Sher Zieve
Mexican border crisis: the barbarians are at the gate
By Sher Zieve
In 2006, I conducted a three-part interview with former US Border Patrol Supervisor David J Stoddard. For 27 years, David served in Calexico, California, Vermont, Yuma, Tucson Sector Headquarters and Naco, Arizona and worked in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and other locations. He also provided testimony about immigration reform to Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner's (R-WI) House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims in 1999 and a Congressional subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources in 2002.
With the current US-Mexico border crisis — including an actual ongoing war on our southern border — I thought it was time to again call on David's indispensable knowledge and experience.
The Interview
Sher: David, since we last talked the violence along the US-Mexico border has increased almost geometrically and, in many border towns, a full-fledged war seems to be ongoing. Some reports are that as many as 4,000-6,000 people were beheaded in 2008 by the drug cartels. Others indicate that Mexico may be close to collapse and its leaders equally close to submission to these cartels. And just recently Phoenix, AZ was named the #2 drug-related kidnap city in the world — just behind Mexico City. As you make your home in Arizona, have you been aware of any of the drug-cartel violence in or close to your city?
Dave: No. My city is a small, rural community. While it is true that drugs pass through the city en route to Tucson and Phoenix, the only complication we have had is the occasional high-speed chase through the city endangering our citizens and police officers. While it is true that there has been close to 8,000 deaths due to the drug traffic in Mexico since January of 2008, only a small number of beheadings have occurred. (Even one beheading is too many). Most of those deaths have been police officers, Mexican Army and druggies with a small percentage of innocent victims caught in the crossfire.
The drug hubs are in Phoenix and Tucson. The kidnappings, home invasions and murders are due to drug trafficking and human smuggling. The drug cartels and human smuggling cartels have combined and operate the same routes, often use the same stash houses and use the same people to traffic and enforce. They do not hesitate to use violence.
The Mexican Government seems to be impotent counteracting either the drug traffic or the human smuggling rings because of rampant corruption within its ranks. Often the local police and the local traffickers are one and the same.
Sher: Recently, Texas Governor Rick Perry urgently requested that the Obama Administration send the National Guard to the increasingly war torn US-Mexico border. Instead, Mr. Obama had his DHS Chief Janet Napolitano say she would send 100 Border Patrol Agents. As it is being reported that the Mexican drug cartels have set up shop in 230 US cities, why do you think the Obama Administration — and in particular former Arizona Governor Napolitano — seems to have no desire to stop them?
Dave: There is absolutely no desire to stop the drug trafficking and the human smuggling. Obama and Napolitano have a vested interest in satisfying the ethnic identity groups that helped put them in power. The National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, League of United Latin American Citizens, ACORN and other cults of perpetual victimhood have rolled out tens of thousands of votes for the Democrats, and Obama and his minions are paying back those groups.
Those groups are the real racists. Their premise is that because of ethnic identity, their constituents cannot compete on a level playing field of hard work, education and staying out of trouble. Those groups believe that those constituents are too handicapped to be successes in society because of their ethnicity; therefore they must have special privileges and rights to compete with those who do work hard, get an education and stay out of trouble. So the Obama Administration won't do anything to secure our borders so members of those ethnic identity groups can continue to recruit, get funds and demand special privileges while delivering votes for the socialist members of our government. If the borders were secured against illegal aliens, automatically the drug trafficking routes would be shut off. So Obama and Napolitano will simply put window dressing on the issue while trying to appear like they are actually trying to cure the problem.
Sher: Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have each blamed the United States of America for exporting guns to Mexico. Would you clarify what actually occurred in the Mexican Army having received guns from the US and tell us where most of the guns come from that end up in the hands of the drug cartels?
Dave: There are no gun shops in the United States where you can buy an AK-47 with a selector switch. You cannot buy hand grenades, fully automatic weapons, high explosives or Rocket Propelled Grenades. The Mexican Cartels are using all of those. The cartels are getting those weapons from corrupt members of the Mexican Government which has obtained them from the USA, and from other sources in Central and South America. It is a huge lie that 90% of the cartel weapons are supplied by straw purchasers in the USA.
Remember that the ZETAs deserted from the Mexican Army after being trained and armed by the USA. The ZETAs simply took their weapons and gear with them to the Cartels.
Additionally, STRATFOR and M-3 have been reporting for the last year and a half that the cartels have allied with FARC and FARC is supported by Hugo Chavez. The Cartels are being supplied by FARC. Last year Columbia raided a FARC camp in the jungles of Columbia and found some Mexicans being trained and armed by FARC. I assure you that those Mexicans were not upstanding members of their communities in Mexico.
Sher: The Obama Administration appears to be doing even less than President Bush's Administration in closing the US-Mexico border to illegals and drug distributors. Would you explain how we can keep the border open for commerce while closing it to gangs, drug cartels and other illegals?
