Border Patrol Hits the Mother Lode: 385 Pounds of Mexican Mystery Meat

Who knew the government paid such close attention to where our bologna comes from?

I always figured it was one of those "eat at your own risk" meats.

SANTA TERESA, N.M. - It wasn't drugs or human trafficking but illegal bologna that caught the attention of border agents at a New Mexico port of entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Santa Teresa seized 385 pounds of the Mexican contraband meat from behind the seat of a pickup that stopped at the port on Friday.

It's illegal to bring the bologna across the border because it's made of pork and has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases into the U.S. pork industry.

The 33-year-old Mexican man who was transporting the meat was assessed a $1,000 fine and released.

That's not a punishment, that's a cost of doing business.

No doubt the offender will be back again with next week's shipment, right on time.

Usually officers see one or two rolls of bologna, not 35 as in this case. Officials say it was the largest bologna bust ever recorded at the Santa Teresa crossing.

Cross-posted.

Ignore The 55 Bodies

For any real news of the world you have to visit foreign sources since our domestic version of what passes for news reporting is woefully inadequate.

A case in point is a couple of stories making the rounds. In the United States you are going to see a lot about an incident involving a shooting where a Border Patrol agent is accused of shooting a 14 year old Mexican citizen on a bridge in El Paso. Not much is given in the way of details, but we have the obligatory demand from Mexican officials for a full investigation.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a 14-year-old boy after a confrontation at an international bridge near downtown El Paso, Mexican authorities said Tuesday.

Chihuahua State officials released a statement Tuesday demanding a full investigation into the death of the boy, identified as Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca.

In the meantime Mexico is hardly the one to be pointing accusatory fingers to their neighbors to the north when a visit to the BBC brings forth the story of a mine shaft in which 55 bodies have been recovered so far, all apparent victims of the ongoing drug wars in that failed state.

Mexican police say 55 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned mine that appears to have been used as a mass grave by drugs gangs.

Human remains were first discovered in the silver mine near Taxco in Guerrero state at the end of May.

I known El Presidente Calderone has taken exception with our efforts to keep the drug lords on his side of the border, but we can't let him export this type of violence to our streets and there is no sense in letting the pressure off of him to do something and keep his nose out of our affairs.

The next time you run into some open borders advocates ask them if this is what they want in America.

Somebody infamous once said that one death is a tragedy, but a million deaths is a statistic. I don't recall who but I am sure it is one of the icons of the liberal left like Stalin.

UPDATE:

A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and hit someone on the Mexican side of the border Monday evening, the FBI said.

The shooting occurred after an assault on a Border Patrol agent, FBI Special Agent Andrea Simmons said. The Border Patrol agent shot from El Paso, Texas, across the border into Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The person was hit by the gunfire, but U.S. officials did not know whether he or she survived, Simmons told CNN. A spokesman for the mayor's office in Ciudad Juarez said Tuesday morning that officials were still investigating and could not say whether the person survived.

If this is the same incident referenced above we have now moved from killing a 14 year old to a gunshot fired in defense that may or may not have hit somebody on the other side. Sort of puts a different slant on the story doesn't it. Bullets don't recognize borders.

Glenn Beck On the Release of Ramos and Compean (VIDEOS)

This is just a FANTASTIC day. Well, maybe not in all ways, but in the case of former Border Patrol Agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. They finally were released from prison, and are on house arrest. But Glenn Beck, who has long-championed their cause and story, was the first to break this news and have Ignacio Ramos' wife, Monica, and their attorney on.






Again, this was a great day. It would have been better if they'd have received full pardons, but I will take small victories where I can get them. And I don't think I'm alone on this.

There Ought To Be a Law

One would think crossing our border illegally would be enough for deportation. Think again. This really hit home this morning as I was making my way through a nearby local village and was struck by the hordes of hoodie-wearing day laborers massed on street corners.

Illegal Immigrants Required 6 Arrests to Warrant Federal Prosecution in Texas, Memo Says

Guidelines issued by U.S. attorneys in Texas showed that most illegal immigrants crossing into the state had to be arrested at least six times before federal authorities would prosecute them, according to an internal Justice Department memo.

The disclosure provides a rare view of how federal authorities attempt to curb illegal immigration. The memo was released this week in response to a congressional investigation of the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys.

The Border Patrol makes more than 1 million arrests a year on the U.S.-Mexico border. T.J. Bonner, head of a union representing Border Patrol agents, said it's unrealistic to prosecute all violators.

"Let's be honest, there isn't enough jail space to incarcerate everyone who crosses that border," said Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council. "If everyone demanded hearing in front of an immigration judge, it would bring our system to a grinding halt in a matter of days."

It is unclear when the memo was written, but the Justice Department reviewed the guidelines sometime after a February 2005 performance review of Carol Lam, the top federal prosecutor in San Diego from 2002 until she was fired last month. Some Republican lawmakers had complained that Lam failed to aggressively prosecute immigration violations.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Thursday that immigration prosecutions are a high priority and that the government sent 30 additional attorneys to the border region in the second half of 2006. He said U.S. attorneys set guidelines that, in part, reflect local crime issues and staffing.

"Increasing the number of prosecutors will permit districts to adjust their guidelines and take in more cases," he said. "For law enforcement reasons, the department cannot discuss what the present prosecutorial guidelines are concerning the border."

The memo was written in response to Justice Department inquiries about immigration prosecutions by the five U.S. attorney offices that cover the 2,000-mile border — San Diego, Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston and Albuquerque, N.M.

More from Michelle Malkin.

Meanwhile, perhaps some day there will be tighter enforcement. Not holding my breath.

The chief House proponents of a path to citizenship for illegal aliens yesterday also embraced stricter enforcement, arguing they need to move that direction if they hope to pass a bill this year.

They introduced a new immigration overhaul that still grants almost all illegal aliens a path to citizenship, but would also speed up the requirement that they learn English, make them leave the country before they can start the path to citizenship, and make the entire program turn on the government showing it is making progress on border security and interior law enforcement.