Border Patrols Rat Out MM Locations To Mexico

[Annie]

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3799653

U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols
By Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
While Minuteman civilian patrols are keeping an eye out for illegal border crossers, the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping an eye out for Minutemen -- and telling the Mexican government where they are.

According to three documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the U.S. Border Patrol is to notify the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen and other civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegal immigrants -- and if and when violence is used against border crossers.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants' rights are being observed.

"It's not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be," Mario Martinez said Monday.

"This ... simply makes two basic statements -- that we will not allow any lawlessness of any type, and that if an alien is encountered by a Minuteman or arrested by the Minuteman, then we will allow that government to interview the person."

Minuteman members were not so sanguine about the arrangement, however, saying that reporting their location to Mexican officials nullifies their effectiveness along the border and could endanger their lives.

"Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time," said Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "It's unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country. They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.

"They just basically endangered the lives of American people."

Officials with the Mexican consulate in Washington, D.C., could not be reached for comment Monday.

Martinez said reporting the location of immigrant apprehensions to consulate representatives is common practice if an illegal immigrant requests counsel or believes they have been mistreated.

"Once an illegal alien is apprehended, they can request counsel," he said. "We have to give their counsel the information about their apprehension, and that includes where they are apprehended, whether a Minuteman volunteer spotted them or a citizen."

Martinez said Mexico's official perception of the civilian groups is that they are vigilantes, a belief the Border Patrol hoped to allay by entering into the cooperative agreement.

One of the documents on the Web site, "Actions of the Mexican Government in Relation to the Activities of Vigilante Groups," states that Mexican consulate representatives stay in close contact with Border Patrol chiefs to ensure the safety of migrants trying to enter the U.S., those being detained and the actions of all "vigilantes" along the border.

"The Mexican consul in Presidio also contacted the chief of the Border Patrol in the Marfa Sector to solicit his cooperation in case they detect any activity of `vigilantes,' and was told to immediately contact the consulate if there was," according to the document.

"Presidio" refers to Presidio County, Texas, which is in the Big Bend region and a gateway to northern Mexico.

The document also describes a meeting with San Diego Border Patrol sector chief Darryl Griffen.

"(Griffen) said that the Border Patrol will not permit any violence or any actions contrary to the law by the groups, and he is continuously aware of (the volunteer organizations') operations," according to the document. "Mr. Griffen reiterated to the undersecretary his promise to notify the General Consul right away when the vigilantes detain or participate in the detention of any undocumented Mexicans."

The documents specifically named the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and its patrols, which began monitoring Arizona's southern border in April 2005, as well as Friends of the Border Patrol, a Chino-based nonprofit.

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing more than 10,000 Border Patrol agents, said agents have complained for years about the Mexican consulate's influence over the agency.

"It worries me (that the Mexican government) seems to be unduly influencing our enforcement policies. That's not a legitimate role for any foreign nation," Bonner said, though he added, "It doesn't surprise me."

Border Patrol agents interviewed by the Daily Bulletin said they have been asked to report to sector headquarters the location of all civilian volunteer groups, but to not file the groups' names in reports if they spot illegal immigrants.

"Last year an internal memo notified all agents not to give credit to Minuteman volunteers or others who call in sightings of illegal aliens," said one agent, who spoke on the condition he not be identified. "We were told to list it as a citizen call and leave it at that. Many times, we were told not to go out to Minuteman calls."

The document also mentions locations of field operations of Friends of the Border Patrol, which patrolled the San Diego sector from June to November 2005. Mexican officials had access to the exact location of the group founded by Andy Ramirez, which ran its patrols from the Rough Acre Ranch, a private property in McCain Valley.

Ramirez said that for safety reasons, he disclosed the location of his ranch patrol only to San Diego Border Patrol and law enforcement officials. The group did not apprehend or spot any undocumented migrants in that area.

"We did not release this information ... to the media or anyone else," Ramirez said. "We didn't want to publicize that information. But there it is, right on the Mexican government's Web site, and our government gave it to them."

