Former Border Patrol agent speaks of dangers along boundary
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Send to friendSIERRA VISTA — While many federal officials claim the American border with Mexico is safe, a retired U.S. Border Patrol Supervisory Agent vehemently disagrees.
“It’s more dangerous than I’ve every seen it during my 26 years in the Border Patrol,” Zach Taylor said Sunday afternoon.
Speaking to more than 40 people at the Cochise County Building in Sierra Vista at an event arranged by the Cochise County Republican Committee, Taylor said the Border Patrol, which is now under the Department of Homeland Security and not under the Department of Justice as it was prior to 9/11, has become more of a political tool for those who do not seem to be willing to address border issues as a law enforcement matter, he said.
One of the founders of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, he said agents of the former organization he served are being denied the right to do their jobs in as federal law enforcement agents.
This is particularly true when access to portions of federal land along the border is denied to agents not only trying apprehend illegal immigrants who are seeking jobs in the U.S., but more importantly the growing criminal elements involved in a number of smuggling activities, Taylor said.
During his career he worked in the field, supervising “from a truck,” actions involving the agency’s Nogales Border Patrol Station.
He still lives in Santa Cruz County and his talk was mainly about that specific area as a major pathway for hardened criminals supporting different drug cartels.
What people in the U.S. have to be wary of is the Mexican criminal activity from Mexico, which is growing in America, Taylor said.
In 1952, a congressional act granted the Border Patrol
unlimited access to private and state lands from the border up to 100 miles into the U.S., he said.
But now agents are denied law enforcement rights on federal land in the same area and, as many in Arizona know, many large areas of federal land abut the border and continue into the state for many miles, Taylor said.
The Mexican criminal gangs know the constraints facing the agents and that is why many of the federal land areas along the border have become access points for illegal activities, he said.
For Americans to think that Mexican gangs are only a problem on the border would be a mistake, the retired agent said.
In the United States, “2,500 cities have Mexican gangs,” he said.
Those gangs support different cartels and gangs in Mexico, meaning blood shed is not just limited along the border but also within the heartland of America, Taylor said.
Although the State Department has no direct oversight of the Border Patrol, it has interfered with the agency and other federal agencies in providing the correct information to the American public, so as not to upset the political leaders in Mexico, Taylor remarked.
As an example, reports by another federal agency, The U.S. Forest Service, concerning summer fires in Arizona, specifically the Monument Fire in Cochise County and the Murphy Complex Fire in Santa Cruz County, had statements that the fires were started by illegal immigrants excised from its reports on the direction of the State Department, he said, as he held up what he said was a copy of the report which has been removed from official files.
Firefighters working wildfires on federal land have reported they have been shot at during their attempts to put out a blaze, Taylor said.
Again such information is taken out of any official federal report, Taylor said.
The people who are crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. now are not the same type as they were years ago, when even drug smugglers in those bygone eras did not carry weapons, Taylor said.
Saying he has twice testified before congressional committees and has escorted members of Congress along the border so they can see the real-world people of Arizona and the Border Patrol face, Taylor emphasized his growing concern of harden criminal activities taking deeper roots in Arizona to the detriment of the state’s citizens.
While he is most familiar with Santa Cruz County aspects of illegal activities, he said he will be studying Cochise County between Douglas and the New Mexico state line soon.
America’s relationship with Mexico is at a point where traffic coming out of the neighbor to the south will create more harm than good unless the federal government stops ignoring the real issue, which is that Mexican drug cartels and gangs do not care who is hurt in the process of making a profit.
During his presentation, he showed photos of dismembered bodies and heads, some of which were found in the U.S. because of gangs and cartels fighting each other over lucrative smuggling routes.
“The border has become lawless. The whole dynamic has changed,” Taylor said of what he envisions as more horrific events happening in the U.S.
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Some interesting facts from someone who would know:
18%+ of all apprehended illegal aliens have criminal records in the United States. The actual number of feloniously criminal illegal aliens crossing the border could be higher because we have almost no criminal record of illegal aliens in their home country, nor are all crimes committed reported, particularly south of the border.
Just because border cities have low crime rates doesn’t mean the cities are not crime ridden. Mexico’s prosecutorial success may be high (but I don’t have a clear idea on this), but that is irrelevant, because we know most of the crime occuring in Mexico is not reported. Calling border cities crime-free is an absolute straw man argument, especially when a good portion of this crime is committed by and against people that have no incentive to report the crime because they benefit from the committing of those crimes. Good thing you are okay with a war being fought in your backyard that up until now, at least, is mostly invisible to the average citizen.
Nearly every woman that crosses the border illegally is raped.
The smuggling industry is worth $40 billion a year in Mexico. This money makes cartels so powerful that they function as the government in large swaths of Mexico. Is the mob qualified to run anything?
Since 2006 I have heard that 40,000+ people have been killed in Mexico’s drug war. The murder will continue as long as the border remains porous. Apparently, the U.S. Government (Fast and Furious) and someof its citizens see no problem with the murders in Mexico. They must figure it’s only Mexicans being murdered (racism?????). However, Mexico has no reliable crime reporting or evidence gathering mechanisms. In many places the cops and the robbers are one-in-the same. So if their generally incompetent police forces can count 40,000+ corpses, the actual number could be astronomically higher (remember the ranch in Tamulipas that uncovered 75 bodies of OTMs? We only knew about this because one survivor escaped to tell the tale).
