Mexican drug gang turns to kidnapping in U.S. (Thanks Bush)

[audtatious]

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - American businesswoman Veronica was stepping out of her car in California when two men forced her into the passenger seat at gunpoint, pushed her teenage daughter into the back and drove them into Mexico.

Taking advantage of lax Mexican security at the San Diego border, and with U.S. authorities focused mainly on those entering the United States, the kidnappers took the two women to Tijuana in January and held them for a month before their family paid a $100,000 ransom.

"We got an automatic green light to go through Mexican customs and then we were blindfolded and taken to a house in Tijuana. They held a pistol to my stomach all the time we were in the car," said Veronica, who declined to give her surname.

An unintended consequence of Mexican efforts to weaken drug gangs, drug traffickers around Tijuana are turning to abducting U.S. citizens and residents in southern California and holding them in Mexico as a new way to get funds, U.S. and Mexican authorities say.

Mexican intelligence officials say Veronica is one of around 30 Americans abducted in southern California and taken to Tijuana since last November. Many of the victims are of Hispanic origin and hold double nationality.

"Transnational kidnappings are a new way of operating for these criminal groups, mainly in California, and so we are seeking collaboration with the United States," Baja California state Attorney General Rommel Moreno told Reuters.

The FBI in San Diego says it is investigating 16 cases of U.S. residents kidnapped and held in Tijuana between October last year and May, including some who were abducted in San Diego County.

Wealthy Mexicans have fled Tijuana since 2006 to live in San Diego's plush suburbs and escape violence that has engulfed the city as drug gangs kill rivals, police and even children.

More than 200 people have been kidnapped in Baja California state so far this year, a third more than in all of 2007, according to Mexican kidnap victims' association Esperanza.

Mexicans are outraged at the recent kidnapping and murder of the 14-year-old son of a wealthy businessman in Mexico City.

Kidnapping has for long been a major security problem in Mexico but the cross-border seizures are relatively new.

In June, the FBI arrested the leader of a Mexican kidnapping and drug trafficking ring in San Diego. Security firms in San Diego County who offer protection, consultancy and technology to avoid kidnappings say business is growing.

CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS

"We have seen an increase in the number of kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Tijuana, including cross-border abductions," said FBI special agent Darrell Foxworth in San Diego.

Several Americans have also been kidnapped in Texas this year and held for ransom in Mexico, the FBI said.

Mexican officials say the Arellano Felix drug cartel in Tijuana is turning more to kidnapping after being weakened by battles with rival drug gangs and the arrest of its top leaders.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has made the drugs war one of his main policies since taking office in late 2006. But the violence has intensified with around 2,000 people murdered so far this year and even the weakened gangs are still active.

The break-up of the Arellano Felix organization has not been as complete as we would have wished ... they have moved into other activities such as kidnapping," Mexico's Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said in a recent trip to Tijuana.

Police suspect the Arellano Felix clan is conducting cross-border abductions because so many wealthy Mexicans have left Tijuana and those who remain have heavy security.

Most of the abductions are done in daylight, with the kidnappers using the victim's car and threatening the victim with a hidden pistol, Mexican police and Esperanza say.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego said the agency does not have the resources to carry out southbound checks, although agents do make periodic, surprise revisions.

Mexican customs officials only check about 5 percent of vehicles entering by road into Tijuana and blame a lack of funds for the lightly-manned border posts, said a Baja California state official, who declined to be named.

[Soravia]

Well she got lucky, next time they will rape the little girl and cut off her fingers in a ransome note.

Oh, wait. This is a nation of immigrants. We have to keep the borders open for everyone to come in.In fact, Mr. Obama told the Germans that the new walls of immigration needs to be brought down.

[audtatious]

If the border was secure then this would be less of a problem and would require less effort to fortify. Of course, Bush has stalled the hell out of it and McCain nor Obama want to do anything about it either.

[skylndrftr]

If we would have dealt with the drug problem properly in the first place, the streets of mexico wouldnt have gained enough power to let this be a problem

And if you notice, this story mentions one story and then uses facts fro mthings that are happening in mexico. Maybe if we let the people who truely want to be here and work in as opposed to giving defense contractors money...then we wouldn't be having that problem either.

