MICHAEL CUTLER: PLEASE READ THESE COMMENTS ON THE WAR ON AMERICA’S “SOUTH BANK”
Hi Gang:
I have provided you with a news report that was written by Jerry Seper, the investigative editor for the Washington Times that appeared in that newspaper yesterday, October 15th and should be of great concern to all Americans and, hopefully, to all of our nation’s leaders.
As you may know, Jerry has been covering the immigration beat for many years, often writing insightful articles that chronicle just how dysfunctional the system that is supposed to protect our nation from the immigration crisis has become.
The article that served as the predication for my commentary today reports on how the extremely violent Sinaloa Cartel that is a major player in the smuggling of multi-ton loads of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico into the United States as well as being involved in the production and smuggling of Mexican heroin and marijuana into the United States, has taken to sending heavily armed assassins into the United States to make certain that drug shipments do not get stolen in the United States.
The article notes that the cartel has established routes to ship their narcotics throughout the United States.
Here is a segment of the news report that cites a DHS memo:
The Homeland Security memo said a group of “15, very well equipped and armed sicarios complete with bullet proof vests” had been sent into the valley. It said the assassins would be disguised as “groups of ‘simulated backpackers’ carrying empty boxes covered with burlap into the Vekol Valley to draw out the bandits.” Once identified, the memo said, “the sicarios will take out the bandits.”
The federal government has posted signs along Interstate 8 in the Vekol Valley warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers, and the local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state.
The signs were posted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, a major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego. They warn travelers they are entering an “active drug and human smuggling area” and may encounter “armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.”
On August 31st of this year, Jerry Seper wrote an extensive article about the lunacy to be found along the border that is supposed to separate the United States from Mexico. He interviewed me for this news report and I was happy to provide my insight. The report was titled:
“Signs in Arizona warn of smuggler dangers: Drivers advised to travel north”
Here is a link to that news report in its entirety:
Here is another disturbing excerpt from yesterday’s Washington Times article:
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose county lies at the center of major drug and alien smuggling routes to Phoenix and cities east and west, told The Washington Times earlier this month that Mexican drug cartels have posted scouts on the high points in the mountains and in the hills and “they literally control movement.
“They have radios, they have optics, they have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has,” he said. “This is going on here in Arizona. This is 70 to 80 miles from the border — 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States.”
The sheriff said he had asked the Obama administration for 3,000 National Guard soldiers to patrol the border, but instead got 15 signs. He also has confirmed that he got the Homeland Security memo warning of the assassins.
Rising violence along the border has coincided with a crackdown in Mexico on warring drug gangs, who are seeking control of smuggling routes into the United States. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has waged a bloody campaign against powerful cartels, and more than 28,000 people have died since he launched his crackdown in late 2006.
Meanwhile what the administration also did was to file a lawsuit against the State of Arizona for passing its own immigration law, SB 1070!
It is important to recall that Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano has, herself, stated on numerous occasions that more than 230 cities across our nation have been infested by members of the pernicious and extremely violent Mexican drug cartels. As these cartels continue to expand their operations within the United States it should be expected that they will further expand their efforts at protecting their drugs and the proceeds from the drug trade across our nation.
I can tell you from personal experience in my assignments at the Unified Intelligence Division of the DEA in New York City from 1988 to 1991 and then when I was promoted to the position of senior special agent and assigned to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) from 1991 until 2002, that I became very aware of the level of violence that drug traffickers would resort to in order to retain control of their drugs and profits and to make certain that they did whatever they could to intimidate anyone who might pose a threat to them.
My concern is that if our government continues to fail to secure the borders and fails to bring all of its legal resources to bear against these drug cartel members, violence will escalate across our nation.
The task force approach to combatting organized crime in general and certainly the drug trade is the best way for our government to combat this threat to national security and community safety. This means including an adequate number of special agents of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in such task force operations.
Some time ago I prepared a list of 7 ways that having ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) work cooperatively with local law enforcement would have a synergistic impact on law enforcement. Here is that list- once more:
The participation of special agents of ICE in multi-agency law enforcement operations and the implementation of the 287(g) program under which state and local law enforcement officers are trained to identify criminal aliens could be a force multiplier for ICE and the involved police departments. Here are 7 reasons why all law enforcement agencies should welcome the involvement of special agents of ICE and how the 287(g) program can have a synergistic impact on many criminal investigations:
- Access to immigration files can provide investigative leads when a criminal alien is being sought as a fugitive or a suspect of a crime.
