Posted on 04/11/2011 12:39:27 PM PDT by jazusamo
(CNSNews.com) – Texas Sheriff Tomas Herrera said he does not agree with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s assessment of security at the U.S.-Mexico border as being “better than it has ever been.”
Herrera, in a telephone interview with CNSNews.com, said that not “a mile” of the 85-mile stretch of border in Maverick County, Texas, which is separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande River, is secure and that the violence of Mexican drug cartels is spilling over into the United States as cartels come into Texas and kidnap teenagers for their smuggling operations.
“They come in and kidnap some of our citizens in this county and take them into Mexico,” Herrera told CNSNews.com. “We’re talking about young kids.”
“These are high school kiddos and junior high kids that are used by the cartels to smuggle drugs into the United States,” said Herrera, who has been in law enforcement for 37 years and sheriff of Maverick County for five.
Herrera, who was honored last week by the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition “in recognition of significant law enforcement leadership in protecting the State of Texas and its citizens,” said he could not provide details about any of the cases, as the investigation into the alleged crimes is ongoing.
But the local paper in Eagle Pass, Texas, The News Gram, published a story on March 31 about a press conference held by the Eagle Pass Police Department and an official from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s regional office.
“It is perhaps one of the dirtiest secrets in Eagle Pass,” the article stated. “Young men and women kidnapped in our area and taken across the border, held for ransom or simply made to disappear.
“The whispers echo in high school gymnasiums, restaurants and churches and they all tell a sobering story – it happens and it happens often,” the article stated.
The law enforcement officials warned parents to tell their children about the dangers of associating with drug cartel members. In one case, still under investigation, a 17-year-old boy was picked up “and held captive in Mexico while his family collected enough money to pay a ransom,” the article stated.
“Chief of Police Tony Castaneda has made it publicly known that area teenagers are being targeted for initiation by Mexican drug cartels in what is quickly becoming a losing battle in the US /Mexico Drug War,” stated the article. “The Eagle Pass Police Department is currently working on several drug cases involving minors – all recruited by drug cartels and all living in our area. Tuesday’s press conference stands as one of the first times local law enforcement has addressed the subject of kidnappings and it will certainly not be the last.”
Lt. Moses Pena of the Eagle Pass Police Department confirmed to CNSNews.com that there are “active cases” of young U.S. citizens being kidnapped by Mexican drug cartels and taken to Mexico.
“It’s not an isolated thing,” Pena said.
Pena said he could not comment on any specific cases, but he said these kinds of cases are usually handled by local, state, and federal agencies on joint task forces designed to fight these kinds of crimes.
An FBI spokesperson told CNSNews.com that if a U.S. citizen is kidnapped and transported across state lines or foreign borders, it becomes a federal crime under the federal kidnapping statute. Because the FBI does not have jurisdiction in Mexico, some cases have to be handled through legal attaches at U.S. embassies in that country.
Herrera said that his sheriff’s office only has 5 deputies per shift to patrol a county that is 1,249 square miles.
“And to try to secure 85 miles of river [along the border], you can’t do it,” Herrera said.
Herrera said that kidnappings aren’t the only violence that is spilling over from Mexico. He said ranchers and other residents feel constantly threatened by drug cartel activity in the county.
“The ranchers up here are afraid to be out there by themselves,” Herrera said. “They are all armed.”
“I know ranchers who have sold their property here in Maverick County,” Herrera said, adding that ranches in the county can be 8,000 to 9,000 acres in size.
Herrera said houses have been burglarized and even cattle stolen and transported across the river to Mexico.
Herrera said more manpower – “boots on the ground” – is needed to stem Mexican drug cartel violence, and if Napolitano comes to visit Maverick County he would show her what his department faces on a daily basis.
“We’re the first responders,” Herrera said. “When something happens out there, they don’t call border patrol, they don’t call DEA, they don’t call ICE, they don’t call the FBI, they don’t call the marshals.
“We’re the first ones to respond,” Herrera said. “They call the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office.”
Herrera, who was born in Eagle Pass, said he used to visit Mexico regularly to eat at a favorite restaurant or to visit friends for hunting trips. Now, he says, it’s too dangerous.
“Since 2004, I have not been across that river,” Herrera said.
“When I was chief deputy here in the ‘80s we didn’t have so many problems like it is today,” Herrera said. “It’s getting worse and worse.”
Because his wife is a liberal and told him not to.
A local church used to send teams each year to Piedras Negras, across the border from Eagle Pass to build homes.
The stopped doing it 2 years ago due to security.
Totally, 100% insane, isn't it?
Seems like a very wise thing they did in ending it. American’s who go into Mexico for any reason now are nuts, IMO.
Why can’t Texans, New Mexicans and Arizonans?
The government of the nation of South Korea wants to protect it citizens.
The government of the nation of The United States does not.
Our family has had a hunting lease in the Eagle Pass/Laredo area for over 40 years. We just moved it north.
Assuming this is true, it is CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE on the part of TOTUS, Holder, Napolitano, etc.
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
I think it’s pretty safe to say it’s true when a County Sheriff and a Police Chief say it publicly and you’re right, it is criminal negligence.
Without a doubt and 3/4 of American KNOW IT!
Fox News Poll: 72 percent say government not enforcing immigration laws
July 29, 2010 Most American voters believe the federal government is failing to enforce the country's immigration laws, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. In addition, voters are more likely to favor than oppose Arizona's new immigration law that was in large part blocked by a federal judge this week.
Why aren’t citizens along the border taking care of the problem?
Ping!
We need one Governor to exercise her (HINT) right to defend the border of her state with military force and an effective patrollable barrier, which is her right and the right of those American citizen she represents.
The Government of Mexico is FUBAR in this region, No need for us to let that contagion spread any farther than it already has. States must use their constitutional right to protect their citizens.
Maverick ping!
If they wouldn’t associate with people these kids know for a fact are involved with the drug cartels they wouldn’t get kidnapped. They do it because they want to be cool. Poor choices for wanting to be cool. It’s not like they’re dragging ‘em back across the river. They are involved with the wrong people, the parents allow it and then they act they’re a victim.
With a great many families in South Texas, the river is just something they have to cross to go see family. Everyone down there knows who’s involved with the cartels. The parents might not know who they’re hanging out with and there is a certain culture that allows such behavior starting around age 10 and goes downhill from there.
They may be US citizens, but they are not victims. They know full well who they’re hanging out with.
“Initially that makes total sense but then why did Bush do next to nothing about border security either?”
We were asking ourselves that in southern California all during Jorge Arbusto’s illegal alien-loving regime.
‘Treason, it’s not just for Democrats anymore.’
i know that sheriff joe has been deputizin alot of Arizonans, surely texas could muster some firepower too ???
ATF bought up and sent all the *assault weapons* south ???
seriously, when you must fear prosecution by your own gubmint if you assemble *enuff* firepower to win the war, it makes ya a lil gunshy [pun unfortunate]...
Thank you SwinneySwitch for today’s pings.
I’m under the impression that County Sheriff’s in all states are able to deputize like Sheriff Joe but don’t know that for a fact.
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