 

[007]

TELL ME THIS IS A JOKE!!!​

 

[007]

Last year an internal memo notified all agents not to give credit to Minuteman volunteers or others who call in sightings of illegal aliens," said one agent, who spoke on the condition he not be identified. "We were told to list it as a citizen call and leave it at that. Many times, we were told not to go out to Minuteman calls."

BY WHOM???!!! AND WHY???!!!

This SHOULD OUTRAGE every single American.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Kathianne again.

 

[5stringJeff]

WTF!!!

This is total bullshit. Time to revamp the INS - under the direction of DoD.

 

[jon_forward]

Told not to report to MM call in's? Thats like not answering a 911 call. Who's side are these people on anyway???

 

[Annie]

Told not to report to MM call in's? Thats like not answering a 911 call. Who's side are these people on anyway???

More:

http://minutemanhq.com/b2/

05/09/06
Permalink 01:17:55 am, Categories: National News, 852 words English (US)
U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols

Sara Carter, a reporter with the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, reports today that she found documentation on Mexican government websites that show higher ups in the United States Border Patrol have been tipping off the corrupt Mexican government as to the locations of the Minutemen along the border.

This article does not report information told to the MCDC media offices that the Border Patrol chiefs have also been passing along intelligence reports to the government of Mexico on the activities of Minutemen not only at the borders, but in locations such as Utah, Nevada, Illinois, Massachusetts and Tennessee. Perhaps a follow-up story is coming tomorrow or an over zealous editor took the info out?

Part of a report distributed last August to the Mexican government from Border Patrol bureaucrats read over the phone to the MCDC media offices contained not only numbers (estimated chapter membership) of Minutemen in Illinois, but a statement on their activities and that they didn't seem to know any politicians there, indicating that the Illinois Minutemen didn't yet have any political clout.

That is not a report on the location of Minutemen at the border, but political intelligence from our government to a foreign nation about the activities of American citizens petitioning our own government for redress of grievances.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps media offices will contact the reporter to inquire about copies of the documents and the timing on a follow-up story with the reports to the Mexican government of activities of Minutemen in INTERIOR states, as if reports of our locations in the border states weren't bad enough.

From today's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:

U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols
By Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer

While Minuteman civilian patrols are keeping an eye out for illegal border crossers, the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping an eye out for Minutemen -- and telling the Mexican government where they are.

According to three documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the U.S. Border Patrol is to notify the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen and other civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegal immigrants -- and if and when violence is used against border crossers.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants' rights are being observed.

"It's not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be," Mario Martinez said Monday.

"This ... simply makes two basic statements -- that we will not allow any lawlessness of any type, and that if an alien is encountered by a Minuteman or arrested by the Minuteman, then we will allow that government to interview the person."

Minuteman members were not so sanguine about the arrangement, however, saying that reporting their location to Mexican officials nullifies their effectiveness along the border and could endanger their lives.

"Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time," said Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "It's unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country. They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.

"They just basically endangered the lives of American people."

Officials with the Mexican consulate in Washington, D.C., could not be reached for comment Monday.

Martinez said reporting the location of immigrant apprehensions to consulate representatives is common practice if an illegal immigrant requests counsel or believes they have been mistreated.

"Once an illegal alien is apprehended, they can request counsel," he said. "We have to give their counsel the information about their apprehension, and that includes where they are apprehended, whether a Minuteman volunteer spotted them or a citizen."

~SNIP~

The documents specifically named the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and its patrols, which began monitoring Arizona's southern border in April 2005, as well as Friends of the Border Patrol, a Chino-based nonprofit.

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing more than 10,000 Border Patrol agents, said agents have complained for years about the Mexican consulate's influence over the agency.

"It worries me (that the Mexican government) seems to be unduly influencing our enforcement policies. That's not a legitimate role for any foreign nation," Bonner said, though he added, "It doesn't surprise me."

Border Patrol agents interviewed by the Daily Bulletin said they have been asked to report to sector headquarters the location of all civilian volunteer groups, but to not file the groups' names in reports if they spot illegal immigrants.