- Access to immigration files can also provide vital information to a judge when a criminal alien is arrested and the judge is attempting to set the appropriate bail. The immigration file can provide documented evidence of risk of flight based on numerous identities the defendant may have previously used, occasions when the defendant jumped bail in an immigration matter and filed to appear for an immigration hearing. The file can also provide evidence of prior deportations. This could help to prevent those tragedies in which a criminal alien is arrested and then released on bail, only to commit another heinous crime while out on bail.
- If a plea bargain is being arranged, local and state prosecutors should work in close cooperation with federal immigration counsels to make certain that in the process of working out a plea-bargain agreement that they don’t inadvertently eliminate a conviction for a crime that would render the alien deportable.
- Working cooperatively with ICE, it would be easier to cultivate informants. Informants are often essential to the successful investigation and prosecution of criminals and criminal organizations as well as terrorists and their associates. The immigration laws provide a huge “carrot” as well as a huge “stick” to this end.
- There are a number of laws that can be used to hammer criminal aliens under the federal code. For example, the penalty for an illegal alien found to be in possession of a firearm carries a ten year penalty. There are other such laws to be found in the federal code that deals with the possession and use of false identity documents and for the crime of unlawful reentry after deportation. A criminal alien who is deported from the United States and then reenters the United States with the authority of the government faces a maximum of 20 years in jail. (I am proud to have played a role in convincing the then Senior Senator from the State of New York, Alphonse D’Amato to create the legislation that distinguished criminal aliens who are deported and reenter the United States illegally for illegal aliens who had no previous criminal convictions.)
- When an alien is convicted of a felony and when state and local law enforcement authorities work in close coordination with federal immigration authorities, a detainer can be lodged to make certain that upon release from custody when the criminal alien’s sentence is completed, the criminal alien will face deportation (removal) from the United States.
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There are instances when it is advantageous to the investigation to arrest a key individual(s) without alerting other members of the criminal or terrorist organization he is a part of, that the entire organization is being investigated. In such instances, it is often easy to find of violation of the immigration laws to enable law enforcement to arrest these individuals for administrative or criminal violation of the immigration laws, thus not alerting their cohorts to the larger, on-going investigation.
The threats our nation faces from the drug cartels of Mexico and other countries as well as the threats posed by transnational gangs and the threats posed by terrorists are as serious as any such threats could possibly be. Our nation must pull out the stops to make certain that we win these battles with these international criminals and terrorists.
Gene Kranz was the flight director at NASA throughout the early years of America’s space program beginning with Project Mercury and including Project Gemini and Project Apollo. (I had the distinct plivilege and honor of meeting Gene Kranz several years ago when he had a book signing- I had my two oldest sons accompany me to that book signing and bought them autographed copies of his incredible book that focused on how, as flight director, he led the effort that returned the Apollo 13 astronauts back to a safe landing after an explosion onboard the spacecraft midway to the moon, prevented what should have been the third mission to land our astronauts on the moon. His book was aptly entitled, “Failure Is Not an Option.”
Gene Kranz’s focus was the survival of those three valiant astronauts.
Our government’s leaders need to understand that with 300 million American lives hanging in the balance, and our nation’s future on the line, once again, failure is not an option!
If reading this makes it difficult for you to sleep now- perhaps you could do something worthwhile- perhaps you might spend a couple of your sleepless hours writing letters to your elected representatives this evening and remind them that Election Day is just days away!
We the People can add to the consternation of these politicians who are failing to live up to their oaths of office by contacting them and making it abundantly clear that election day is coming and they should think of election day as their personal “Day of Reckoning!”
Our government must live up to its obligation of protecting its own citizens and, indeed, all who are present in our country from the criminals and terrorists who would threaten our lives and the survival of our nation and our way of life. In the end, the government is actually those who are elected to act as our “leaders.” Those who fail to truly lead and look out for those they are supposed to represent, need to be sent packing this coming Election Day!
If our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!
We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.
My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.
The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.
Any politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to keep his (her) job. Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation who favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the outrageous betrayal that this would represent given the national security implications that this program would have, should be shown the door at the next election!
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same. We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”
In less than 3 weeks, each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection and more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!
However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.I implore you to get involved!
If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
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