diego County, California, said Richard Barlow of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Barlow, speaking at a Friday news conference, said authorities did not have additional details about the incident, which he said occurred near the fence that separates the U.S. and Mexico.

Other agents responded to the area and found Rosas, Barlow said.

Authorities said they believe more than one person was involved in the killing, said Keith Slotter, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego bureau. He said one of those involved may have been injured as well.

A break in the case:

KPIX in San Francisco is reporting that two men and one woman were arrested in relation to this case in a San Jose Hospital where they were seeking treatment. Reportedly, a blood sample of one of the assailants was found at the scene. Reports that the Agent may have been shot with his own weapon are unconfirmed at this time.

This tragedy underscores the need for a better fence and tighter control over the United States Border with Mexico. It also signals an escalation of the violence on this side of the fence or lack thereof. The area where the agent was killed is still only protected by the decades old ten-foot fence that smugglers and illegal immigrants have been scaling or crawling under since it was installed.

Local residents and citizen border watchers are stricken with grief, many of whom knew and worked with Agent Rosas…Agent Rosas is survived by a wife and two small children. Flags across the area are flying at half-staff.

R.I.P.

***

Update: Four detained…

Mexican federal police say they have detained four men suspected of involvement in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas.

Elias Alvarez Hernandez, the coordinator of federal police in Baja California state, says the men were allegedly part of an immigrant smuggling ring. Twenty-one immigrants were found with them when the men were detained near Tecate on Saturday.

Well, it didn’t take long for partisan Democrats to blame the swine flu outbreak on the Republican Party.

Here’s the line: Since House Republicans all opposed the trillion-dollar-porkulus, which included funding for pandemic preparations, it’s all. Our. Fault.

No, really:

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year’s emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.

Obey and other advocates for the spending argued, correctly, that a pandemic hitting in the midst of an economic downturn could turn a recession into something far worse — with workers ordered to remain in their homes, workplaces shuttered to avoid the spread of disease, transportation systems grinding to a halt and demand for emergency services and public health interventions skyrocketing. Indeed, they suggested, pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.

But former White House political czar Karl Rove and key congressional Republicans — led by Maine Senator Susan Collins — aggressively attacked the notion that there was a connection between pandemic preparation and economic recovery.

Now, as the World Health Organization says a deadly swine flu outbreak that apparently began in Mexico but has spread to the United States has the potential to develop into a pandemic, Obey’s attempt to secure the money seems eerily prescient.

And his partisan attacks on his efforts seem not just creepy, but dangerous.

So any natural disaster or bio-catastrophe that comes along, for which fiscal conservatives refused to support funding for in an economic recovery package, will now be all. Our. Fault.

And President Obama can once again invoke his time-tested alibi: He inherited the problem.

Don Surber properly calls this ploy what it is: A distraction.

“President Barack Obama has not yet chosen a surgeon general or the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His choice to run the Food and Drug Administration awaits confirmation,” Politico reported.

In all, 19 positions and the secretary are empty desks.

Maybe if Obama did something more than preen and pat himself on the back for his first 100 days in office, we would actually have a government that did more than just blame Republicans for all the troubles of the world.

***

Pssst. GOP-bashers, meet CHARLES “Flu pandemic funding = pork” SCHUMER.

There’s been a bit of a stir over President Obama’s comments suggesting that he is open to the idea of sending National Guard troops down to the southern border to deal with long-festering chaos.

“We’re going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense,” Obama said during an interview with journalists for regional papers, including a McClatchy reporter.

(link)

Yadda yadda yadda. I call bull.

No meaningful security force will be mobilized along our border.

It will never happen as long as the La Raza/Race lobbyist has a seat at Obama’s table and certainly not as long as DHS is headed by a secretary who is incensed that basic immigration laws are being enforced.

And not as long as the White House is supported and populated by open-borders activists pushing for shamnesty and other illegal immigration-legitimizing measures (hint: Census power grab) designed to boost Democrat voter rolls.

Not going to happen. The state of the borders will remain unsound.

I’d love to be proven wrong.

***

P.S.: Where in the world is illegal alien deportation fugitive Aunti Zeituni Onyango?

Hey, how’s that $1.6 billion American-taxpayer-funded Merida Initiative to control crime and chaos in Mexico working out? Not so well. Not so well.

A bad situation keeps getting worse:

U.S. anti-kidnap expert kidnapped in Mexico

The U.S. embassy in Mexico City said it was investigating and declined to comment further.
“He may have been targeted by organized crime in an attempt to show their power. Saltillo is not a kidnapping hot spot,” said a source at Coahuila state attorney general’s office.

Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.