David M. Bresnahan -- Mexicans Say Southwest Belongs To Them, Flood Of Illegals May Bring Terrorists

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A full 58 percent of Mexicans believe that the U.S. Southwest belongs to Mexico and 57 percent say they should be able to enter the U.S. without any restrictions.

The recently completed Zogby International poll was commissioned by Americans for Immigration Control Inc. and shows that U.S. citizens want tougher border controls while Mexicans want less.

The group polled 801 Mexicans and 1,015 Americans at the end of May with a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

The U.S. citizens expressed great concerns about border problems with Mexico. A full 65 percent say the U.S. military should be used to help the U.S. Border Patrol, and 58 percent said the U.S. should reduce the number of aliens permitted to stay legally.

There is no sympathy for illegal aliens already in the U.S. with 65 percent responding that there should be no amnesty for illegals already here.

Are terrorists getting in?

Many of the U.S. ranchers along the 4,000-mile southern border have been trying to warn federal officials about the growing problem dealing with the daily flood of illegal immigrants. http://www.ranchrescue.com They have formed a group known as "Ranch Rescue" intended to give support and help to border residents because the U.S. Border Patrol has failed to protect them.

The U.S. southern border has become a war zone, and threat of a major crisis is very real, according to claims made by Ranch Rescue on their web site.

Ranchers who live along the border are telling horror stories of regular incidents of gunfire, and border patrol agents admit the situation has reached danger levels. Some are also concerned that terrorists are taking advantage of the open border.

Politicians have known about the problem of illegals coming across the U.S. Southern border and know that many may be terrorists since May 1, 2000 at least. At that time the General Accounting Office issued a report to Congress which stated:

"Alien smuggling is a significant and growing problem. Some are smuggled as part of a criminal or terrorist enterprise that can pose a serious threat to U.S. national security."

"It's almost incredible to recognize, as part of the overall strategy this government is going to employ to deal with the issue of terrorism, that we would not concentrate heavily on securing our borders and try to do everything humanly possible to stop people, who have evil intent, from coming into the United States," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. Oct. 9, 2001 from the floor of the U.S. House.

"We used to see nothing but Mexicans, but it is not at all unusual to find illegals from Middle Eastern countries," said a former border patrol agent who spoke on condition his name not be used for fear or retribution. He said it is not unusual to find people from various Arab nations who arrive through a system of smugglers who begin their trek in Guatemala, travel through Mexico and then across the U.S. border.

Local papers have been reporting some of the arrests of Iraqis, Yemenis, Egyptians, and other Arabs.

Use military to guard border

Frustrated ranchers regularly report hundreds of illegal aliens crossing through their land on well-worn trails daily. Some have taken action to protect their property and lives, but lawyers anxious to collect a fee have zeroed in and are fighting to protect the illegal aliens who invade private homes, rob, steal, commit rape, and damage property.

Illegal immigrants, with the help of lawyers, have pressed criminal charges and filed lawsuits. Often they go to the media and portray ranchers exercising their rights as extremist, radical, racists.

"There is only one way to handle this," said Col. U.S. Army (ret.) Ben Anderson in a Ranch Rescue report. "In a world now filled with biowarfare agents, backpack nuclear devices and chemical weapons like Sarin gas, we must militarize the border. There is no other way to stop the flow."

Anderson lives near the border in Sierra Vista, Ariz., and has studied the border problems since 1997. The Zogby poll shows that most Americans support the idea of using the military to guard the border.

In recent years there have been numerous shootings along the border. A U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot at by Mexican Army soldiers in a recent incident. Many ranchers are prepared to use deadly force to protect their property as well.

There are hundreds of incidents of illegals coming across the border and raiding local homes and businesses. Citizens who call for help from the police or border agents complain that nothing is done to effectively deal with the threat, so they are prepared to defend their property with guns.

So far a number of Mexicans have been shot. Some, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed and a number have been wounded. Others have been chased off private property at the point of a rifle.

In late March a truck crossed from Mexico along the Arizona border with drug smugglers inside. They fired over 20 shots at the Border Patrol unit that pursued them. The truck quickly returned across the border and the occupants ran into Mexico leaving the vehicle and drugs behind.

Far more disturbing is a report that as recently as May 17 a U.S. Border Patrol agent claims he was fired on by what appeared to be members of the Mexican military. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) said at the time the agent was trying to leave the area to avoid a confrontation when his rear window was shattered by gunfire coming from the Mexican Army vehicle, according to the Sierra Times.

