THE BORDER REPORT

The U.S. Border Patrol will have some serious questions to answer to in the wake of three shootings since Saturday that has so far left one child dead along the U.S.'s southern border.

In the first instance, the Arizona Daily Star reports, agents working on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation in southern Arizona shot two men they claim were drug smugglers throwing rocks at the agents. These types of encounters are more common than one may realize and if the agents were telling the truth, well-deserved. You don't brings rocks to a gunfight, after all. That of course, is assuming the agents were telling the truth.They've been known to lie on these matters in the past.

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THE BORDER REPORT

Either Mexico is experiencing an unprecedented outbreak of Aztec zombies or Los Zetas are into some freaky shit. Goddamned Zetas, hijole. They just lack imagination.

THE BORDER REPORT

Is a founder of the Juarez Cartel now in talks with the Sinaloa Federation to take over Ciudad Juarez? It's a chisme that's come across my desk recently, and if true, opens the way for some fascinating negotiations for the border city.

Gilberto Greñas Ontiveros was released from Jalisco's Puente Grande prison in 2007 and since that time, hasn't been the least bit shy in making his new-found freedom known to the world. After his release from prison he immediately returned to El Paso and Juarez, successfully suing the city of Juarez for the return of one of his properties. It had been appropriated after his arrest in 1986 and sits between a woman's hospital and the Hotel Lucerna, about five minutes from the border. Inept American law enforcement agencies don't seem to realize he's been walking free for the past three years, of course. This is their latest information on him: "Presently incarcerated in Mexico, allegedly due to be released at an unknown time." Sweet Tapdancing Christ, either update your information or pick up a Mexican paper. With his mop of hair, he looked like what an old FBI source used to call "one of those ranchero fucks" but he also had a penchant for the high end lifestyle in Juarez, keeping a Rolls Royce in the garage of his mansion and a tigress named Viviana. He kept a lion as a pet in prison, the stories go, scaring holy hell out of the cellblock's other occupants. Maybe just one of those tales that persist about some of Mexico's older drug figures, maybe not. (Photo courtesy, DOJ.) Like so many of his successors, Greñas fell because he let his temper grab hold and brought unwanted attention onto himself (he did that by threatening to shoot an El Paso newspaper photographer then kidnapping the guy and beating him for ten hours ... ) I don't know how close Amado Carrillo Fuentes and Greñas were but it doesn't appear he and Vicente Carrillo held much mutual affection. Last year, Ontiveros' son was found murdered, floating in a canal in Juarez. It is said that Los Aztecas murdered the young man because he'd been passing information to the Sinaloa Federation. If that ends up being true, it would explain much behind this latest rumor. I can almost hear the corrido now: La Revancha del Viejo, perhaps? If Greñas is indeed being considered to take over Juarez for the Sinaloans, he'd actually make a great transition. His two ex-wives continue living in the area and he lived most of his life in Chihuahua; this suggests a strong familial connection with the state's authorities. And as a founder of the Juarez Cartel, this is a man who proved himself capable of maintaining the city's drug trafficking infrastructure. Was having a cup of coffee with an old Customs Enforcement source who used to work in El Paso in the nineties and brought up the possibility of Greñas as Juarez's new border dawg. "I like that......he would be a good choice," he says. We will see.

THE BORDER REPORT

 

 

Throwing all diplomatic considerations right out the window, the United States just slammed one of Mexico's premier tourist cities, Puerto Peñasco, announcing the rumor that armed thugs will murder Americans on the highway on down to the popular coastal town. And they put it up days before the Memorial Day weekend; Rocky Point's third busiest season. The U.S. State Department warning to stay out of Puerto Peñasco is a fascinating up-tick in political discourse because there's no actual facts behind it; it's completely based off of unsubstantiated gossip.

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THE BORDER REPORT

The United States just eliminated the only paperwork proof for white Europeans who find themselves encountered by a cop in Arizona enforcing the new immigration laws. Ah, desmadre, where would I be without you? This comes from an immigration lawyer here in Tucson, Rachel Wilson.  (Gracias, comadre.) It creates a spectacular mess for Arizona in its enforcement of SB 2162. The Homeland Security Department eliminated the paper arrival/departure record requirement for foreign nationals entering the country under the visa waiver program. Millions of foreign nationals from predominantly European countries travel here under the visa waiver program. And they can no longer readily prove it if they are stopped by a cop in Arizona who asks them about their legal status. The form eliminated was called the I-94W and supplied travelers a paper record of when they arrived in the U.S. and when they're supposed to leave. That form would have been enough for a cop in Arizona to determine the person is here legally. And it just got dumped. In its place is the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, a database that travelers are supposed to log in to prior to leaving their country for the U.S. However, it's a digital file in a federal database. This means that a cop who stops a European traveler will have to then call Homeland Security and ask them to access the database. Meanwhile, the European is sitting there, detained by a cop. It's possible that local law enforcement agencies will have access to ESTA. I find it unlikely however, because, from the federal point of view, determining legal status is a federal duty, not a job for local cops. The intent, according to DHS, is to streamline the flow of travelers. But if their intent was also to take a huge economic swipe at the state of Arizona for trying to enforce federal immigration laws, someone in Washington is slapping themselves on the back in congratulations. Arizona cops are right now, being trained in immigration law and under 2162, they're not supposed to use race or color to build reasonable suspicion to ask someone about their status. What the U.S. government just did was make white Europeans as undocumented as illegal migrants. How will Arizona law enforcement look in the eyes of the courts and the public if they ignore white Europeans? Not good. Not good at all. Downright selective in fact. Holy hell, I love watching a train wreck. And the U.S. just put a penny on the Arizona rail. Here's the list of countries: Andorra, Hungary, New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Norway,  Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Italy,   San Marino Brunei  Japan   Singapore Czech Republic  Latvia  Slovakia Denmark, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, South Korea Finland, Luxembourg, Spain France  Malta   Sweden Germany, Monaco  Switzerland, Greece,  the Netherlands, United Kingdom