US lawmen outgunned in firefights along Mexican border

[Little-Acorn]

Funny how this stuff doesn't get much press. Do we need to get some sheriffs or other American citizens killed, before the media decides it's worth talking about?

-----------------------------------

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51080

U.S. lawmen outgunned along Mexican border
Bad guys have superior firepower, can eavesdrop on communications of American law enforcement

Posted: July 17, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joseph Farah

Hundreds of rounds of automatic-weapons fire rained down on South Texas sheriff's deputies and Border Patrol agents from the Mexican side of the border as they investigated a horror story told by two American brothers who fled across the Rio Grande fearing for their lives.

Several Hidalgo County deputies and at least four Border patrol agents were met with a sustained hail of gunfire alternating from the south to the east and lasting nearly 10 minutes, the officers said.

Yet, not a single shot was returned by the deputies or the Border Patrol officers last Wednesday night because they were outmanned and outgunned – a condition increasingly common along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, say law enforcement officials.

"This is one of the reasons that I do not allow my deputies to patrol the riverbanks or levies close to the river," explained Sheriff Lupe Treviño, "because we do know there are drug gangs and human trafficking gangs that will not hesitate to shoot in our direction to get us out of the area."

U.S. police officers and Border Patrol agents facing superior firepower from drug cartels, criminal street gangs and human smugglers based in Mexico? Yes, say law enforcement officials – and the situation is getting worse, not better.

Sigifredo Gonzales Jr., sheriff of Zapata County, Texas, recently testified in startling detail before a congressional committee how his officers are facing overwhelming odds in any confrontation with the criminal gangs who consider the border their turf.

"The cartels operating in Mexico and the United States have demonstrated that the weapons they possess can and will be used in protecting their caches," he said. "One informant familiar with the operations of these cartels mentioned to us that the weapons we use are water guns compared to what we will have to come up against if we ever have to. These cartels, known to frequently cross into the United States, possess and use automatic weapons, grenades and grenade launchers. They are also experts in explosives, wiretapping, counter-surveillance, lock-picking and GPS technology. They are able to monitor our office, home and cellular phone conversations. The original members of this cartel were trained in the United States by our government."

Gonzales was one of several law enforcement officials who testified before the Committee on House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation on what they see as a serious terrorist threat at the Mexican border.

These powerful criminal gangs would not think twice about bringing terrorists or even weapons of mass destruction into the U.S. if the price was right, the officials agreed. Some of them believe they have already arrived.


(Full text of the article can be read at the above URL)

 

[waltky]

Cartel members turnin' American guns on US drug agents...

Gun used to kill ICE agent in Mexico traced to Dallas, U.S. investigators say
February 27, 2011 | Traced to a man arrested with two others suspected of gun smuggling

The gun used to kill a U.S. immigration agent in Mexico has been traced to a man in Texas, who was arrested with two others suspected of gun smuggling, sources confirm to Fox News. The ATF made the arrests in connection with a Feb. 15 shooting of two federal agents who were driving on a highway near the northern Mexico city of San Luis Potosi. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was killed and agent Victor Avila was wounded.

The gun was traced to a Dallas-area man, Otilio Osorio, allegedly part of a crime group that assists cartels by illegally selling them guns from the U.S,, one law enforcement source told Fox News, though it is unclear whether the Texas man knew what the gun would be used for. The three men arrested in the Dallas suburb of Lancaster -- including Ranferi Osorio and Kelvin Morrison -- allegedly bought the guns in the U.S., scratched off the serial numbers and sent them to cartels in Mexico.

Zapata and Avila, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, were attacked as they returned to Mexico City from a meeting with other U.S. personnel in the state of San Luis Potosi. Avila was shot twice in the leg and is recovering in the United States. Some reports at the time said the two were stopped at a roadblock, while others said they were run off the road by other vehicles. The Mexican government does not authorize U.S. law enforcement personnel to carry weapons.

Read more: FoxNews.com - Gun Used to Kill ICE Agent in Mexico Traced to Dallas, U.S. Investigators Say

See also:

Mexico Arrests Drug Boss Linked to US Agent's Death
February 28, 2011 - Mexico's military has arrested the alleged regional head of the Zetas drug cartel in connection with the recent murder of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent.

Navy officials say Sergio "El Toto" Mora was detained, along with five other men, during a raid Sunday in the northern state of Coahuila. Authorities say Mora was directly in charge of Julian Zapata Espinoza, who was arrested last week for allegedly carrying out the killing of agent Jaime Zapata.

Another agent, Victor Avila, Jr., was shot twice in the leg during the attack earlier in February in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The men were shot when they stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint, possibly set up by drug traffickers. The Mexican military said it had no checkpoints in the area.

Attacks on U.S. law enforcement personnel in Mexico are rare, despite increasing U.S. contributions to Mexico's fight against drug traffickers. The last high-profile attack there was in 1985, when a Drug Enforcement Administration officer was captured, tortured and killed while on an assignment.

Mexican military forces have been engaged in a brutal struggle against violent drug cartels. At least 34,000 people have been killed in Mexico's drug war since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and began cracking down on the cartels.

Source

 

[AmericanFirst]

The liberal answer; "They just want a better life, sniff sniff." The best saying I have ever heard "The best defense is a strong offense." Just saying.

 

[LostAmerican]

The liberal answer; "They just want a better life, sniff sniff." The best saying I have ever heard "The best defense is a strong offense." Just saying.

Correction: They just want to steal what Americans built!

 

[waltky]

Mexico gonna hand over Tweety Bird...

Mexico may extradite gang leader in agent's death
May 17, 2011, Zeta chief was arrested shortly after the attack on 2 Americans

The Mexican government has begun extradition proceedings against the alleged ringleader of gunmen accused in the February slaying of U.S. federal agent Jaime Zapata. Mexican police served a new arrest warrant late last week to the already-jailed Julian Zapata Espinoza, nicknamed "Tweety Bird," in anticipation of formal extradition petitions from Washington, Mexico's attorney general's office announced Tuesday.

Once a formal U.S. request is received, a Mexican federal judge will decide whether there are grounds to extradite Zapata. "This sort of extradition process can sometimes take years," cautioned Rocio Torres, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, though she added that the cases usually are completed in months.

No comment

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department declined to comment on the process. U.S. officials usually don't comment on extradition matters until they are completed, a spokesperson at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City said. Julian Zapata, who is no relation to the slain U.S. agent, and 11 other alleged members of the Zetas criminal syndicate were arrested late February in the northern city of San Luis Potosi after a lightning-fast investigation actively supported by the FBI and other U.S. agencies.

Investigators say the Zeta gunmen ambushed Jaime Zapata and fellow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Victor Avila as they drove in an armored U.S. embassy SUV on the main highway linking Mexico City with the Texas border. Whether Zapata and Avila were attacked because they were agents remains unclear.

The U.S. agents identified themselves as U.S. diplomats after the gunmen forced them off the highway, officials have said. But the detained gunmen reportedly have said they mistook the agents for members of a rival gang. The agents' vehicle was of a kind favored by Mexican narcotics gangs. The gangsters' frequent carjackings of SUVs and double-cab pickup trucks have made travel perilous in much of northern Mexico.

No longer unthinkable