THE BORDER REPORT

I’d hate to be a cop in Arizona about now. The Arizona state Senate just passed a bill that requires cops, under threat of lawsuit, to enforce federal immigration laws. I blame the Feds; particularly Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano.

The bill makes it a misdemeanor to be an illegal immigrant in Arizona. It requires cops to check immigration status if they develop a reasonable suspicion that a person is in the country illegally. The bill, Senate Bill 1070, passed 35-21 in the Arizona House of Representatives last night.

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THE BORDER REPORT

Mexican and Arizonan officials are negating that an arrest has been made in connection with the shooting death of Robert Krentz. We’ll just have to be patient and see what happens over the next few days.

Krentz, 58, was a long-time rancher in Arizona’s southeast region on the border with New Mexico and Sonora. On March 27, he was found shot dead astride his Polaris ATV, his dog dying by his side. Sheriff’s deputies suspected illegal migrants or drug mules because he had sent a garbled message to his brother earlier saying something that sounded like “illegal alien” and “hurt.”

THE BORDER REPORT

Law enforcement sources in southeastern Arizona say a long-time rancher found murdered Saturday night was shot at with a handgun stolen from a home in Portal, near the New Mexico border. Take the information with a grain of salt for now; it’s a bit soon in the investigation, but my source has been reliable in the past.

Robert Krentz, a 58-year-old rancher whose family has worked the Arizona country for more than a century wasn’t shy about calling in the U.S. Border Patrol when he suspected a load of dope was being moved in. Last week, a friend of his from Douglas says, he called in an interdiction to the Feds. Friends say he was also known for helping illegal immigrants when he deemed they needed water or rescuing.

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THE BORDER REPORT

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is no more. The Arizona Daily Star’s got the scoop on the story here. But there’s another armed group floating around down on the border (I mean, besides the Sinaloans). Federal agents have received complaints from hunters in Southern Arizona of being accosted by armed white men in camouflage who told the hunters they are with the Department of Homeland Security, sources say. They weren’t affiliated with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, but law enforcement doesn’t know yet who is driving this group, what their members are like, and what their motives are.

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THE BORDER REPORT

A group of  restrictionists who last year saw one of their supporters arrested for the murder of a Mexican-American family in Southern Arizona, plans a return to this border armed with guns and rhetoric. SonoranNews.com, a conservative Web site in Arizona, reports that the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, plans to come down to the border armed with rifles this time and will “forcefully engage, detain, and defend our lives and country from the criminals who trample over our culture and laws.”

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