And if this is the standard, I am sure the indians would be happy to have us leave...

[Soravia]

Stop the drugs in Mexico, LOLERS! And who do we hear legalization of drugs from?

AS IF Mexico is a part of United States of America.

Just put up the god damned wall with remote controlled machine gun turrents and Predator Drones. That way the border agents won't have to risk their lives running around stopping all the illegal workers, guns, drugs, criminals, terrorlst, plants, diseases, etc.

US liberals are the dumbest when it comes to anything regarding BORDER. I wonder if they think it means this.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...lated

[audtatious]

If we would have dealt with the drug problem properly in the first place, the streets of mexico wouldnt have gained enough power to let this be a problem.

Smells like Darfur reasoning to me. We should fix issues that you feel are important because only the issues you hold dear to you are worthy of attention.

[audtatious]

AS IF Mexico is a part of United States of America.

Nah, the western half of the United States is considered a stolen part of Mexico.

[rn79870]

Well she got lucky, next time they will rape the little girl and cut off her fingers in a ransome note.

Oh, wait. This is a nation of immigrants. We have to keep the borders open for everyone to come in.

In fact, Mr. Obama told the Germans that the new walls of immigration needs to be brought down.

Just to keep the level of accuracy high here, I'll post Obama's plan from his "Blueprint for change."

OBAMA'S PLANImprove Our Immigration System: We must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill. Bring People Out of the Shadows: Allow undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.Work with Mexico: We need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.

And with respect to the new walls of immigration you referenced...

Immigration system is broken for legal immigrants We've got to fix a broken immigration system not just for the undocumented but for legal immigrants. Because the backlogs are horrendous, the fees have been increased and doubled and tripled, and as a consequence more and more people are having difficulty just trying to reunify their families even if they're going through the legal pathways, and that puts more pressure on people to go into the illegal system. That is something we're going to try to pass. Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate on Univision in Spanish Sep 9, 2007

You seem to grab a few words and, taking them out of context, apply whatever meaning fits your purpose. If you'd look a little deeper, I doubt you'd vote for anyone but Obama.

[OriginalWheelman]

Just to keep the level of accuracy high here, I'll post Obama's plan from his "Blueprint for change."

OBAMA'S PLANImprove Our Immigration System: We must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill. Bring People Out of the Shadows: Allow undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.Work with Mexico: We need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.

And with respect to the new walls of immigration you referenced...

Immigration system is broken for legal immigrants We've got to fix a broken immigration system not just for the undocumented but for legal immigrants. Because the backlogs are horrendous, the fees have been increased and doubled and tripled, and as a consequence more and more people are having difficulty just trying to reunify their families even if they're going through the legal pathways, and that puts more pressure on people to go into the illegal system. That is something we're going to try to pass. Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate on Univision in Spanish Sep 9, 2007

You seem to grab a few words and, taking them out of context, apply whatever meaning fits your purpose. If you'd look a little deeper, I doubt you'd vote for anyone but Obama.

Wah I moved across a continent to a different country and had to leave my family behind. Big deal. Reuniting families is the biggest bull**** answer I have ever heard. My ancestors came here and left EVERYTHING behind, including their families.

As far as "Jobs that employers can't fill". don't we have an unemployment problem? Why don't we get Americans to work before we try to solve Mexico's unemployment problem.

This is another short sighted feel good plan from Obama, designed to guilt you into thinking his plan is right. "Oh how horrible these people are treated." THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW. "Families are separated" To f***ing bad. Life sucks get a helmet.

[rn79870]

Wah I moved across a continent to a different country and had to leave my family behind. Big deal. Reuniting families is the biggest bull**** answer I have ever heard. My ancestors came here and left EVERYTHING behind, including their families.

As far as "Jobs that employers can't fill". don't we have an unemployment problem? Why don't we get Americans to work before we try to solve Mexico's unemployment problem.

This is another short sighted feel good plan from Obama, designed to guilt you into thinking his plan is right. "Oh how horrible these people are treated." THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW. "Families are separated" To f***ing bad. Life sucks get a helmet.