"Last year an internal memo notified all agents not to give credit to Minuteman volunteers or others who call in sightings of illegal aliens," said one agent, who spoke on the condition he not be identified. "We were told to list it as a citizen call and leave it at that. Many times, we were told not to go out to Minuteman calls."

~SNIP~

Much more information in the full article, so click on the title link to read it!
Permalink 73 comments

 

[insein]

We see the depth of the problem now. Much bigger then we realize.

 

[5stringJeff]

What this story tells me is that, for all intents and purposes, there is no border patrol. Therefore, the MM are all the more justified in their activities, and ought to expand their scope to include deportations.

 

[Stephanie]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressmen Tom Tancredo (R-CO) decried a recently-disclosed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) practice of tipping off the Mexican military to the location of Minutemen volunteers. According to a story in this morning’s Inland Daily Bulletin, CBP notifies the Mexican government of when and where the Minutemen are planning to monitor the border and if violence is used by the Minutemen against illegal aliens. There has not been one verified instance of Minutemen volunteers using violence against illegal aliens.

“The Mexican military doesn’t exactly have a ‘good government’ reputation. The Border Patrol has documented more than two hundred incursions into the U.S by the Mexican military, and Texas sheriffs even apprehended Mexican government vehicles that were used to ferry drug runners across the border. By tipping off Mexico’s military to the Minutemen’s location, the U.S. government is asking for trouble,” said Tancredo.

“Heavily-armed military officials stationed only yards from civilians are at least intimidating. I can only surmise that the Border Patrol bureaucrats’ spying is meant to have a chilling effect on the Minutemen’s recruitment of more volunteers,” said Tancredo.

“The Minutemen haven’t been accused of breaking the law. Quite the contrary—they have gone out of their way to aid law enforcement and ensure the safety of our border. The U.S. government has no grounds upon which to stifle the Minutemen’s constitutional right to organize,” Tancredo concluded. “I want to know the legal basis for CBP informing a foreign government of the activities of private citizens who are obeying the law.”
http://www.tancredo.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1191

 

[Abbey Normal]

Methinks there is more than just people crossing our border. I now suspect that greenbacks are flowing across the border and landing right in border patrol pockets.

 

[007]

Methinks there is more than just people crossing our border. I now suspect that greenbacks are flowing across the border and landing right in border patrol pockets.

My God Abby... the thought is chilling. I want to see an investigation... NOW! This whole thing stinks to high heaven of corruption, and treasonous behavior. Who know's, with the President's blind eye on things, he may even be in on it. His home state DOES share a huge chunk of border with mexico.

 

[insein]

I definitely think that individual border patrol agents are on the take. They'll never admit it of course but when a smuggler is offering cash to turn your head the other way, it's easy for these guys to do. They figure that the illegals are coming in anyway, they might as well get a cut.

As for the Mexican military setting foot on American soil, isnt that alone grounds for war? I know that if an army patrol strolled on through the Mexican desert there, Fox would start rattling his sword calling for retribution against our evil country. Why then do we tolerate such behavior from a 3rd world hell-hole? Bush missed the boat here. He should have invaded Mexico instead of Iraq. They got oil too and its not as far to travel.

 

[Mr. P]

Check the mexican site..They are getting the info from somewhere. I don't speak or read the language, but I can even make out some of the info on the site.

http://www.sre.gob.mx/eventos/minuteman/reporte3.htm

 

[jillian]

Mmmmmmmmmm....seems to me the most likely is the directives are from higher up in the admin and it's a way to sabotage the minutemen without taking them on publicly. I figure they'd rather do that then deal with the issue head on. Just a surmise.

 

[Mr. P]

Mmmmmmmmmm....seems to me the most likely is the directives are from higher up in the admin and it's a way to sabotage the minutemen without taking them on publicly. I figure they'd rather do that then deal with the issue head on. Just a surmise.

I agree.

 

[jillian]

I agree.

Thanks.

I hate when government does things that way. If the admin doesn't like the minutemen, they should deal with that publicly instead of surreptitiously. I think they're afraid that they'll just make a lot of their base really unhappy if they do so, and would rather sabotage them quietly. Disingenuous, IMO.