The Border Patrol has absolutely no reliable way to count all the illegal aliens that get away. In fact, CBP makes efforts to under report this number. We really have no idea how many terrorists and hardened criminals are here (we know many top cartel leaders from Mexico actually live in the U.S.) and the only reason they don’t terrorize head-in-the-sand citizens is because it doesn’t make financial sense to do so—yet.
And all of this is to say nothing of the economic impact that illegal immigration has on this country.
In your post :
" live on the border. I don’t find it lawless. Dismembered bodies? I remember this happening 40 years ago. Right here. To blame is on the "lawlessness" of the border isn’t quite right, unless it’s been lawless here for the last 100 years. And maybe it has."
That is interesting that just last night Santa Cruz Sheriff reported three males that appeared to be murdered execution style near the border. Wouldn’t it also make sense that the numbers of illegals arrested would drop as the Border Patrol is not allowed to exercise law enforcement activities on Federal land. That coupled with "Big Sis" telling them to focus only on those illegals that have a previous history of crime.
“Wouldn’t it also make sense that the numbers of illegals arrested would
drop as the Border Patrol is not allowed to exercise law enforcement
activities on Federal land”
It might if it were true. But it’s not.
Attn: Be very aware that illegal aliens are compromising the integrity of our voting laws. Democrats, the far left are trying to introduce bills in Congress, so registration can be immediate. There have been many instances of ‘Voter Fraud’ that is still being investigated and prosecuted in numerous states. I have also no doubt that State Senator Russell Pierce was squeezed out of office, by the irregularities in the Arizona voting process. Probably this will be the same fate as Gov. Jan Brewer unless official Photo ID is insisted upon to vote. We must safeguard ‘citizen’s rights’ of voting, that the socialists are looking to depress as with the garbage called ‘Political Correctness.’
After reading the border agent’s views, I read in "The Economist" magazine a story on how illegal immgration has declined as border agent numbers have risen from 3000 to 18000. In 2000 the agents arrested 1,643,679 illegals. In 2010 they arrested 447,731. The El Paso sector of 268 miles of border has seen a 96 percent decline in border arrest. As far as violence goes a recent FBI report shows that the nation’s top four big cities with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states—Phoenix, El Paso, Austin and San Diego.
The reason the numbers have dropped isn’t because fewer are coming across-it’s because the DOJ issued a ‘no stop’ order. Border Patrol was ordered to chase them back acros instead of detaining them AND if they DO detain, they are ordered to release them.
This is Obama’s idea of protecting the country. Remember- today’s illegal alien is tomorow’s illegal Democrat voter.
Seems to me that news accounts of border violence in the local media has diminished. Taylor is saying political pressure is being applied to paint a non realistic picture. Perhaps we border residents should provide a defensive plan?
is not being slanted. He is promoting an agenda, he is trying to let people know the truth. It is no secret that the cartels are on this side of the border. It is no secret that violence has followed them. We really don’t see it much in Sierra Vista and Bisbee as the cartels are not interested in small towns on the border, they are headed to the bigger cities. You don’t see cockroaches in the sewer, but they are there. To ignore this information, not realize that our government tries to gloss it over and pretend it isn’t happening is pure ignorance.
If this scares you Auntie Em, then you should be proactive and demand better from your government. It doesn’t scare me in the sense that I am afraid for my life—but it does alarm me that our government is aware of these facts and instead of addressing them, they hide them from the public.
Why Auntie Em do you choose to defend Mexican gangs and get offended by this information? Is it because it doesn’t support the cause for illegal immigration? You always seem to go against the Border Patrol, no matter what the issue. I cannot understand such deliberate ignorance. You admit yourself you know this information is true, then you spend the rest of your post arguing against it. Do we need anymore gangs? Do you know prevalent the size of the Mexican gangs are? How much crime is attributed to them?
I agree with your statement on the part that alarms you is the government knows about it and does nothing. I am appalled that we have to go to extreme measures as a state to secure our borders and not only the govt, but the people of other states condemn us, boycott etc. The Fed govt. turn their backs on us, as well as cripple our efforts to help ourselves by saying what we do is illegal. Well I say it is the drug cartels and the illegal mexicans coming over here that is illegal. I will support our border patrol and any efforts this and any other state makes to stop ILLEGAL immigration."Proud Supporter Of Our Border Patrol. Proud Supporter of the Senate Bill 1070!"
Much of what I read appears true to me, but still, it’s slanted.
There are thousands of white gangs in the US as well as Korean, African-American, etc. Mexican gangs are not new: they’ve been around for generations. True, the numbers have grown and they’ve changed, but to make it sound like it’s new because of border problems isn’t quite correct.
I live on the border. I don’t find it lawless. Dismembered bodies? I remember this happening 40 years ago. Right here. To blame is on the "lawlessness" of the border isn’t quite right, unless it’s been lawless here for the last 100 years. And maybe it has.
It seems to me that Taylor is using scare tactics to promote an agenda.