Man On Terror Watchlist Stopped Then Let Go – Las Vegas

Fox news is reporting that a Somali man on the U.S. government’s terrorist watchlist was stopped last week by a police officer outside Las Vegas along with four other men, but the officer had no legal authority to detain the man so he was sent on his way, according to the report.

Apparently the story doesn’t end there. According to the Fox News ‘Liveshot’s report. Two days after the vehicle was pulled over outside Las Vegas, two of the passengers appeared at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in San Ysidro, Calif.

According to court documents, they had been dropped off by a taxicab, and they told a customs official at the border crossing “that they would be flying from Tijuana airport to Mexico City airport, and [they] displayed airline tickets to the Officer.”

In several cases over the past decade, Mexico has been a waypoint for travel between the United States and Somalia.

Meanwhile, the driver of the rented vehicle, is the only one of the five Somali men to be facing charges so far.

He has been charged in a criminal complaint with lying to the FBI.

The officer who stopped the vehicle found $4,000 in the car and eventually learned that the driver’s wife had filed a missing persons report in Minneapolis. The officer contacted the FBI, which interviewed the man on Oct. 8.

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Surge In Number of Chinese Arrested At Arizona Border

There appears to be a surge in the number illegal immigrants from China attempting to sneak across the U.S. border.

Several groups of illegal immigrants from China have been arrested in southern Arizona in recent days, part of an increasing trend that U.S. Border Patrol agents said Monday was being fed by smugglers recruiting tourists to Central and South America.

The arrests included two Chinese found among a large group of migrants who entered the county from Mexico on Friday. Three more Chinese were found Saturday, a group that included four Chinese was captured Sunday and four more were arrested early Monday.

All were discovered close to the border near Nogales, Ariz.

The Border Patrol has seen a small but significant rise in the number of Chinese caught after entering Arizona from Mexico, agent Colleen Agle said. Between Oct. 1, 2008, and the end of August, agents captured 261 illegal immigrants from China in the patrol’s Tucson sector in southern Arizona.

Just 30 Chinese were caught in the same area during the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008.

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Debbie Schussel writes on her site, Why are they coming here? Is it because they seek freedom from Communism and the chance at a better life . . . or because they are Communists who want to do us harm? Since U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is catching a good number of these Chinese, that’s a pretty good indication that some sneaked in undetected, too, and are here in our midst.

Worries Corrupt Border Officials Increasing US Terror Risk

The FBI is concerned that corrupt U.S. officials at the nation’s border crossings are placing Americans at risk. To combat the illegal activity, the Bureau is stepping up efforts to identify those involved. According to this report, some government officials have allowed anyone to cross the U.S. border for the right price. One of the primary concerns is obvious; terrorists or materials that could be used in a terrorist attack might also slip through.

From ABC News

“If you’re a corrupt border official, and you’re allowing illegal immigrants to come into the country, you’re not going to know who you’re letting in,” Kevin L. Perkins, assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division for the FBI, told ABC News.

In one instance at the U.S.-Mexico border, FBI video surveillance obtained by ABC News caught a truck full of illegal immigrants pulling up to Customs and Border Protection officer Michael Gilliland, and being waved through his border inspection lane for $100,000, officials said.

And in Texas, an undercover FBI operation allegedly caught a deputy sheriff in the act.

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Shootout Closes US Mexico Border Crossing Near San Diego

U.S. authorities have closed the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, on the border with Mexico, after a shootout earlier today. San Ysidro is the nation’s busiest border crossing with roughly 40,000 vehicles cross there daily from Mexico.

Three vans loaded with suspected illegal immigrants tried to speed through the crossing Tuesday afternoon, drawing gunfire from at least two U.S. agents, authorities said.

“The port is closed and will remain closed for several hours,” U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokeswoman Angelica Decima said after the incident at the congested San Ysidro crossing between the Mexican city of Tijuana and San Diego.

The suspected smugglers shot across busy lines of traffic at U.S. agents when they tried to stop three vans packed with about 70 illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States, the officials said.