Wow, you're cleaerly out of touch with the issue.The separating families thing comes from taking, for example, an illegal father who has a legal wife and legal kids and sending the father back. Sometimes it's half the kids are legal and the other half are not. Half the kids get sent back.

Unemployment? You miss that issue too. There are tons of jobs available that people on unemployment compensation don't want. Like picking strawberries, etc.

Maybe if you spend a little more time looking at the issues instead of criticizing those who had, you'd understand why Obama is leading in the polls.

[OriginalWheelman]

Wow, you're cleaerly out of touch with the issue.The separating families thing comes from taking, for example, an illegal father who has a legal wife and legal kids and sending the father back. Sometimes it's half the kids are legal and the other half are not. Half the kids get sent back.

Unemployment? You miss that issue too. There are tons of jobs available that people on unemployment compensation don't want. Like picking strawberries, etc.

Maybe if you spend a little more time looking at the issues instead of criticizing those who had, you'd understand why Obama is leading in the polls.

I do look at the issues. If the Father is illegal. Too bad. He's a criminal. HE gets what he deserves. If the father was a drug dealer and they split the family up, you'd be cheering.

If people get desperate enough they will take any job. I've worked in the fields to pay my bills before. I seriously doubt that every person on unemployment is unwilling to take a low paying job. They are just not as likely until the unemployment runs out. When they get desperate enough, they'll take that job.

I do understand the issues, and I understand that you can't see the real issue here. These people are committing crimes. Where does one's core ethics come from, the home. So, a bunch of kids being raise by a father who finds it ok to selectively follow laws, are more liekly to break laws. In the situation you posted, I would hope they send the father back, so that the kids get some sort of sense of right and wrong. If they don't want to be seperated, GO BACK TO MEXICO AND STAY TOGETHER.

[rn79870]

Good idea. Send them back. Then the mother and the 4 kids go on welfare and the government gets to support them for what, 18 years? That's a much better idea than offering the guy a means, albeit an end of the line means, to gain legal status.

I see the "workers wanted" signs all the time. I see the people going to the fields to apply. What I don't see is unemployed Americans cutting to the front of those lines to get work. Why should they, their unemployment pays almost as working does, plus they get to sit home and watch Oprah.

[AZhitman]

If the US went into Mexico and kidnapped a little girl and held her for ransom, the international community would be outraged.

When in the world will we quit *****-footing around this?

Why are the kidnappers not in the US courts being held accountable for their actions?

[OriginalWheelman]

So you can ascertain from looking who is American and who isn't?

How much time have you spent in the fields? How much time have you spent with Mexicans? You want to believe that Mexico is a horrible, crime infested place. Most of the Mexicans I've met love Mexico. They come up here, work the fields for the summer, and go back to their families in Mexico. They live a very comfortable living, and all are very happy with the arrangement. The people that cross the border illegally are the people who can't do well for themselves in Mexico. So we're supposed to believe that they will come here and spontaneously be productive? I don't think so.

[rn79870]

So you can ascertain from looking who is American and who isn't?

Having lived in SoCal for most of my life, yes, I can tell. Especially when I see them in the fields. Most are legal immigrants but immigrants all the same.

How much time have you spent in the fields? How much time have you spent with Mexicans? You want to believe that Mexico is a horrible, crime infested place. Most of the Mexicans I've met love Mexico. They come up here, work the fields for the summer, and go back to their families in Mexico. They live a very comfortable living, and all are very happy with the arrangement. The people that cross the border illegally are the people who can't do well for themselves in Mexico. So we're supposed to believe that they will come here and spontaneously be productive? I don't think so.

Whoa your imagination is in overdrive. I've never said anything bad about Mexico. Tijuana maybe, but get 30 miles south of the border and it's a whole different country. I've lived within an hour of the border for oh, 30 years, so I probably have a fair idea of what's down there. Not to mention that I rode my bike (motorcycle) all over the northern 100 miles of Baja.Living in New York as you do, I doubt you have any real experience with Mexico.

The people who cross the border are the people who want a better life for their family, it has nothing to do with doing "well for themselves" in Mexico. Hint: not all immigrants are Mexican, they come from ALL of the southern continent.

