Border War Zone

By Shannon

A reader sent me this link:  http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/04/border-prosecution-pork-so-far-remains.html  It is a blog by a Texas prosecutor talking about why border security in the form of prosecution is wasteful.  He doesn't know what he's talking about.  It is true that El Paso has one of the lowest crime rates for a city of its size, but that doesn't mean thousands of miles of border are safe. 

As someone who lives in a southwestern state on the Mexico border and is a prosecutor I can tell you that the border is something that gets too little media coverage and that you must live here to understand what goes on here.  Just because Janet Napolitano declares it safe doesn't mean the border is secure.  There are giant holes along the border that are unmanned and unfenced and therefore are unsecured.  There are middle eastern terrorist cells smuggling their people into Mexico and through those holes into America.  There are whole sections of desert that Americans are told to stay out of because the cartels use those routes to smuggle drugs and humans and will shoot anyone in those areas.  There are sections of the border that require special equipment to be used by Border Patrol Agents because Mexican criminals come over and set booby traps to frighten law enforcement away.  Some of these traps include wires so thin and stretched so tightly that they will instantly decapitate Agents on ATVs if they fail to wear special equipment.  Law enforcement is routinely stoned from the other side of the border - sometimes fatally.  There are always bounties offered for the assassinations of law enforcement officers.  Sometimes those bounties extend to federal and state judges and prosecutors.  The border looks safe because there are tens of thousands of men and women who stand in the gap for you and say to the criminals, "This far - no further." 

I would like to congratulate all those who stand with me on this side of the border and win the war today even if we may lose a battle tomorrow.  I would also like to encourage Grits and the rest of the nation to educate yourselves because the media won't.  There are cartel cells in EVERY state including Alaska and EVERY major city and even in some non-major cities like Fort Collins, Colorado.  We at the border war NOT against those who sneak in yearning for a better life.  We at the border stand between you and the cartels.  We do that in the field AND in the courtroom.  An Agent's efforts are all for nothing if there's not a lawyer standing by to finish what the Agent started.  Here's an excellent article about the border.  It is a starting point.  Please do your homework on this issue.  http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/22/expert-sylvia-longmire-mexican-drug-cartels-infesting-us-even/

Cartels are here.  Cartel violence is here.  How bad should we let it get before we respond with boots on the ground and shoes in the courtrooms of the American-Mexican border?