Just this past Friday eight illegal immigrants were wounded when a vehicle with 23 people crossed the U.S. border after being shot at by the Mexican Army.

The U.S. Border Patrol arrived shortly after the shooting and one of the victims reported the shots came from the Mexican Army. The incident happened along the Mexican border about 100 miles east of San Diego, according to a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.

Headlines of recent news stories from the area include: "Border Patrol agent fired on;" "Pregnant rancher kills illegal immigrant intruder;" "Human smuggling floods river;" and "Hereford man's trailer is disrepair from flow of illegals."

Taking action to protect their homes

With a million or more illegals coming across the border each year into the back yards of so many ranchers it is a wonder there haven't been more shootings. The illegals literally pour over the border day and night all along the border in this sparsely populated area. Residents describe it to be a war zone and express dismay that their country does little or nothing to protect them.

"The County Attorneys in these border counties have granted blanket immunity from prosecution to criminal aliens for all property crimes. Simply put, the border County Attorneys are turning a blind eye to the felony criminal offenses committed en masse within their counties by the criminal aliens, where the border county landowners are the victims. This selective non-enforcement of the law is being practiced solely on the basis of the criminal's national origin and immigration status," states the Ranch Rescue web site.

Ranchers who have tried to stop the flow of illegals say they are in danger 24 hours a day. Illegals regularly break into homes, steal, and cause damage. Ranchers who attempt to stop them often pay a heavy price when law enforcement officials take action against them for defending their property.

At least five Americans have been charged in separate incidents in which they fired on Mexicans who came across the border onto their property. The Mexican media portray such incidents as evidence of the "Wild West vigilantes" that can be found along the border.

Overwhelmed legal system

There are over 314,000 illegal aliens the INS has ordered rounded up and deported, according to a report by CBS. These are "absconders" who are known to the INS and are still in the country on bail.

Because of a shortage of agents, detention space, and other resources the immense flood of illegal aliens has overwhelmed the ability of the INS to deal with the situation.

Vincent Smith runs Capital Bonding Corp. and provides bail for absconders. He told CBS that the INS is setting free 50 percent of the absconders he is ordered to turn in, because the INS has no place to put them and no staff to process them.

U.S. federal district courts all along the Mexican border are inundated with criminal cases involving illegal aliens mostly Mexicans.

Judges are taking shortcuts to expedite the flood of cases they face each day. Often that means handing out sentences to whole groups who plead guilty as part of a plea bargain.

Newspapers from the cities along the border area carry stories of five different federal district courts where there is no relief in sight as the number of illegal aliens continues to rise, and the number of judges goes down.

President George W. Bush sends nominations for replacement and additional judges to the Democrat-led Senate where a political logjam has left courts shorthanded at the worst possible time.

Illegal immigration and drug smuggling have been on the increase for years since the North American Free Trade Agreement increased opportunities for Mexicans bringing as much as a 300 to 700 percent increases in case loads per judge.

The number of unsolved robberies, stolen cars, arson, and other petty crimes are more numerous along the border than anywhere else in the country.

"Mrs. K. Morales lives on a ranch in Duvall County, Texas, nearly fifty miles from the border, but still in the path of the hordes of criminals pouring into our nation," says the Ranch Rescue web site.

She reported an incident in which she fended off a group of Mexicans who ransacked her home. Although she showed a gun the invaders of her home were not persuaded to leave. She tried to call 911 but there was no answer.

The illegals finally left, with a large bag of stolen property, and the Border Patrol arrived too late.

Why not pack up and move?

"The answer is very simple," said Morales. "We live here! We should be free to live our lives without having to fight a daily war with invaders from Mexico. Our government gives the illegals more rights than our citizens. This isn't right!

"But we stay on, we love this land and our lives here . Why should we move? We will stay on and protect what is ours," said the determined rancher.

"Unless we do something significant to control our borders, we're going to have another event with someone waltzing across the borders. Then the blood of the people killed will be on this administration and this Congress... How can we stop it? Pray. Certainly you can't rely on the US Immigration and Naturalization Service," advice from Tancredo in a news release quoted by Ranch Rescue on their web site.

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David M. Bresnahan David@InvestigativeJournal.com is an award-winning independent investigative journalist. He maintains an archive of his work at http://www.InvestigativeJournal.com and offers a free e-mail alert so you will not miss any of his news stories or commentaries.