[OriginalWheelman]

Having lived in SoCal for most of my life, yes, I can tell. Especially when I see them in the fields. Most are legal immigrants but immigrants all the same.

I'd like to know how you can know someone's immigration status from looking at them. I'm sure INS would too.

[Soravia]

Good idea. Send them back. Then the mother and the 4 kids go on welfare and the government gets to support them for what, 18 years? That's a much better idea than offering the guy a means, albeit an end of the line means, to gain legal status.

I see the "workers wanted" signs all the time. I see the people going to the fields to apply. What I don't see is unemployed Americans cutting to the front of those lines to get work. Why should they, their unemployment pays almost as working does, plus they get to sit home and watch Oprah.

You just pointed out at the BROKEN immigration system. Just because someone came in to the country illegally, breed like rabbits without any care for family planning so that they can ask to stay in the country along with their legal children? What a load of bull.Sent the illegal ones back. No one is forcing the legal ones to STAY. They can go where ever they want.

I'm in the country legally by grace of the government. I don't complain that the US government didn't issue me spare visa for my girlfriend. I'm grateful enough that I get to be alive. I'm not going to be complaining about being separated from my family. Life sucks enough to have to start it all over, why ask for so much when someone is doing a favor in the first place?

Seriously, Illegal immigration should be something like a couple of thousand people a year, not a week.

You have read the news, at this rate by 2045 US would be over ran by Mexicans. That'll create a lot of social issues, not just economical and political ones. This is a recipe for disaster.

Obama's plan is nothing more than 'Open the doors and collect fees'. Obama won't be the one putting up walls and drones. He's too liberal for that. And if you think a yard fence would stop the criminals, think again. Only a Texan's shotgun stops the thieving criminals. Takes a lot more for drug runners and gangs.Did Obama say anything about giving government funds for the immigration when he called it a Broken system? The system is fine. I got my green card in less than a year. All it needs is more funds to hire more people. The border patrol alone takes so much because it's a game of catch in a wide open spaces. If there are walls that actually works, they won't have to work so hard and risk their lives.

As for the Mexican kids who live in Mexico but crosses the border to go to US school, too bad! If you're not the resident in a county, you don't get to learn in the county's public school using up the county's money. That's how everyone here gets to do with colleges, that's how they'll have to do to.Just because they get to have some 'white guilt' from liberals doesn't mean they get to take money out of others' pockets.

As for unemployment, it is more than just wanted sign in a farm. Just because of the existence of readily available illegal workers, the value of the legal workers drop significantly. That's supply and demand, real facts of life. Farmers are really making a lot of profit between government support, not paying healthcare for illegal workers, rising food prices, demand for corn for ethnol, restriction on foregin food import, etc. The only reason they're not getting legal workers is because they are not paying what they are supposed to.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05....htmlh ... hreadQuote »Dairy farmers say workers earn about $8 per hour and often choose to work 60 or 70 hours per week. Many farms provide housing.[/quote]Quote »"Vermonters want a 9-to-5 job, and this is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," said Cheryl Mitchell, a coalition member. "We're spending money detaining people who aren't doing anything wrong except being here to work."

Most foreign workers on dairy farms are Mexican men ages 18 to 35, advocates said. They come to earn a specific sum and then go home, and farmers say they show a boundless appetite for work.[/quote]LoL, go home where? Everyone wants a 9-5 job but there are plenty of people pulling night shifts in addition to day shift because even $10/hr is not enough to live on one's own mean. I know it because I did it myself.Farmers provide housing? Where? In the barns? 10x10 rooms? Have you seen the living standards of those illegal workers? Not to be offending them but they live like rats in a hole. They HAVE to, with so little money they make. Is that how it is supposed to be? Would you work for $8-10 an hour in the fields and live in 10x10 rooms? Ask Mr. Obama if he would like the government to round up all the black people from the hoods and replace the illegal workers with them? They would call it slavery.

If the farmers are having such a hard time getting workers? why don't they ask the local government to have assistant on getting workers from across the country? Housing assistance, healthcare, etc. When you pay decent money people even swarm into oil-sand drilling towns that stink 24/7.