The agents returned fire, and three people in the vans and a motorist were wounded, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mexico’s violent drug gangs are increasingly moving into the lucrative people-smuggling business, but tight U.S. border security is forcing them to take bigger risks to get narcotics and illegal immigrants into the United States.

Tuesday’s brazen attempt was unprecedented at the heavily guarded crossing where helicopters circle overhead and armed agents with dogs keep watch at a series of staggered checkpoints.

All the illegal immigrants were arrested and taken into custody and the crossing, a major smuggling corridor for narcotics and illegal immigrants, was shut while police carried out the investigation.

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From Sign On San Diego – Union Tribune

A preliminary investigation indicated there was no return fire, said San Diego police homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney.

[...]

Rooney said the incident began about 3:30 p.m. when three full-sized vans, two with California plates and one with Mexico plates, were in line at the port to cross into the U.S.

The lead van was stopped and the driver was speaking to a U.S. agent at a booth when the agent stepped inside the booth and the driver sped off in an attempt to run the border, Rooney said. Drivers of the two vans that were next in line also tried to run the border.

The lead van became trapped in traffic and the driver tried to head to the west exit. The drivers of the other two vans put their vehicles in reverse and tried to head to the east exit.

Two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and one U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent then opened fire, Rooney said. He said he did not yet know how many shots were fired.

Rooney said that two people were shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries; one was injured in a crash.

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Mexico Sacks Border Officers, Brings In The Army

More than 700 customs officers at airports and land crossings have been replaced in Mexico in a crackdown on corrupt agents who allow drugs and weapons to flow across the country’s borders, a spokesman for the customs service said yesterday. Reforma newspaper had reported earlier that the contracts of 1,100 agents were allowed to expire on Saturday as part of a plan to modernise the customs service, according to tax and customs sources.

A new force of 1,470 agents is being sworn in to replace the former workers. Soldiers took control of at least one border crossing at Ciudad Juárez, across from Texas, to assist with the transition, the paper reported.

Pedro Canabal, a spokesman for the tax administration service, said the agency had decided not to rehire the officers when their contracts expired. They were replaced by agents who had undergone months of training and background checks to ensure they had no criminal records. “This change is part of our response to new demands in the fight against contraband,” he said.

Mexico’s rival drug cartels are fighting for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the US. More than 13,000 people, mostly gang members, police and soldiers, have died in the violence since Felipe Calderón became president in December 2006, pledging to crush the smugglers.

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Homeland Security Today – Savage Struggle On The Border

A raging war between rival drug cartels in Mexico, the rise of Islamist Extremism in Latin America, and an alliance between Jihadists, Drug Cartels and Latino Street Gangs all contribute to a unique, and potentially very dangerous scenario on our Southern Border.

Anthony Kimery from Homeland Security Today has  put together an incredible, in-depth news report that clearly illustrates the dangers and risks we face.

Read The Articles At Homeland Security Today

Included in This Special Report:

Savage Struggle On The Border

In Northern Mexico a largely overlooked but nonetheless brutal war is raging between Narco-terrorists and government authorities and it’s violence threatens to spread to the united states.

The Rise of Islamist Extremism  in Latin America

“This network … did not spring up overnight,” states the report of Operation Cazando Anguilas, a study commissioned by the US Office of Secretary of Defense to explore the nexus of terrorists, transnational criminal organizations and Mexican narco-cartels in Latin America. “Rather, it arose as a byproduct of a long history of Muslim involvement in the region.”

Unholy Trinity

South of the American border, three transnational threats are coming together in an alliance of convenience and mutual support that may present A danger to the American homeland.

Revealing the Threat

In May 2003, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing, “Narco-Terrorism: International Drug Trafficking and Terrorism—A Dangerous Mix,” took a hard, cold look at the problem. The nearly 1-inch thick fine print transcript of the hearing documented Hezbollah and other Middle East terrorist organizations’ undeniable presence in the region

Honduras: A beachhead for  narco-cartels and Islamist terrorists

While Latin America’s socialist governments have condemned the Honduran military for its June 28 ousting of President Manuel Zelaya in response to Zelaya’s questionable moves to usurp the nation’s constitution, intelligence shows that counter-narcotics and counterterrorism authorities had been investigating the Zelaya regime’s ties to Mexico’s narco-cartels … and terrorists.

and more…

• Could Mexico Fail
• The War For Mexico’s Future
• Murder of Border Patrol Agent is Test for Mexico and US

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Homeland Security Arrests 3 In Killing of US Border Patrol Agent

Three people were arrested at a hospital in San Jose Friday in connection with the killing of a Border Patrol agent in San Diego County Thursday night.