 

[5stringJeff]

Thanks.

I hate when government does things that way. If the admin doesn't like the minutemen, they should deal with that publicly instead of surreptitiously. I think they're afraid that they'll just make a lot of their base really unhappy if they do so, and would rather sabotage them quietly. Disingenuous, IMO.

Bush's gross misjudgement on immigration is costing him all kinds of support from the GOP base. It's unfortunate, really, but this issue isn't going away, and it has the potential to really tear the party apart.

 

[ScreamingEagle]

Bush's gross misjudgement on immigration is costing him all kinds of support from the GOP base. It's unfortunate, really, but this issue isn't going away, and it has the potential to really tear the party apart.

Bush doesn't care. The Republican Party doesn't care. Certainly the Democrat Party doesn't. Americans need to take things into their own hands to get them off their vote-grubbing asses. It's become a clash of the governed vs. the guv'nors. The Minutemen are leading the way:

Minutemen to start building Arizona border fence May 27

TUCSON, Ariz. A civilian watch group says it's not anticipating a response to its demand that President Bush put U-S troops on the Mexican border.

So it's planning to start building a short border security fence on private land May 27th.

Last month, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leader Chris Simcox set a May 25th deadline for the White House to act.

But Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair says they're not expecting any action -- even as far as moving training to the border.

The group initially plans to put up two parallel 15-foot high steel-mesh fences, anywhere from 50 to 150 feet long.

The fences will be built on a southern Arizona ranch, with an unpaved road in between.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Washington Todd Fraser says the Border Patrol has no position on such fencing -- as long as it's on private property.

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=4881671&nav=9qrx

 

[jillian]

Bush's gross misjudgement on immigration is costing him all kinds of support from the GOP base. It's unfortunate, really, but this issue isn't going away, and it has the potential to really tear the party apart.

I agree. When I first saw him raise the issue, I knew it was going to be one that divided the Republicans, benefitting only the big business folk who want a cheap labor pool.

 

[Annie]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MWY0NzE4MGY1MGViMWNjNTdlYTcxYjZlMWFiOGYwYjQ=

May 10, 2006, 0:02 p.m.
Is the U.S. Giving Mexico Intelligence about Americans?
And will the immigration controversy boil over as a result?

By Andrew C. McCarthy

There is no more explosive issue on the political landscape than illegal immigration. Not only has it sharply divided the American people, who want it stopped and reversed, from the political classes, which want to legitimize and, perforce, encourage more of it. It may be singularly responsible for President Bush’s alarmingly low approval ratings.

Those, after all, are not being driven by the Left and the media. They’ve never been fans. The numbers are tanking thanks to flight by the Republican base and Reagan Democrats, who are apoplectic over the administration’s stubborn insouciance in the face of unabashed lawlessness that acutely threatens public safety.

It was inevitable that this would come to a head, and now it may have.

Michelle Malkin, who has been a stalwart on immigration, reports that the United States government has been providing Mexico with intelligence about the lawful activities of American citizens, specifically, the locations and tactics of Minuteman patrols.

The Minutemen have been maligned by pro-illegal-alien lobbyists, swaths of the mainstream media, and—infuriatingly—President Bush himself as a “vigilante” group. In fact, they are a vigilance group.

The project is a lawful association of citizens, multi-ethnic and multi-racial in background, who assiduously monitor the way government performs one of its most basic enforcement missions. That is to say, it does pretty much what CAIR and the ACLU do—except its efforts inure to the benefit of American national security rather than death-row inmates, terrorists, privacy extremists and self-styled dissidents … and thus it is frowned on by our high-minded clerisy.

The Minutemen are doing what the government refuses to do: closely watching the southern border and very publicly reporting to the under-resourced Border Patrol the tide of illegals pouring across. This sometimes shames our reluctant government into enforcing the immigration laws.

Obviously, the feds don’t like to be shamed. The reflexively pro-immigration administration thus despises the project—although, where the rubber meets the road, many Border Patrol agents are quietly thrilled that someone actually thinks their mission is important. There have thus been occasional reports, denied by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that border agents have been ordered not to make arrests in response to Minuteman reports.

