Tag: border patrol agents

Democrats push technology as alternative to Trump wall in shutdown impasse

January 23, 2019

By Richard Cowan and John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives floated the idea on Wednesday of ending a partial U.S. government shutdown by giving President Donald Trump most or all of the money he seeks for security along the Mexican border but for items other than the wall he wants.

As a shutdown that has left 800,000 federal workers without pay hit its 33rd day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi essentially disinvited Trump from delivering the annual State of the Union address in the House chamber until the government is fully opened.

Other leaders in the Democratic-controlled House said they were drafting a funding offer they will likely make to Trump in a letter. Representative James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, said Democrats could fulfill Trump’s request for $5.7 billion for border security with technological tools such as drones, X-rays and sensors, as well as more border patrol agents.

Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said Democrats also would discuss “substantial sums of additional money” for border security as part of a possible deal. He did not say if it would amount to the $5.7 billion sought by Trump.

The Republican president triggered the shutdown last month by demanding money for the wall, opposed by Democrats, as part of any legislation to fund about a quarter of the government. Clyburn’s offer would be a significant monetary increase over bills previously passed by Democrats, which included only about $1.3 billion for this year in additional border security, with none for a wall.

“Using the figure the president put on the table, if his $5.7 billion is about border security then we see ourselves fulfilling that request, only doing it with what I like to call using a smart wall,” Clyburn told reporters.

Republican Representative Tom Cole, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters the Democratic proposal could help.

“Any movement, any discussion is helpful,” Cole said. “We’ve got to get past this wall-or-no-wall debate.”

The battle over border security and government funding spilled over into a parallel dispute over the president’s State of the Union address. Trump sent a letter to Pelosi on Wednesday saying he looked forward to delivering it as scheduled next Tuesday in the House chamber. Pelosi previously had asked Trump to consider postponing it because security could not be guaranteed during the shutdown.

But Pelosi told Trump on Wednesday the House would not consider a measure authorizing his address until the shutdown ends. “Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened,” Pelosi said to Trump in a letter.

In a sign Trump may be bracing for a long shutdown, a senior administration official said agencies without funding had been asked to give the White House a list of programs that could be hurt “within the coming weeks” if the funding lapse continues.

SENATE PLANS VOTES

The U.S. Senate, controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans, planned votes for Thursday on competing proposals that face steep odds to end the shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans a vote on a Democratic proposal that would fund the government for three weeks but does not include the $5.7 billion in partial funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Its prospects appeared grim. The House has passed several similar bills but Trump has rejected legislation that does not include the wall funding. McConnell previously said he would not consider a bill that Trump did not support.

McConnell also planned to hold a vote on legislation that would include wall funding and a temporary extension of protections for “Dreamers,” people brought illegally to the United States as children, an offer Trump made on Saturday. Trump’s 2017 plan to rescind protections against deportation for hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers” has been blocked by the courts.

Democrats have dismissed the offer, saying they would not negotiate on border security before reopening the government, and that they would not trade a temporary extension of the immigrants’ protections in return for a permanent border wall they have called ineffective, costly and immoral.

Barclays economists said on Wednesday they reduced their outlook on U.S. economic growth in the first quarter to an annualized rate of 2.5 percent from an earlier projection of 3 percent as a result of the shutdown.

Furloughed federal workers are struggling to make ends meet during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Many have turned to unemployment assistance, food banks and other support, or have sought new jobs.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and John Whitesides; Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb, Roberta Rampton, Eric Beech, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney)

San Diego TV station: CNN declined our ‘local view’ because of reports on wall effectiveness

San Diego TV station: CNN declined our 'local view' because of reports on wall effectiveness

A San Diego television station on Thursday said that CNN had asked for a “local view” and then “declined to hear from us” after past reports from the station showed that a border wall was effective.

Immigration, the partial government shutdown and President Trump‘s proposed border wall have all been topics dominating the cable news landscape since the shutdown began three weeks ago.

“Thursday morning, CNN called the KUSI Newsroom asking if one of our reporters could give them a local view of the debate surrounding the border wall and government shutdown,” a report by KUSI, an independent station in San Diego that began airing in 1982, begins.

“KUSI offered our own Dan Plante, who has reported dozens of times on the border, including one story from 2016 that was retweeted by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and posted on DrudgeReport.com,” it continues while linking to a border fence tour report.

“We believe CNN declined a report from KUSI because we informed them that most Border Patrol Agents we have spoken to told us the barrier does in fact work,” it concludes. “We have continuously been told by Border Patrol Agents that the barrier along the Southern border helps prevent illegal entries, drugs, and weapons from entering the United States, and the numbers prove it.”

The Hill has reached out to CNN for comment.

The partial government shutdown over funding for the wall reached its 21st day on Friday. Trump has demanded $5 billion for the wall while Democrats have offered $1.3 billion for border security measures.

Trump is said to be strongly considering a national emergency declaration as it appears a funding bill getting through Congress with his demands is unlikely. Some legal scholars and Democrats have argued the president does not have the authority to make such a declaration.

Key Democrat Admits Trump Has Authority To Declare National Emergency To Build Wall

Democratic Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, admitted that President Trump has the authority to declare a national emergency and have the military build a wall along the US-Mexico border. 