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security surrounded the hospital and arrested two men and one woman.At least one suspect wanted for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Robert Rosas was reportedly injured during the attack and may seek medical attention on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said Friday.

Some news reports indicated two men and one woman were taken into custody, Bay Area law enforcement sources confirmed only one person was arrested at the hospital Friday by agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. FBI agents provided backup. The suspect was released from the hospital and was in custody Friday night.

Authorities said they traced the cell phone of one of the people arrested.Investigators checked hospitals and medical facilities in hopes of finding whoever shot and killed the 30 year old agent.Rosas spotted a suspicious group in a remote area near Campo near the Mexican border Thursday night and called for backup, according to Border Patrol spokesman Daryl Reed. When the suspicious group split up, Rosas went after some suspects by himself. Other agents lost radio contact with him.

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Original Story -Border Patrol Agent Shot, Killed Near San Diego

UPDATE: Man Arrested In Tecate Mexico Carrying Border Patrol Issued Weapon

Police in Tecate, Mexico, announced late Friday that they had arrested a man walking near the crime scene with a Border Patrol-issued weapon shortly after the shooting. The man, Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, 36, was injured and was taken to a hospital, according to a news release.

Border Patrol Agent Shot, Killed Near San Diego

A U.S. Border Patrol Agent was shot and killed in the Campo area Thursday night while investigating a group of people presumed to have crossed into the country illegally.

An agent on patrol spotted the group sometime between 8:30 and 9 p.m. in the remote and rocky terrain south of state Route 94 off Shockey Truck Trail not far from the border, Agent Daryl Reed said.

He called for other agents who split up and began to trail the group, Reed said.

At about 9:15 p.m. agents, who had lost radio contact with their fellow agent, heard multiple gunshots and rushed to the area where they found the agent had been shot, Reed said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. San Diego police said the agent was shot in the head.

Several agencies responded to the shooting including the Sheriff’s Department, the FBI and Cal Fire. A large-scale search by land and air was conducted but no one in the group was found, Reed said.

Mexican authorities also were notified and conducted a search on their side of the border, Reed said. It’s unknown if the group was smuggling humans or drugs or if the people fled back into Mexico.

A FBI press conference is scheduled for later today.

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New Curbs Set on Arrests of Illegal Immigrants

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it was revising a program that authorized local police to enforce federal immigration law — a controversial aspect of U.S. border policy.

Opponents said the program, known as 287g, was intended to identify criminal aliens but instead has led to racial profiling; it allowed local police to identify and arrest illegal immigrants for such minor infractions as a broken tail light. Program supporters said it has been an effective tool for combating illegal immigration.

The new guidelines sharply reduce the ability of local law enforcement to arrest and screen suspected illegal immigrants. They are intended to prevent sheriff and police departments from arresting people “for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings,” according to Homeland Security. The program will instead focus on more serious criminals.

“In a world of limited resources, our view is that we need to focus first and foremost on people committing crimes in our community who should not be here,” said John Morton, Assistant Secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mr. Morton said his agency would sign new contracts with local law enforcement that would bolster federal oversight.

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Border – Gunmen Open Fire On Arizona Fish And Game Employees

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is reviewing procedures on work near the Mexico border after three government employees were fired on east of Arivaca Lake last week.

Two Game and Fish employees and an employee with Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation, were fired at Thursday by a group of men while scouting for a land access project.

“This is the first time in recent history that our employees have been fired at on the border,” said Leonard Ordway, supervisor for Game and Fish’s Southern Arizona region.

The incident happened about eight miles east of Interstate 19 just south of Tumacacori, and about 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. None of the agency employees was injured.