Dave: That solution is simple. Keep the Ports of Entry open to legitimate trade while increasing inspections and closing the border between Ports of Entry where illegal aliens and drugs are entering. This can be done with the use of a relatively small number of U.S. troops, either National Guardsmen or Regular U.S. Army. While I was a Border Patrol Officer working with JTF-6, we sealed the border in certain stretches. We need just expand that seal to cover from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California. At the same time, interior immigration enforcement must be enhanced to root out the foreign criminal element that has embedded into our cities.
Sher: From your observation and experience, would you tell us what you see in efforts to dismantle the US Interior enforcement against the cartels and illegals in general?
Dave: Obama and Napolitano have bowed to the various open borders and subversive groups. Eric Holder and Napolitano are discontinuing interior enforcement and the 287g program which allows local law enforcement to remove illegal aliens from our communities. The mantra is that local cops are "racial profiling," arresting innocent "illegal aliens," and "splitting families." All of that is hype. There are no "innocent" illegal aliens. Every one of them has violated criminal laws. And, when they steal an identity, or get a phony I.D., they become felons. So they ALL are criminals. Plus, every time you send a bank robber to prison you are "splitting a family," so what is wrong with giving a deported felon the opportunity to take his "family" with him so as not to "split" it?
Sher: You mentioned that FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) is a new problem that is moving closer to the USA. Do you see this new threat to the country as equal to or exceeding that of the Mexican cartels? Might there also be an alliance between them brewing?
Dave: As I have already mentioned there is an alliance between the cartels and FARC. In a huge sense, there is a threat to this hemisphere. Various South American Countries have gone Red. Those that have, have a goal to turn this entire hemisphere into a Socialist/Marxist utopia. To a great degree they have succeeded. We have elected a far left President who has made no secret of his intent and is well on the way to accomplishing his goals. I think this is a far greater threat than what the cartels present. But the cartel threat will be utilized to further curtail freedom and democracy in the USA. Therefore, it is advantages not to eliminate that threat as per Obama's right-hand man, "No crisis must be wasted."
Sher: Other than 'to garner votes,' why would any US leader subject the US population to continuing open borders with the increasingly violent lawless groups and risk the USA falling to them — just as that which might happen in Mexico? Do you see any sanity or hope left? If so, is there anything that We-the-People can do to stop it? Unfortunately, our leaders no longer seem to be listening to us — nor do they appear to care what is happening to our country.
Dave: I am somewhat pessimistic. The only hope is see is in the 2010 elections. If the American people will just wake up and toss the socialist majority out of office, then we can hang on until 2012 and hopefully elect a real American to the Presidency and real Americans to the Congress. That is the only peaceful solution.
Sher: Thanks so much for your insight, Dave.
© Sher Zieve
March 31, 2009
In 2006, I conducted a three-part interview with former US Border Patrol Supervisor David J Stoddard. For 27 years, David served in Calexico, California, Vermont, Yuma, Tucson Sector Headquarters and Naco, Arizona and worked in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and other locations. He also provided testimony about immigration reform to Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner's (R-WI) House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims in 1999 and a Congressional subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources in 2002.
With the current US-Mexico border crisis — including an actual ongoing war on our southern border — I thought it was time to again call on David's indispensable knowledge and experience.
The Interview
Sher: David, since we last talked the violence along the US-Mexico border has increased almost geometrically and, in many border towns, a full-fledged war seems to be ongoing. Some reports are that as many as 4,000-6,000 people were beheaded in 2008 by the drug cartels. Others indicate that Mexico may be close to collapse and its leaders equally close to submission to these cartels. And just recently Phoenix, AZ was named the #2 drug-related kidnap city in the world — just behind Mexico City. As you make your home in Arizona, have you been aware of any of the drug-cartel violence in or close to your city?
Dave: No. My city is a small, rural community. While it is true that drugs pass through the city en route to Tucson and Phoenix, the only complication we have had is the occasional high-speed chase through the city endangering our citizens and police officers. While it is true that there has been close to 8,000 deaths due to the drug traffic in Mexico since January of 2008, only a small number of beheadings have occurred. (Even one beheading is too many). Most of those deaths have been police officers, Mexican Army and druggies with a small percentage of innocent victims caught in the crossfire.
The drug hubs are in Phoenix and Tucson. The kidnappings, home invasions and murders are due to drug trafficking and human smuggling. The drug cartels and human smuggling cartels have combined and operate the same routes, often use the same stash houses and use the same people to traffic and enforce. They do not hesitate to use violence.
The Mexican Government seems to be impotent counteracting either the drug traffic or the human smuggling rings because of rampant corruption within its ranks. Often the local police and the local traffickers are one and the same.
Sher: Recently, Texas Governor Rick Perry urgently requested that the Obama Administration send the National Guard to the increasingly war torn US-Mexico border. Instead, Mr. Obama had his DHS Chief Janet Napolitano say she would send 100 Border Patrol Agents. As it is being reported that the Mexican drug cartels have set up shop in 230 US cities, why do you think the Obama Administration — and in particular former Arizona Governor Napolitano — seems to have no desire to stop them?
