Shoot Em up at the San Ysidro POE

[Rick Oltman]

What was so important that there had to be a shoot ‘em up at the San Ysidro check point on Tuesday?

Did the smugglers actually think that by running the port of entry with three vans that one would actually get through? Did they expect that even one vehicle would make it far enough to disgorge its illegal alien cargo in an era of border cams, pursuit vehicles and helicopters? Three cowboys went off the hook and decided to give it a shot?

As clichéd as the saying is, think outside the box for a moment.

Call them criminals, call them brazen, but don’t ever call smugglers stupid. Their extraordinary success rate of accomplishing approximately 4 million illegal entries a year along our southern border should dispel any notion of their incompetence.

So, the question I asked myself the second I heard the news report was, “Why the big diversion?”

Three vans, 78 people, careening vehicles, shots fired, agents scrambling, injuries. Sounds like a massive diversion to me, requiring everybody on the shift to respond to the scene.

The officers who fired their weapons were probably placed on administrative leave immediately. (And hopefully will not be charged with any wrong doing, but in this day and age, who knows?) Whatever the case, they couldn’t help with the clean up afterward. If there were any women in the vans, all the female agents were put to work searching and processing them.

Catching 78 people at once ties up a lot of resources and manpower for hours. What was sacrificed during that time? What, or who, got through in those first chaotic minutes?

If I am right, and this was a diversion, it represents a pretty darn big payday for a successful crossing. 78 illegals, the pawns put at risk here, represented between $100,000 - $160,000 in smuggling fees, not that they still don’t. Since they all survived they will likely be VR’d, voluntarily repatriated (translation: pushed back through the turnstile at the Port of Entry), once they are patched up at a local hospital at the taxpayer’s expense. They'll be back, tomorrow.

But what, or perhaps who, was so darned important that it had to get through the port of entry on Tuesday, as opposed to a desert crossing for example? Why was this vehicle banzai run orchestrated? I am thinking whatever it was, this was a last minute operation and had to be done ASAP.

Terrorist? Terror weapon? That’s what my imagination jumped to, especially with the arrests of three Muslim men in the past few days, all suspected of plotting a terror attack in New York or Denver.

Now, maybe the real reason for the diversion was just a car or two with trunks loaded with cocaine. The math is pretty simple. Send through ten cars loaded with dope. If nine of them are intercepted and the diversion allows only one to get though you still make a big profit. It has been done before, lots of times. And the human beings involved? Just the cost of doing business, amigo.

Hopefully interviews of those captured will shed some light on what was really going on, but don’t hold your breath.

Whatever the real reason, let this episode remind us of the never ending push by illegal aliens and smugglers with deadly cargos. And, let’s also remember the young men and women of ICE, USBP and CBP who are exposed to every kind of threat, from swine flu to brazen border busters. They always deserve our thanks and support.

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/san-ysidro-border-entry-point-closed-after-gunfight-.html

San Ysidro border entry point closed after gunfight
September 22, 2009 | 6:41 pm
U.S. authorities have closed the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the border with Mexico after a gunfight there early Tuesday.

San Ysidro is the nation's busiest border crossing. Roughly 40,000 vehicles cross there daily from Mexico.

Three vans loaded with suspected illegal immigrants tried to speed through the crossing Tuesday afternoon, drawing gunfire from at least two U.S. agents, authorities said.

Three people in the vans and a traveler in a nearby car were injured in the failed attempt to cross into San Diego from Tijuana. About 70 people inside the vehicles were taken into custody, according to authorities.

Smugglers on occasion attempt to run the port of entry but rarely in such an apparently coordinated fashion. Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection fired their weapons at the vehicles, authorities said.

[ras6057]

What was so important that there had to be a shoot ‘em up at the San Ysidro check point on Tuesday?

Did the smugglers actually think that by running the port of entry with three vans that one would actually get through? Did they expect that even one vehicle would make it far enough to disgorge its illegal alien cargo in an era of border cams, pursuit vehicles and helicopters? Three cowboys went off the hook and decided to give it a shot?

As clichéd as the saying is, think outside the box for a moment.

Call them criminals, call them brazen, but don’t ever call smugglers stupid. Their extraordinary success rate of accomplishing approximately 4 million illegal entries a year along our southern border should dispel any notion of their incompetence.

So, the question I asked myself the second I heard the news report was, “Why the big diversion?”

Three vans, 74 people, careening vehicles, shots fired, agents scrambling, injuries. Sounds like a massive diversion to me, requiring everybody on the shift to respond to the scene.

The officers who fired their weapons were probably placed on administrative leave immediately. (And hopefully will not be charged with any wrong doing, but in this day and age, who knows?) Whatever the case, they couldn’t help with the clean up afterward. If there were any women in the vans, all the female agents are put to work searching and processing them.

