When a Thousand Guards Ain't Enough for Cochise County
texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=440
Sheriff Larry A. Dever of Cochise County, AZ says he has witnessed a tenfold increase in border patrol agents in his county (from 100 to 1,000) but the problems of violence have only increased in scale and volatility.

Dever's March 1 testimony before a US Senate subcommittee on border violence narrates a history that begins with times past when drug smugglers would just drop their stuff and run. Today, smuggling and human trafficking have become big business, and smugglers come armed for a fight.

Dever tells stories of carjackings, of shots fired into a home of a narcotics agent, of 'rape trees' where human traffickers abuse their charges, and of powerful weapons that face border cops.

As Dever looks to the future, he asks for local involvement in new federal powers, but we might ask, is there not another way?

People living in border states have an opportunity to call out for decriminalization. Or they can experience their home territories subjected to an increasing spiral of violence and militarization.

Read the testimony of Sheriff Dever under "Read More" and ask yourself: is it not time to take the profit out of border violence and start work on a future of peace?--gm

Testimony of The Honorable Larry A. Dever to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Immigration, Border Security, and Citizenship and Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, March 1, 2006 :

1987. That was the year we first organized the Border Alliance Group narcotics task force in Cochise County to jointly combat the burgeoning cocaine smuggling business that had developed in the area. At that time there were no DEA agents in Cochise County, no FBI, only four Customs Office of Enforcement agents and maybe a total of 100 border patrol agents. Today, they are all there, along with over a thousand Border Patrol agents. And yet, as you have also heard, in spite of the tremendous increase in the law enforcement presence, or as some suggest, because of it, violence associated with narcotics and people smuggling activities has markedly increased.

Twenty to twenty-five years ago, we would intercept smugglers right on the border fence. Most would simply abandon their cargo and flee on foot back south. It wasn’t unusual to have some just give up. Today, the expected response to an attempted interdiction is a fight. Smugglers are armed with high capacity assault weapons and with orders to protect their cargo at all costs. They operate under the watchful eye of scouts equipped with sophisticated observation and communications equipment. Failure to make safe delivery is not acceptable and many who do fail are executed. The stakes are extremely high.

High speed chases on congested public highways and through populated residential areas are common. Most of the vehicles they are driving are stolen from the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Just recently two local residents were killed and several others seriously injured when a ruthless smuggler driving a stolen truck at reckless speeds crashed head on into a group of vehicles sitting at a stop light.

The people smuggling culture is one marked by little if any value of life or respect for persons or property. This is reflected in their response to authority and their treatment of their human cargo. One study estimates that over 80% of people being smuggled into this country become the victims of criminal activity before they ever cross the border. And in many cases the atrocities continue even after they successfully enter. Smuggling routes are often marked with “rape trees”—women’s under garments hung on tree limbs where a raped occurred, warning everyone of the failure to cooperate with the coyotes who prey on them.

Running gun battles with fleeing felons occur much too frequently placing law-enforcement officers and the public alike at great risk of serious consequences. Gang activity and its associated violence are on the rise as these groups become more competitive in the lucrative people smuggling trade. Just last week one of my deputies, the supervisor of the narcotics task force, was the victim of a drive-by shooting at his home. Thankfully, no one was injured.

The law-enforcement effort and the communities we serve desperately need your attention to our situation along the border. You should be aware that in our area, almost ten percent of the illegal aliens that are apprehended have criminal records in this country. When we are unsuccessful in catching them there, these predators find their way to communities all over the nation where they threaten the safety and welfare of local populations.

When planning strategies for improved enforcement efforts and providing adequate resources, it is important to remember that every federal initiative has a local consequence. It is critical that local authorities be involved in the early stages of the planning process to assure that these consequences are clearly understood and considered.

we are at war with mexico, the public is just too blind to realize it

Quoted: we are at war with mexico, the public is just too blind to realize it

Well........I sure don't think you are a troll

Quoted: Quoted: we are at war with mexico, the public is just too blind to realize it Well........I sure don't think you are a troll

not around here i'm not.  i bet if i posted the truth on other sites they would see otherwise






....here i'm just a post whore

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: we are at war with mexico, the public is just too blind to realize it Well........I sure don't think you are a troll not around here i'm not.  i bet if i posted the truth on other sites they would see otherwise ....here i'm just a post whore

Yup, you probably ARE a post whore

The people smuggling culture is one marked by little if any value of life or respect for persons or property. This is reflected in their response to authority and their treatment of their human cargo. One study estimates that over 80% of people being smuggled into this country become the victims of criminal activity before they ever cross the border. And in many cases the atrocities continue even after they successfully enter. Smuggling routes are often marked with “rape trees”—women’s under garments hung on tree limbs where a raped occurred, warning everyone of the failure to cooperate with the coyotes who prey on them.

The flocktards running mexico must be doing a REALLY lousy job for the illegals to be willing to go through that