ROBERT N. KRENTZ: ARIZONA BORDER WAR CASUALTY
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=529591
Robert N. Krentz, Border War Casualty
Posted 04/07/2010 06:30 PM ET
Illegal Immigration: An Arizona rancher is murdered while patrolling his ranch. A gaping hole in the border fence and footsteps back to Mexico tell the tale. When will we put the National Guard back on the border?
Robert N. Krentz Jr., 58, scion of one of the best-known and oldest ranching families in southeast Arizona, was found shot to death March 27 on his vast, remote ranch after radioing to his brother that he was checking out someone he believed to be an illegal immigrant.
Krentz was found slumped over his ATV on his 35,000-acre ranch about 35 miles northeast of Douglas. He was out checking water lines and fencing on the land Krentz’s family has ranched since 1907. His dog lay nearby critically wounded, also hit by a bullet.
The Cochise County authorities believe Krentz was killed by an illegal immigrant who fled to Mexico. Foot tracks were identified and followed approximately 20 miles south to the Mexico border by county, state and federal authorities.
A satellite photo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows a big gap in the border fence near Krentz’s ranch. We recently editorialized on the need for a secure border fence and complained about the dithering by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano over delays caused by reliance on gadgets and gizmos in a failed “virtual fence” of cameras and sensors but no boots on the ground.
We’ve also commented on the escalating and violent drug war in Mexico, violence that will spill over our border. Last month saw the broad-daylight massacre in Juarez of a pregnant American U.S. consular employee and her husband, leaving their year-old baby wailing in the back of their car. The drug cartels are serious, and we should be as well.
Police say Phoenix is the second-worst place for kidnapping on earth, after Mexico City; 359 people were kidnapped there in 2008, all of them with links to trafficking. Other cartel-linked crime has been carried out in San Antonio, Anchorage, Alaska, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Diego and Tucson, Ariz., with huge rings operating.
About 30 residents of El Porvenir, located about four miles from the Texas border town of East Hancock, recently crossed into the U.S. and asked for political asylum, telling authorities they feared for their lives. The mayor and his son have been killed.
“So far there has been no violence on the U.S. side of the border,” reports Mike Doyle, chief deputy sheriff of Hudspeth County, “but I have had a few Fort Hancock residents killed across the border.” It’s quite possible the man Krentz encountered was either a drug smuggler or cartel scout who didn’t want to be reported.
We are reminded of the case of Arizona Rancher Roger Bartlett, who was sued for allegedly violating the civil rights of 16 illegal aliens he caught trespassing on his property in 2004. Aware of the chaos in Mexico, the increasing cross-border violence, and the repeated damage to his property, Bartlett made a citizen’s arrest.
“Since drug smugglers are frequently armed, I drew my handgun,” Bartlett said in a 2007 deposition. “I holstered it after assuring myself they were not armed. I then called the Border Patrol on my cell phone … and waited until Border Patrol arrived and took them into custody.”
For protecting his family and property, Bartlett was sued for $32 million in actual and punitive damages. The courts found he had not violated the smugglers’ civil rights, but he still had to pay out some $677,000 in punitive and other “damages.”
Robert Krentz paid a higher price for defending his land and ours. “The murder of Cochise County rancher Rob Krentz … should not have happened and was preventable,” said Arizona Farm Bureau President Kevin Rogers. “It is time for the federal government to fix this problem before another one of our ranch or farm families are injured or killed.”
We agree. Forget the cameras. Forget the sensors. Put the Guard on the border with orders to protect the people of this country.
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