ABC‘s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos asked Smith “Does President Trump have the ability, have the authority to declare a national emergency and have the military build his wall?” 

“Well, unfortunately, the short answer is yes,” replied Smith. “There is a provision in the law that says the president can declare an emergency. It’s been done a number of times, but primarily it’s been done to build facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. In this case, I think the president would be wide open to a court challenge saying, where is the emergency? You have to establish that in order to do this. Beyond that, this would be a terrible use of Department of Defense dollars.“

“The president spends most of his time talking about how we’re not spending enough on national security, now he wants to take $20 billion out of defense budget to build a wall. Which by the way, is not going to improve our border security. The president seems unaware of this, but we have actually already built a wall across much of the border, and all border security experts that I talk to say, where a wall makes sense, it’s already been built. We should have a conversation about border security, but first, we should we open the government and pay our border patrol agents and the federal agents that are furloughed,” Smith added. 

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U.S. Seals Court Records Of Border Patrol’s Murder

The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.

This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.

Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of more than 1,000 guns which have been used in numerous crimes. In Terry’s case, five illegal immigrants armed with at least two semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and Terry got hit.

We know this only because Washington D.C.’s conservative newspaper got ahold of the court documents before the government suddenly made them off limits. The now-sealed federal grand jury indictment tells the frightening story of how Terry was gunned down by Mexican drug smugglers patrolling the rugged desert with the intent to “intentionally and forcibly assault” Border Patrol agents.  

You can see why the administration wants to keep this information from the public and the media, considering the smugglers were essentially armed by the U.S. government. Truth is, no one will know the reason for the confiscation of public court records in this case because the judge’s decision to seal it was also sealed, according to the news story. That means the public or media won’t have access to any new or old evidence, filings, rulings or arguments.

A number of high-ranking Border Patrol officials are questioning how the case is being handled. For instance, they wonder why the defendant (Manuel Osorio-Arellanes) hasn’t been tried even though it’s been almost a year since Terry’s murder. They also have concerns about the lack of transparency in the investigation, not to mention the recent sealing of the court case.

Osorio-Arellanes is charged with second-degree murder. The four other drug smugglers fled the scene and their names were blacked out in the indictment. In 2006 Osorio-Arellanes had been convicted in Phoenix of felony aggravated assault and in 2010 he was twice detained for being in the U.S. illegally.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this month to address the flawed gun-tracking program, Attorney General Eric Holder said it’s not fair to assume that mistakes in Operation Fast and Furious led to Terry’s death. Holder also expressed regret to the federal agent’s family, saying that he can only imagine their pain.

 

 

 

 

 

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Top Cop Jails Good Guys

American Free Press
By Mark Anderson
November 16, 2011

U.S. BORDER AGENT JESUS “CHITO” DIAZ JR.American Border Patrol agents face a surprising enemy intent on punishing those who combat the heavily armed drug traffickers and immigrant smugglers operating on the border with Mexico: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department.

Take the case of Border Patrol agent Jesus “Chito” Diaz, recently sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly “lifting the handcuffs” worn by an illegal alien he arrested for smuggling drugs. No shots were fired.

On Oct. 16, 2008, according to the account at FreeAgentDiaz.com, several agents had rounded up illegal aliens after midnight in Eagle Pass, Texas.

The smuggler handcuffed by Diaz had become uncooperative and would not answer questions. So, using a common control tactic, Diaz lifted the cuffs to force the smuggler to the ground, which didn’t cause injury.

Diaz, who has a wife and several children, joins the ranks of other federal agents who have been imprisoned in recent years, including Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, each of whom served time for pursuing a known drug smuggler near El Paso, Texas.

Two oversight agencies deemed Diaz innocent. However, the Mexican government filed a complaint against Diaz, and the Justice Department complied. While awaiting sentencing, Diaz wasn’t even granted bail.

On duty last December in south Arizona, Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was fatally shot by a suspected drug mobster whose weapon evidently came from the federal government’s Fast and Furious operation.

This undercover scheme involved the transfer of high-powered firearms, clandestinely purchased in the U.S., to drug cartels. It was supposedly designed to track the cartels. But it only succeeded in arming them.

It was just announced that Attorney General Holder is expected to testify before Congress on Fast and Furious in December, amid evidence he knew about it all along, but he’ll get softer treatment than Border Patrol agents trying to actually fight the transnational crime the federal government is either not stopping, or is enhancing through such gunrunning.

Amazingly, five other Border Patrol agents and two local police officers also are under federal prosecution for trying to protect the border, including the Border Patrol’s Gary Brugman and David Sipe.

In Diaz’s case, Johnny Sutton, the infamous U.S. attorney involved in the Ramos-Compean trial, initially directed the prosecution before his Obama-appointed chief deputy took over. Sutton’s office charged Diaz with excessive force and with lying to the Border Patrol Office of Internal Affairs.

Although witnesses changed their stories, and some even admitted lying to the grand jury, Diaz was found guilty. Yet the drug-smuggling illegal alien named in the lawsuit was given a visa so he could travel back and forth across the border.

“Chito” Diaz has been in solitary confinement. Weekly visits from his wife, a Border Patrol agent herself, have been limited to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Mexican cartels and illegal aliens continue crossing the border; thus, real terrorism is at our doorstep, with minimal resistance, thanks to Eric Holder.

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