Catching 70 people at once uses up a lot of resources and manpower for hours. What was sacrificed during that time? What or who got through in those first chaotic minutes?

If I am right, and this was a diversion, it represents a pretty darn big payday for a successful crossing. 70+ illegals, the pawns put at risk here, represented between $100,000 - $150,000 in smuggling fees, not that they still don’t. Since they all survived they will likely be VR’d, voluntarily repatriated (translation: pushed back through the turnstile at the Port of Entry), once they are patched up at a local hospital at the taxpayer’s expense. They'll be back, tomorrow.

But what, or perhaps who, was so darned important that it had to get through the port of entry on Tuesday, as opposed to a desert crossing for example? Why was this vehicle banzai run orchestrated? I am thinking whatever it was, this was a last minute operation and had to be done ASAP.

Terrorist? Terror weapon? That’s what my imagination jumped to, especially with the arrests of three Muslim men in the past few days, all suspected of plotting a terror attack in New York or Denver.

Now, maybe the real reason for the diversion was just a car or two with a trunk load of cocaine. It has been done before, lots of times. The math is pretty simple. Send through ten cars. If nine of them are intercepted and only one gets though you still make a big profit. And the human beings involved? Just the cost of doing business, amigo.

Hopefully interviews of those captured will shed some light on what was really going on, but don’t hold your breath.

What ever the real reason, let this episode remind us of the never ending push by illegal aliens and smugglers with deadly cargos. And, let’s also remember the young men and women of ICE, USBP and CBP who are exposed to every kind of threat, from swine flu to brazen border busters. They always deserve our thanks and support.



http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/san-ysidro-border-entry-point-closed-after-gunfight-.html

San Ysidro border entry point closed after gunfight
September 22, 2009 | 6:41 pm
U.S. authorities have closed the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the border with Mexico after a gunfight there early Tuesday.

San Ysidro is the nation's busiest border crossing. Roughly 40,000 vehicles cross there daily from Mexico.

Three vans loaded with suspected illegal immigrants tried to speed through the crossing Tuesday afternoon, drawing gunfire from at least two U.S. agents, authorities said.

Three people in the vans and a traveler in a nearby car were injured in the failed attempt to cross into San Diego from Tijuana. About 70 people inside the vehicles were taken into custody, according to authorities.

Smugglers on occasion attempt to run the port of entry but rarely in such an apparently coordinated fashion. Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection fired their weapons at the vehicles, authorities said.

Rick I do not often agree with you. Our CBP and ICE agents did a great job while “doing their job.” What happens at the San Ysidro Port of Entry is just another example of more to come by hardening professional criminals. The ante is up from hardening professional criminals trying to profit from the American dream and we can expect greater violence to come from them in the future. The polleros will stop it nothing to get across with their golden eggs of cash.

Your numbers are off. With “ever 10 shipments of drugs 9 are stopped.” It is the other way around of 40 shipments going through with drugs only one is stopped. This is the case with Calexico/Mexicali Port of Entry says Drug smuggler Carlos Cuevas, Jr., the leader of a large trafficking organization, testified last year. I have suggested the use of more sniffing dogs just before primary both for the pedestrian’s lanes and the vehicles lanes. Instead I am told the sniffing dogs take their boots off protecting the paws from the hot pavement and tearing their nails against the vehicles, so they are not used in the heat of the day. Excuses are made along with other excuses on protecting our borders. “There are lots of infrastructure constraints,” says Billy Whitford, the Port Director.

Before drugs reaching our borders the drugs are stopped in the tons by the Mexican military. The last reported huge drug bust was 16 tons. Factories of med and others are found along the Mexican side of the border and are destroyed by the Mexican military. It is a drug war. A day does not go by that someone has been murdered with their heads cut off. Families including their children murdered in front of their homes. The CBP and ICE agents involved can expect something will happen to them from the polleros and drug cartel. A bounty will be place on their heads.

Rick there is more coming out of our CBP and BP doing a better job. Signed by Ray Askins

[Rick Oltman]

I used the example of sending through ten cars to illustrate that the diversion does work, and has worked in the past. And, that the drugs are so profitable that even if 9/10s of the load is caught they are still making money on the 1/10th that gets through. A BP agent gave me this example many years ago.

But, I agree with you about how much gets through. Just one more reason to put more agents and more technology on the borders...north and south.

[ras6057]

I used the example of sending through ten cars to illustrate that the diversion does work, and has worked in the past. And, that the drugs are so profitable that even if 9/10s of the load is caught they are still making money on the 1/10th that gets through. A BP agent gave me this example many years ago.

But, I agree with you about how much gets through. Just one more reason to put more agents and more technology on the borders...north and south.

Yesterday a day that 56.7 tons of drugs wasdistroyed by the Mexican military. The drug cartel is throwing everythng at us in he U.S. This is the ime to increase the CNP Officers at our land port of entry. Signed by Ray Askins