Huge Raids on Mexican Human Smuggling in Arizona & Tough New Illegal Immigration Law — Avenge Robert Krentz’ Murder (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 15, 2010
Breaking news in Arizona today… shuttle bus companies that reportedly have been providing shuttle services for Mexican human smuggling were raided by ICE agents earlier today. Smugglers are believed to have smuggled thousands of illegal aliens from Mexico and Tucson into Phoenix, Arizona — this operation of shuttle buses was no “mom and pop” smuggling operation, but one of such huge proportion that billions were generated annually.
Also, what is being called the nation’s toughest crack down on illegal immigration is also underway in Arizona.
About time.
More local attention and action is finally being paid to the state’s borders’ lack of adequate federal security (thanks to Team Obama and DHS Janet “Incompetano” Napolitano’s efforts to hinder border patrol officers from doing their jobs, and further decimating our nation’s border security) since the horrible, still-unsolved murder of veteran Arizona rancher Robert Krentz on his ranch last month.
I was attending the Phoenix Tea Party Express event when I heard the news about the murder. I’ve been grieving for Robert Krentz since, and only now can write about it.
The Douglas, Arizona-area rancher was found murdered on his ranch… his dog was also found killed. Authorities believe Krentz was murdered by a trespassing illegal alien — some news sources have information that his murder may not have been a random killing, but was a targeted hit by a Mexican drug lord. Krentz had suffered for years with parades of illegal aliens and drug runners using his land as a path to illegally enter America, and while so doing, also were killing livestock, vandalizing, and much more. His wife sent a letter to Congress, begging for government help to stop the onslaught. Despite losing millions of dollars over the years from illegal immigrants’ actions, Krentz was known to be compassionate and even gave water to hundreds of illegal aliens as they crossed the desert through his ranch property.
A memorial was held for the beloved Krentz this past week, which brought more than 1,200 mourners.
FOX News: Murder of AZ Rancher Robert Krentz | March 2010
No word is yet available on how many arrests were made today in the human trafficking raids — of course, liberal groups are up in arms over actions the state is taking to curb escalating illegal immigration.
From Arizona’s KFYI radio website, Shuttle Bus Company Raided During Human Smuggling Crackdown:
PHOENIX (AP) Dozens of immigration agents raided a Phoenix shuttle bus operation Thursday morning that advertised van shuttle service from several cities in northern Mexico to cities in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
A second shuttle service a block away was also apparently raided by agents from Immigration Customs Enforcement.
ICE agents and Phoenix police were stationed outside the businesses.
An ICE spokeswoman would only tell The Associated Press the raids were part of an “ongoing investigation into allegations of human smuggling.’”
A phone call to Sergio’s Shuttle was not answered Thursday morning.
Federal agents target shuttle van operators in Arizona immigration bust | April 15, 2010
From Arizona Republic, Phoenix shuttle service raided by federal agents:
Federal immigration agents descended on a shuttle-bus operators in Phoenix and Tucson on Thursday morning as part of a human-smuggling investigation.
The investigation that led to Thursday’s raid began with shuttle operators in Tucson and led agents to businesses in Nogales, Phoenix and Mexico.
Mexican authorities also participated in operation, executing warrants Thursday morning in Sonora, Mexico.
Authorities believe immigrants were smuggled into Nogales then moved to Tucson and Phoenix where they were dropped off in public areas and taken to drophouses.
Sergio’s Shuttle, the business raided in Phoenix, advertised shuttle service from cities in northern Mexico to locations in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
“ICE is participating in an investigation into alleged human smuggling,” said Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for the federal agency.
From Daily Paul, Large Scale Ice Raids Going on in Arizona:
A massive immigration raid is under way in Santa Cruz County and across the state, with much of the local action appearing to focus on shuttle services
Locals reported seeing a fleet of unmarked vehicles driving south on Interstate 19 shortly before dawn. By 8 a.m., Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers backed by DEA agents and circling helicopters swarmed sites in downtown Nogales, including the Union Transportes de Nogales building on Terrace Avenue. The Nogales International witnessed officials removing documents from the facility, which houses several shuttle companies and a money-changing house.
A source at the scene said that a related shuttle office in Tucson had also been raided.
Nearby at the intersection of Crawford and West streets, agents targeted a duplex with a shuttle van parked in front. Officials had detained one juvenile at the scene, but said they planned to release him.
One observer in Rio Rico described watching a DEA team enter a house across from his office with guns drawn. Officials left the house with at least one suspect handcuffed.
From Michelle Malkin: Arizona acts to restore immigration sanity, open-borders lobby up in arms:
Arizona lawmakers are doing the job the federal government won’t do — taking immigration enforcement and border security seriously. The state’s house of representatives passed a bill to outlaw sanctuary cities and crack down on illegal alien day laborers.
The open-borders lobbyists are up in arms. They’re likening the bill sponsor, GOP State Sen. Russell Pearce, to a “modern-day Hitler.” Left-wing religious groups have condemned the legislation as “indecent.”
“Indecent” is what is happening to Arizona ranchers and their families.
From Examiner, Arizona’s immigration bill might be the first of many to block illegal aliens:
Arizona is known to be the main entry point for illegal aliens, and this has been a thorn in their side for decades. Some say it stands to reason to also be a main entry point for drugs, but California and Texas seem to be running neck and neck for that prize.
Local authorities have finally had enough. A new bill will help to control illegal immigration, and it gives sweeping new local powers to determine a person’s legal status. Traditionally, this has been the domain of Federal authorities, but since little or nothing has been done, Arizona is taking the “bull by the horns”.
If this bill is signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer, it will set a precedent for other states to do the same, including Louisiana.
It won’t go unchallenged however. The Federal Government will not want to relinquish power, but there is also some US immigrate rights groups criticizing the bill already approved by Arizona’s Congress.