According to Game and Fish, the three were riding all-terrain vehicles through a small canyon area about four miles east of Arivaca Lake when they came across at least four Hispanic males dressed in camouflage.

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Arizona Home Invasion Suspects Tied to Border Group

Two of three people arrested in a southern Arizona home invasion that left a little girl and her father dead had connections to a Washington state anti-illegal immigration group that conducts border watch activities in Arizona.

Jason Eugene Bush, 34, Shawna Forde, 41, and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 42, have been charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and other charges, said Sheriff Clarence Dupnic of Pima County, Ariz.

The trio are alleged to have dressed as law enforcement officers and forced their way into a rural Arivaca home on May 30, wounding a woman and fatally shooting her husband and their 9-year-old daughter. Their motive was financial, Dupnic said.

“The husband who was murdered has a history of being involved in narcotics and there was an anticipation that there would be a considerable amount of cash at this location as well as the possibility of drugs,” Dupnic said.

Forde is the leader of Minutemen American Defense, a small border watch group, and Bush goes by the nickname “Gunny” and is its operations director, according to the group’s Web site. She is from Everett, Wash., has recently been living in Arizona and was once associated with the better known and larger Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

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11 Bodies, Some Mutilated Found In Car Near US Border

Mexican police found 11 bodies in an abandoned vehicle near the U.S. border on Thursday, some with their hands and legs cut off and left with threatening messages scrawled by suspected drug hit men.

The bodies of the men, who were shot to death, were found in the northwestern state of Sonora in a stolen SUV with Arizona plates, the state attorney general’s office said.

A state attorney general’s office spokesman said drug cartels were likely behind the attack, although he declined to give details about the messages left on the bodies.

The killings came a day after drug gangs shot up a police station in a nearby town as violence flared in the state dominated by Mexico’s top trafficker, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman.

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Passports Become Mandatory at Mexico, Canada Borders

New rules requiring passports or new high-tech documents to cross the United States’ northern and southern borders are taking effect Monday, as some rue the tightening of security and others hail it as long overdue.

The rules are being implemented nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks and long after the 9/11 Commission recommended the changes. They were delayed by complaints from state officials who worried the restrictions would hinder the flow of people and commerce and affect border towns dependent on international crossings.

In 2001 a driver’s license and an oral declaration of citizenship were enough to cross the Canadian and Mexican borders; Monday’s changes are the last step in a gradual ratcheting up of the rules. Now thousands of Americans are preparing by applying for passports or obtaining special driver’s licenses that can also be used to cross the border.

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4 U.S. Citizens Found Strangled in Tijuana Mexico

The bodies of four U.S. citizens were found strangled, beaten and stabbed in a van in this border city, two days after they reportedly left their Southern California homes for a night at the Mexican clubs, U.S. officials said Thursday. The bodies were described as having been tortured; bludgeoned, beaten and with their skulls crushed. They were found wrapped in blankets early Saturday morning, according to a news release from the Tijuana State Attorney’s Office.

The victims were found Saturday, but their deaths were not reported earlier because they were under investigation, said Fermin Gomez, an assistant state prosecutor in Baja California.

U.S. consular officials in Tijuana said the victims  two men and two women from the San Diego and Chula Vista areas — were U.S. citizens. The state attorney general’s office in Baja, Calif., said one of the women was Mexican.

A spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana confirmed the identities of the dead as Luis Games Chavez, 21; Oscar J. Garcia III, 23; Brianna Hernandez Aguilera, 19; and Carmen Ramos Chavez, 20. All were U.S. citizens and Southern California residents, the consulate spokesman said. He declined to give specific hometowns or say how long the four had been in Tijuana.

Their deaths are the latest in a string of violence in Tijuana that authorities blame on a bloody turf war between drug cartels.

“I just don’t think kids should be going to Tijuana right now,” Chula Vista police Lt. Scott Arsenault told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “They ran into the wrong people, obviously.”

Bernard Gonzales, a spokesman for the Chula Vista Police Department, said a friend told the women’s parents they were headed to nightclubs in Tijuana on Thursday night. They were reported missing the next day when they did not answer their cell phones.

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