With all the upheaval in our nation —COVID, the riots, the runup to the U.S. presidency either resulting in a cure-all or an end-all— immigration woes have gone largely silent. Once a boilerplate issue, immigration enforcement is now a seemingly backburner simmer.
After Tuesday night’s presidential debate, Wednesday morning’s news feed was rife with “Friends” breaking up with Friends over the debate debacle—people pick sides and fervently opt for allegiance with one side to the exclusion of another. Tons of social media posts depict fresh memes with catchy slogans either supporting or denouncing the candidate of your choice. Civility is remiss. Diplomacy never arrived. Attention was awkwardly captured. And while all this buildup culminated in Cleveland on Tuesday, I’m reasonably certain nefarious activities at our southern border didn’t take a nap…
Cop-minded or not, we all know well enough that criminals are enterprising sorts seeking to capitalize when they can, however they can. That means their intelligence gathering is focused on what government is doing —diversions and sabbaticals— in order to revise their plans and peddle their criminal wares. Can you imagine drug cartels, human traffickers, terrorists et al. playing virtual chess by watching our nation’s daily fallout fueled by divisiveness and a seemingly weakening republic? They must be wide-eyed and salivating with fanciful plans to hatch illegitimate contraband and corrupt ways to capitalize on all the disarray in America.
One recent example is a gargantuan group of counterfeit Casio watches worth over $10K which somehow found its way past the border nets and into Louisville, Kentucky.
With all the riots going on in Louisville, requiring every available LEO on the frontlines, it seems cartel counterfeiters schemed on fewer law enforcement authorities to detect criminal activity. They were wrong. The feds got a beat and confiscated the fake tickers. Times up! Check mate!
I have been scoping daily press releases chronicling ongoing immigration enforcement actions and realized…this nation-impacting issue (flow of illegal aliens) was not even remotely hinted at during the debate (if it was mentioned, I may have ducked because of all the mudpies being flung across the debate stage).
Nonetheless, federal law enforcement agents are on the job with a finger on the pulse of illegal aliens trying to breach the border, some for that “better life,” some with drugs in-tow, and others involved in human trafficking for various illicit gains. As well, Customs/Border agents are nabbing plenty of sex offenders trying to get into America.
On September 29, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a press release describing construction progress of the southern border wall: “The Trump administration is building new wall and doing so faster than ever before. Currently, wall construction continues at the southwest border (SWB) with the administration’s goal of 450 new miles of wall system on track for the end of the calendar year.”
Naturally, the sections under construction still maintain U.S. Border Patrol presence, moving the chains downfield as builders progress and solid sections are deemed secure before advancing to the next batch of miles.
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott provided some numbers: 341 new miles have been completed; 240 miles are under construction; 157 miles are in a “pre-construction” phase. The idea of tangible border security is comforting.
According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Chief Chad Wolf, our nation’s border-building project is ahead of schedule. Mr. Wolf said, “In January, we reached 100 miles of new border wall system. In June, we achieved 200 miles. In August, we marked the 300th mile—and by the end of this calendar year we will reach over 450 miles of new border wall system.”
Per the DHS bulletin, “Any Border Patrol Agent will tell you that the new wall system improves the community they live in and simultaneously enables them to do their jobs far more efficiently.” And “efficiently” includes having a decent skill at baseball. Why? It seems the cartel calculus we mentioned above now involves them communicating with individuals who happen to be on the U.S.-side of the border wall, preplanning coordinates/dates/times, then lobbing over the wall a quantity of baseball-size wrapped globs of meth.
https://twitter.com/CBPMarkMorgan/status/1310016815792295936
Timing is everything when sophistication is basic. And federal intelligence coupled with alert law enforcement agents makes for a good catch, leaving the bad guys a board of only zeros.
Speaking of LEO alertness, Border Patrol agents came upon a vehicle traveling on a desolate road known for smuggling humans from Mexico into the U.S. Agents conducted a traffic stop on a pickup truck on Friday, September 29, and it went wild from there: “The truck was heading north from the international boundary on a desolate county road often utilized by smuggling organizations for illicit operations.
“[Border Patrol] Agents activated their emergency equipment and attempted to stop the vehicle along the remote highway. The truck in question slowed down and the driver and front passenger jumped out of the truck and fled back to Mexico.” Why the snobbery? It was the seven humans stuffed/concealed in the pickup truck’s cab, packed in like anchovies in a tiny can. But that was only the beginning; Border Patrol agents unearthed eight more Mexican nationals hidden under a piece of plywood wedged in the pickup truck’s bed.
To think all this great police work apprehending criminality could have been abdicated backward-thinking politicians, resulting in 15 more immigrants illegally entering the U.S. with ease…if New York Attorney General Letitia James’ delusional philosophy of denying law enforcement from conducting traffic stops became a national trend. Something to ponder regarding the political direction this country may adopt…
Border entry ports in Arizona, Texas and California continue to be hotbeds for cartels to attempt smuggling their poisons into U.S. cities. Although nary a report from mainstream media about Customs and Border Protection agents scoring bust after bust, with mounds of contraband worth millions, federal LEOs bear the intense heat and do the job for which they are trained.
Following is an aerial view of what is described as the world’s busiest “land port of entry,” located at San Ysidro, California (notice the construction atop the image):
Over the weekend, CBP agents seized 33 pounds of packaged cocaine in Puerto Rico, ready to be shipped…until detected by federal police officers.
Naturally, “border wall system” denotes protection against potential illegal immigrants traversing on dry land, leaving wonder about waterways which largely encircle America. Harbor no anxieties…U.S. Coast Guard maritime law enforcement officers are holding up their end of operations against illegal aliens making it to our shores.
Recently, United States Coast Guard interdiction teams of LEOs have detected and repatriated groups of nationals from the Dominican Republic who almost made it to the shores of Puerto Rico. Same results with a small boat of nine Cuban nationals seeking to illegally encroach upon the shores of the United States; they almost made it to Sunset Key, Florida, but were processed and sent back. Not much on the news about it— presumably due to riots in major cities taking the spotlight— but immigration issues and enforcement are ongoing.
Lest we become overly distracted by the internal strife of riots in our municipalities that we overlook the factor of external ingredients of people from various countries attempting to reach our soil illegally, federal LEOs maintain vigilance over potential avenues where asylum-seeking folks may try to breach borders and unattended routes.
We’ve covered a mere sampling of what is going on daily at our borders/shores. While Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are apprehending immigrants seeking illegal entry, drug cartel mules peddling poison, sexual offenders, counterfeiters of consumer products, and human smugglers/traffickers, U.S. Coast Guard maritime law enforcers are detecting/repatriating nationals from elsewhere while also reeling in literal tons of illegal narcotics on the seas. You can check DHS/CBP catches here, and you can also see what the Coast Guard is netting here. Bittersweet to realize all the phenomenal work being done by our law enforcement community, despite the ill-reporting by media outlets.
As the United States interior is bonkers with riots smack dab in the middle of major cities with local cops fighting the good fight, rest assured—the nation’s peripheral law enforcers are clocking catches left and right.