THE BORDER REPORT

Last month, I posted a brief chisme about an agent from the Office of Inspector General in Arizona that had been fired. Just received confirmation on the agent's firing this morning. I'm still not going to name the investigator because I don't have written confirmation from OIG or his defense counsel but as soon as I do, I'll put it up. I'm being intentionally vague about his case but it had quite a bit to do with the Native American trackers within Customs and Border Protection, the Shadow Wolves. The corruption allegations were seemingly untrue but that may be because of a reluctance by the U.S. Attorney's Office to take the case. Vamos a ver que onda.

THE BORDER REPORT

Did it happen or didn't it? The presumed gunfight that hit the news this morning seems to have disappeared as if it never happened.

Here, belatedly, is a translated summary of a CISEN briefing I received a short while ago from a contact in Culiacán. You can bet those boys are watching this. Keep in mind, this is not a current update. A day old at least.

22 Dic 2009 –

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THE BORDER REPORT

BorderReporter's traffic has jumped some 40 percent in the past few days, we're at about 3,500 unique visitors a day (thank you, Arturo) so it's a good time to implement a couple changes that'll keep you coming back.

Like me, you have a tendency to read the story del día then move on to other things but new readers have been occasionally jumping in with their own observations and remarks on old stories that most of you have moved past on. So we're introducing a new "recent comments" feature to keep you abreast of what others are saying so you can either cheer, jeer, sneer or (threaten to expose the authors of). And, and this is something I've long resisted because I'm getting old, BorderReporter's now on Twitter and Facebook. Enjoy.

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THE BORDER REPORT

One rumor I'm hearing today is that U.S. Marines were present with the Mexican Navy last night during the gunbattle with Arturo Beltrán Leyva.

It may or may not be true. I have it tertiary from sources within the Sinaloa factions working here in the U.S. that I talk to from time to time. And of course, every time a significant arrest or killing is conducted in Mexico, there is a healthy suspicion that Americans were somehow involved. This of course, isn't helped by the fact that American federal agents have been spotted at some murder scenes, standing alongside their Mexican counterparts.

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THE BORDER REPORT

Well this is a certainly a first. An agent with the U.S. Office of Inspector General was fired recently for lying on his affidavits, sources say. The agent is now under criminal investigation by his own agency. I won't name the guy because he hasn't been charged (and those of you know won't either unless you want me to end up in a ditch outside some muddy FEMA camp).

The OIG is the agency charged with investigating waste, fraud and abuse by other agencies. The agency assigns agents to investigate the other federal agencies, here in Arizona for example, a handful of OIG agents are responsible for the 3,000-odd Customs and Border Protection agents running around the state.

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