Dave: There is absolutely no desire to stop the drug trafficking and the human smuggling. Obama and Napolitano have a vested interest in satisfying the ethnic identity groups that helped put them in power. The National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, League of United Latin American Citizens, ACORN and other cults of perpetual victimhood have rolled out tens of thousands of votes for the Democrats, and Obama and his minions are paying back those groups.
Those groups are the real racists. Their premise is that because of ethnic identity, their constituents cannot compete on a level playing field of hard work, education and staying out of trouble. Those groups believe that those constituents are too handicapped to be successes in society because of their ethnicity; therefore they must have special privileges and rights to compete with those who do work hard, get an education and stay out of trouble. So the Obama Administration won't do anything to secure our borders so members of those ethnic identity groups can continue to recruit, get funds and demand special privileges while delivering votes for the socialist members of our government. If the borders were secured against illegal aliens, automatically the drug trafficking routes would be shut off. So Obama and Napolitano will simply put window dressing on the issue while trying to appear like they are actually trying to cure the problem.
Sher: Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have each blamed the United States of America for exporting guns to Mexico. Would you clarify what actually occurred in the Mexican Army having received guns from the US and tell us where most of the guns come from that end up in the hands of the drug cartels?
Dave: There are no gun shops in the United States where you can buy an AK-47 with a selector switch. You cannot buy hand grenades, fully automatic weapons, high explosives or Rocket Propelled Grenades. The Mexican Cartels are using all of those. The cartels are getting those weapons from corrupt members of the Mexican Government which has obtained them from the USA, and from other sources in Central and South America. It is a huge lie that 90% of the cartel weapons are supplied by straw purchasers in the USA.
Remember that the ZETAs deserted from the Mexican Army after being trained and armed by the USA. The ZETAs simply took their weapons and gear with them to the Cartels.
Additionally, STRATFOR and M-3 have been reporting for the last year and a half that the cartels have allied with FARC and FARC is supported by Hugo Chavez. The Cartels are being supplied by FARC. Last year Columbia raided a FARC camp in the jungles of Columbia and found some Mexicans being trained and armed by FARC. I assure you that those Mexicans were not upstanding members of their communities in Mexico.
Sher: The Obama Administration appears to be doing even less than President Bush's Administration in closing the US-Mexico border to illegals and drug distributors. Would you explain how we can keep the border open for commerce while closing it to gangs, drug cartels and other illegals?
Dave: That solution is simple. Keep the Ports of Entry open to legitimate trade while increasing inspections and closing the border between Ports of Entry where illegal aliens and drugs are entering. This can be done with the use of a relatively small number of U.S. troops, either National Guardsmen or Regular U.S. Army. While I was a Border Patrol Officer working with JTF-6, we sealed the border in certain stretches. We need just expand that seal to cover from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California. At the same time, interior immigration enforcement must be enhanced to root out the foreign criminal element that has embedded into our cities.
Sher: From your observation and experience, would you tell us what you see in efforts to dismantle the US Interior enforcement against the cartels and illegals in general?
Dave: Obama and Napolitano have bowed to the various open borders and subversive groups. Eric Holder and Napolitano are discontinuing interior enforcement and the 287g program which allows local law enforcement to remove illegal aliens from our communities. The mantra is that local cops are "racial profiling," arresting innocent "illegal aliens," and "splitting families." All of that is hype. There are no "innocent" illegal aliens. Every one of them has violated criminal laws. And, when they steal an identity, or get a phony I.D., they become felons. So they ALL are criminals. Plus, every time you send a bank robber to prison you are "splitting a family," so what is wrong with giving a deported felon the opportunity to take his "family" with him so as not to "split" it?
Sher: You mentioned that FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) is a new problem that is moving closer to the USA. Do you see this new threat to the country as equal to or exceeding that of the Mexican cartels? Might there also be an alliance between them brewing?
Dave: As I have already mentioned there is an alliance between the cartels and FARC. In a huge sense, there is a threat to this hemisphere. Various South American Countries have gone Red. Those that have, have a goal to turn this entire hemisphere into a Socialist/Marxist utopia. To a great degree they have succeeded. We have elected a far left President who has made no secret of his intent and is well on the way to accomplishing his goals. I think this is a far greater threat than what the cartels present. But the cartel threat will be utilized to further curtail freedom and democracy in the USA. Therefore, it is advantages not to eliminate that threat as per Obama's right-hand man, "No crisis must be wasted."
Sher: Other than 'to garner votes,' why would any US leader subject the US population to continuing open borders with the increasingly violent lawless groups and risk the USA falling to them — just as that which might happen in Mexico? Do you see any sanity or hope left? If so, is there anything that We-the-People can do to stop it? Unfortunately, our leaders no longer seem to be listening to us — nor do they appear to care what is happening to our country.
Dave: I am somewhat pessimistic. The only hope is see is in the 2010 elections. If the American people will just wake up and toss the socialist majority out of office, then we can hang on until 2012 and hopefully elect a real American to the Presidency and real Americans to the Congress. That is the only peaceful solution.
Sher: Thanks so much for your insight, Dave.
© Sher Zieve
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