The Rio Grande Valley continues to be riddled with illegal immigration and drug smuggling, according to security analysts. Officials estimate that for every load of marijuana they catch, 10 get through Border Patrol, according to local Arizona media.
According to Arizona Central, illegal immigrants mastered the art of smuggling drugs in the area by closely studying enforcement. When agents spot drugs, immigrants typically abandon the scene and swim across the Rio Grande. Regardless of how common such incidents are, the left-leaning media continues to divert attention away from the horrors of drug trafficking to instead scrutinize Border Patrol agents in their efforts to curb illegal activity, according to recent Breitbart Texas analysis.
In March 2014 near the Rio Grande Valley, officers spotted a large amount of marijuana in a driver’s SUV. After following a school bus to avoid being pulled over, the driver sped toward the river, jumped out of his vehicle, and successfully swam to Mexico. Arizona Central reported that the man left 1,400 pounds of marijuana behind.
Similar incidents occur in the area on a regular basis. Last year alone, 797,000 pounds of marijuana were confiscated in the Valley–more than any other Border Patrol sector in Texas.
Many assert that marijuana trafficking is rampant along the Rio Grande due to weak border security.
In 2013, Breitbart Texas Managing Editor Brandon Darby took video near the Rio Grande Valley, showing how unsecured the U.S. border is. He walked with ease from the Rio Grande, through an unfinished “border fence,” and into a U.S. neighborhood. “The southeastern stretch of the Rio Grande River is where most of Texas’ illegal immigration occurs. The area has many desolate regions and there simply aren’t enough resources being applied to the issue,” Darby said.
Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst previously showed how Texas can effectively “shut down” the border. During an interview with Breitbart News, Dewhurst said illegal activity was brought to a standstill in the Rio Grande River area of the border for three weeks by utilizing “Texas law enforcement in the brush, high altitude aircraft, gun boats, and more.” Dewhurst added, “Texas can do the job the federal government has refused to do — to invest in the border and shut it down from illegal activities that are hurting Texans and other Americans.”
Dewhurst continued, “We have a problem and everyone knows it except for the Obama administration and people in high levels of Border Patrol… We have just showed that we can shut down the border for ‘X’ number of dollars. We need to find the $5 million per month to make these operations continuous and replicate what we have just accomplished.”
Despite what Dewhurst exemplified, his plan has not become a permanent reality–large parts of the border remain unsecured. The mainstream press does little to highlight the existing lack of security.
Sylvia Longmire, Breitbart Texas’ Contributing Editor and border security expert, said information provided to the public on drug busts in the area is not an accurate reflection of what is actually taking place.
“News reports about major drug seizures, chases of immigrants and drug smugglers, and confrontations between smugglers and officers rarely make it out of the local stations in the Rio Grande Valley,” Longmire said. “Unfortunately, that gives the rest of the country the false impression that everything is great long the border, if they choose to believe what the White House and DHS are telling us.”
The mainstream media regularly launches carefully-crafted assaults against Border Patrol agents in order to further a left-of-center agenda, as Breitbart Texas has recently demonstrated.
Last month Darby called out the ACLU’s continued effort to “limit effectiveness” of Border Patrol. He cited an El Paso Times article called “ACLU of Texas: Border Patrol, CBP Need More Scrutiny,” which attempted to demonize Border Patrol agents by serving as a mouth piece for angry ACLU members. El Paso Times reporter Daniel Borunda wrote, “The U.S. Border Patrol is under scrutiny by immigrant and civil-rights groups regarding deadly shootings in response to rock throwing on the Mexican border.” Breitbart Texas also released graphic images revealing the true nature of such rock attacks against Border Patrol agents.
Darby argued that efforts by leftist groups such as the ACLU could prevent Border Patrol agents from protecting the U.S. border.
Zack Taylor, Chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO), agreed that demonizing Border Patrol agents makes the country less safe. He said in an interview with Breitbart Texas, “This media campaign is an intentional weakening of America’s defenses through political deception. Those supporting this campaign are working to destroy America.”
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate
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