Along the Disintegrated Border with the Coyotes and Smugglers of the Sinaloa Cartel

Another great one from James Varney of Real Clear Investigations, joined by Heath Hansen of Soldier of Fortune magazine.

CORONADO NATIONAL FOREST, Ariz. -- As blazing sunlight ebbs to a star-studded sky along the U.S.-Mexico border, members of the Arizona Border Recon group peer through field glasses at a trio of men on the southern side in camouflage fatigues and carrying pistols and AK-47s.

The men, almost certainly members of Sinaloa cartel factions, are using their own binoculars to scan random gaps in a roughly 30-foot-high wall of thick metal bars that stretches for miles along a flatland carved by arroyos and dotted with rocks, saguaro cactus and high grasses. At times, a solo gunshot echoes on the Mexican side, a sound the AZBR knows from experience is a signal to people to start moving north.

There are chiefly two types of people AZBR teams have encountered filtering into the United States. Some of them carry packs filled with canned food, cookies and blankets. But others trek lugging much larger packs and no such rations or equipment -- indications their cargo is a more illicit sort.

The AZBR is a private group with no authority to arrest the mules, but for years its members have run patrols and cameras along the hundreds of trails and washes that web an area the group has dubbed Baby's Head Gap. It is so named for a Mexican doll's head atop a spike in the desert, an apparent warning to anyone wanting to cross that passage is done only with the cartel's permission.

The uneven landscape, with ravine ridges marked by trees and bushes running along the top, offers low visibility for Sinaloa cartel agents carrying fentanyl, as well as for AZBR teams out on days-long operations during which they share intelligence and photos with U.S. officials.

The presence of U.S. authorities in this open, gashed wasteland is light; on a recent operation AZBR members saw an occasional Blackhawk helicopter dart across the sky, but there were no foot patrols. At least in the area they patrol, AZBR leaders agree with former U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, who told a House committee on May 23 that Mexican drug cartels "control everything that crosses that Southwest border," including "illegal migrant crossings" that "create gaps in border security."

Because they have no law enforcement power and carry weapons only for self-defense, AZBR members are more witnesses to the disintegrating border than a force of deterrence.

The private group was founded in 2011 by Tim Foley, 64, a former 82nd Airborne paratrooper and recovering addict whose endless gulping of cans of Red Bull and chain-smoking of American Spirit cigarettes put a modern twist on Spartan habits.

"I live almost solely on caffeine, nicotine and an occasional Pop-Tart," he said.

Samesies!

Foley knows cartel members control the Mexican land he watches because in January 2022, he says, they contacted him, via a phone call from a federale, a Mexican state police officer. The caller initially offered to furnish AZBR with "any gear or weapons, gifts," which would mean "you wouldn't be our enemy then." Foley declined and two weeks later the man called again, this time offering $15,000 a month if AZBR would cease operating.

Again, Foley said, he declined, at which point the federale sighed and told him that, in that case, the cartel was going to raise the price on his head from $100,000 to $250,000, a rich bounty that luckily no one has collected.

Those who "fortified" our election have invited death and chaos into our homes.

And MS-13, of course.

MS-13 Gang Members, Released into U.S. by Feds, Among Illegal Aliens Charged with 15-Year-Old Boy’s Murder

MS-13 gang members, released into the United States by federal officials, are among five illegal aliens charged with murdering a 15-year-old boy in Frederick County, Maryland.

As Breitbart News reported this week, 21-year-old illegal alien Alexis Alfredo Ayala Lopez, 23-year-old illegal alien Jose Roberto Ramos Lopez, 29-year-old illegal alien Ismael Lopez Lopez, 27-year-old illegal alien Elmer Bladimir Reyes Reyes, and 20-year-old illegal alien Ismael Ivan Rivera Canales have been arrested and charged with murdering Limber Lopez Funez, who went missing in February before his remains were found in Gambrill State Park in April.

So much enrichment.

posted by Ace at 02:24 PM

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