From Washington Post, Killing of Ariz. rancher roils immigration debate:
PHOENIX — Cattle rancher Rob Krentz often helped illegal immigrants he found stranded on his sprawling Arizona ranch.
Then two weeks ago, he and his dog were gunned down shortly after he reported spotting someone who appeared to be in trouble. Foot tracks were followed from the shooting scene about 20 miles south, to the Mexico border, and authorities suspect an illegal immigrant.
The killing of the third-generation rancher has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate as politicians cite the episode as further proof that the U.S. must do more to secure the violent U.S.-Mexico border.
The governors of New Mexico and Arizona took a public tour of the border this week in support of more security. The subject has ignited endless discussion on blogs, and has been politicized in the U.S. Senate Republican brawl between J.D. Hayworth and incumbent John McCain.
[...]
Investigators have not definitively tied the killing to the drug trade, but the slaying comes at a time when well-armed cartel factions have battled each other and federal authorities in several Mexican border cities, resulting in thousands of brutal killings.
The violence has been concentrated in Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez on the Texas border and Tijuana, just south of San Diego, and hasn’t yet spilled over into Arizona’s remote border region.
Krentz’s death sparked fears that was changing.
The Krentz family was no stranger to the problems of illegal immigration. Their home was robbed, and Krentz once found the carcass of one of his calves that had been killed for food, presumably by starving immigrants.
But the soft-spoken rancher bore no ill will toward illegal immigrants, according to friends and family.
They say Krentz sympathized with their desire for a piece of the American pie. He gave them food and water if they were in distress, and sometimes he’d call the U.S. Border Patrol, which meant deportation but also guarantees of medical assistance and escape from possible death.
“If they come and ask for water, I’ll still give them water,” Krentz once told PBS’ Religion & Ethics Newsweekly in 1999. “You know, that’s just my nature.”
Wendy Glenn, who has a ranch south of the Krentz property and is a good family friend, said she believes she heard some of Krentz’s last words when he used a radio to talk to his brother the day he was killed.
“He says, ‘I see an immigrant out here, and he appears to need help. Call the Border Patrol,’” Glenn, 69, said she heard Krentz say at about 10:30 a.m. on March 27. “He was not frantic. He was not calling for help.”
After Krentz went missing for hours and hadn’t communicated with anyone, Glenn said she and others assumed he’d been robbed and stranded somewhere on his property. But his body was found just before midnight in a remote area of his land.
After he was shot, the 58-year-old Krentz managed to drive away in his all-terrain vehicle before losing consciousness and dying from his wounds. Nothing had been stolen from him, and his gun was still in its holster. His dog was killed, too.
Glenn and those who knew Krentz say he never would have confronted anyone he thought was dangerous. Most likely, he was just trying to help, they say.
Additional:
Are you Freaking Stupid?: Good News: Since Feds Won’t Do Their Constitutional Duty And Protect Our Borders, Arizona Protects Their Own.
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Violence in Mexico Escalates, Mexico Drug Gangs Turn Weapons on Mexican Army, Warning to American Tourists of Dangers and NY’s Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: Census Is for Illegal Aliens to Get Americans’ Taxpayer Money, So Be Counted! and Numbskulls: Democrats Ignore Record Unemployment, Want to Give Illegal Aliens Amnesty Instead
Gateway Pundit: 70% of Arizona Voters Support Immigration Bill… Only 23% Agree With Obama and Illegal Aliens Entering US Suspected in Murder of New Mexico Rancher (Video) and Lindsey Graham & Chuck Schumer Set to Introduce Amnesty Bill and RINO Lindsey Graham & Chuck Schumer Present Their Amnesty Plan to Obama
Conservative Pup: Mexican Drug War On Our Doorstep
Michelle Malkin: “Restore our border:” Arizona ranchers to rally tomorrow; citizen border clean-up on 4/24
The Lonely Conservative: Obama Regime Considering Law Suit to Block Arizona from Enforcing Immigration Laws
Meredith Jessup, Townhall.com: U.S. Senator Encourages Illegal Immigrants to Submit Census Forms
Los Angeles Times: MEXICO UNDER SIEGE – Mexico drug gangs turn weapons on army
NPR: Sheriff To Texas Border Town: ‘Arm Yourselves’
Charles Bowden, CNN: U.S.-Mexico ‘war on drugs’ a failure
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I am so proud of the law enforcement and legislators of Arizona. The Federal Government is seriously giving quarter to the open border groups – I cannot believe it. Mexicans are very strong on this point. We cannot afford to be railroaded by people who are speaking for people here illegally. We cannot have open borders. It isn’t all about Latinos. It is about Homeland Security. These things get so mixed up in peoples’ minds and then there is always someone shouting racism.
It’s hard to know where it all will end. The organized crime we fight down there is very clever and they, too, are involved in the propaganda war big time. The situation is so confusing and I am getting confused just talking about it.
I am VERY saddened at the shooting of a rancher and his dog out mending fences – someone who only wanted to give the shooter water. What a world we live in.
Thank you, SamHenry. I’m still rather emotional when I think about it… I can detach myself from many tragedies that I write about, but not with this one. And I don’t want to detach myself from it.
There is some good from this. Robert Krentz, as a result of his murder, is bringing about local citizen outrage about our unsecure borders, DHS’s continued ineptitude about it, and Arizona’s rampant illegal alien situation unlike anything else has before.
As tragic as his death was, it may not have been in vain. He symbolizes so much of what is good about Arizona and its rich history of ranching.
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Outstanding post. I nearly cried reading this. Our nation’s security or lack of security would be more accurate is scary. Prayers go to Mr. Krantz’s family during this terrible time for them. God bless.