Now, however, comes a much more serious charge. As Malkin notes, Sara Carter of California’s Inland Valley Daily Bulletin has reported that DHS’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CPB), which runs the Border Patrol, has been providing the Mexican government with the locations of Minuteman watch groups, as well as other details about Minuteman participation in detentions of illegal aliens.

According to the report, a website maintained by the Mexican secretary of foreign relations explains that U.S. agents, as a matter of routine, notify the Mexican government regarding the locations of civilian border-patrol groups.

As night follows day, this information undermines the effectiveness of the patrols, channeling immigrant smuggling away from them. As Minuteman founder Chris Simcox told Carter, “Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time.” Chagrined, Simcox added, “It’s unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country. They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.”

Apparently aware that this is a powder keg, DHS is scrambling to justify itself. Initially, a CPB spokesman confirmed the assertions of the Mexican government website. Now, however, a back-peddling DHS is labeling the Daily Bulletin story “inaccurate.”

As Malkin reports today, DHS categorically asserts that the “Border Patrol does not report activity by civilian, non-law enforcement groups to the Government of Mexico.” Rather, “During a detention of a legal or illegal immigrant that produces an allegation of improper treatment, Border Patrol reports the allegation and allows the appropriate consulate to interview the individual in custody.”

The DHS statement is noteworthy in two respects. First, while attempting to discredit the report about providing Mexico with intelligence, it does not clearly deny transmitting information about Minuteman patrols—something the CPB spokesman previously conceded quite matter-of-factly (saying, “It’s not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be”).

DHS instead says it “reports the allegation” if “improper treatment” is alleged. But we are not told what DHS considers “improper treatment” (e.g., does it consider patrols by the Minutemen—whom the President has labeled as “vigilantes”—to be improper?). Nor are we told how comprehensively DHS “reports” the matter to Mexico (e.g., does it simply notify Mexico that an arrest has been made, or does it convey an expansive summary of the case?).

Second, DHS seems to be saying that it was compelled to disclose whatever information it may have given to Mexico by the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which President Nixon ratified in 1969.

This latter claim bears scrutiny. The consular-notification convention, and in particular its Article 36, comes into play whenever an alien—legal or illegal—is arrested in the United States. It absolutely does not require U.S. authorities to provide any investigative information or other intelligence to foreign governments. Indeed, it does not necessarily require our government to give a foreign government any information whatsoever.

On the contrary, it provides that when a foreign national is detained, he has a right to have his nation’s consulate in the United States informed of the fact of the arrest. If he does not want his nation so advised, the U.S. is under no obligation to provide notice.

If the detainee does assert his consular-notification rights, the U.S. must advise the consulate of the fact of the arrest, pass along any communications the detainee addresses to his consulate, and allow representatives of the consulate to visit with the detainee.

That’s it. If the foreign government is determined to educate itself about the case, it must do so by interviewing the arrestee (just like a defense lawyer) or by open source information (just like a reporter or any person curious enough to check the public record). It has no claim on investigative or intelligence information maintained by the United States government. Of course, our government may decide to share more information with the foreign government; but if it does, that is a function of choice, not a requirement of law.

The reasons for all this should be obvious. Americans themselves are not entitled to intelligence and investigative information from their own government, so foreigners clearly have no legal basis to demand it.

More to the point, though, let’s say the U.S. arrests a terrorist from a rogue nation that happens to be a Vienna signatory. Would anyone seriously contend that our government should provide, say, Iran with background intelligence about the case? Of course not. We want to comply with our obligations to notify foreign governments about the arrests—after all, that is our best assurance that foreign governments will reciprocally comply and notify our government when Americans are arrested in their jurisdictions. We do not, however, owe them more than that.

This situation calls for close attention. The American people should be told exactly what DHS’s component agencies have been telling Mexico. If, as DHS maintains, it is merely honoring U.S. treaty obligations, that is laudable and to be encouraged.

If, however, our government is gratuitously providing a suspect regime with information about the First Amendment-protected activities of American citizens, the immigration issue is headed for a whole new dimension of controversy.