It's all about money and those farmers are lying. No wonder they voted for Obama knowing how liberal he is.

[rn79870]

I think what you're saying is...If the terriers and barriffs are torn down, this economy will grow.GWB, Rochester New York, January 2000.

[Soravia]

Yeah, I see that are using Chinese computer products to type on. Say 'Bye Bye' to another American's job.Different people have different lives, especially if they live across the oceans and stuff.It's not about having barriers or not. The barriers MUST be there. It's about how you manage them.Otherwise, you could also try attempting the same with laws and enforcement. Would the world prosper in peace without laws? No.Just look what happened to the mortage and credit systems when no one was watching them for a few years. They got too greedy and nearly took the entire economy with them.

Same would happen if Obama just let eveyone with half a wit of English work in the country. He hasn't even proposed how much money would be spent to test all the illegals' English or look into their criminal records. AS if you can easily look into the criminal records of someone who has been living for years without a valid ID. Is he going to have the Mexican government check for their criminal back ground? They can hardly keep on pace with their own issues on hundreds of women factory workers who get raped and murdered, thousands of people who get abducted and killed off, hundreds and thousands of gand members under the drug cartels' control, corrupted police officers. The list goes on.

That's why it is very dangerous to have a leader who lives in the dream clouds of his own imagination. We already have President Bush as an example.

At least President Bush's error of judgement can be attributed to his lack of foresight, which is globally accepted, Obama is NOT an idiot, his error of judgement is not coming from lack of foresight. He knows what would get him into the office and he's doing just that.
Modified by Soravia at 1:36 PM 8/17/2008

[skylndrftr]

I think what you're saying is...If the terriers and barriffs are torn down, this economy will grow.GWB, Rochester New York, January 2000.

Soravia, most of the south has half a wit of english but they managed to build a pretty good set of Nissans and Toyotas.

[Soravia]

So you support the jobs getting shipped to Mexico too? I thought you Obamites were all about being against McBush's job shipping issues.LoL. Get a grip and make up your mind.DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT SUPPORT JOBS FOR AMERICANS?

[audtatious]

Does that include illegal aliens?

[Soravia]

If you want to talk about border and tariffs, talk about them with the farmers.They want no border patrol so that they can hire illegal workers for cheap and work them like slaves.They want tarrif's so that Brazilian sugar, etc. won't compete with them. Which, by the way, could be helpful in raising ethanol supply and lower gas prices.

[audtatious]

Yep. And factories want to have illegal labor because then they don't have to abide by US labor laws. US citizens can't compete with that.

[rn79870]

I get it, you got yours now you don't want anyone else to get theirs. Competition makes it better for everyone. Don't worry, the strong survive and the republolicans will feed the weak to the hogs.

[audtatious]

Show me proof

[Soravia]

Supposedly, the Republicans are the ones being pocked by the corportates and businesses. Or so that's what 'Mindless fans' of Obama would like to think.

But when you look at the other side, business owners are hiring illegal Mexican workers to drive down the wages and make people have extremely hard time living. That basically gives lower standard of living to anyone who doesn't own a business.

So Obamites can be divided into two groups.1) Business owners who want to have a flood of immigrant workers (legal or illegal) so the labor wages (in the market, not minimum rate) goes down.2) Whites with 'Liberal Guilt' who believe that Obama is the savior who will help those poor Mexicans crossing the border with 2 gallons of water get a job and mate with their children.

.................Oh, wait. I forgot the third group. 3) They vote for Obama because he's half black and the closest they can say to 'We have a black man in the White House. We own you, white b'atch.'

[skylndrftr]

DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT SUPPORT JOBS FOR AMERICANS?

Asking that shows how outta touch you are with the actual issue... I've never had a problem finding a job, often while hearing my friends ***** about illegal immigrants...

And frankly, we have been moving away from being a manufacturing economy. That means that people might want to learn a skill and can't expect a 120,000/year job working for the UAW with a high school education, sorry.

I think we should help these people become useful in the modern US economy, which is moving away from what mainline manufacturing. But if you want to be against things being shipped over seas then you should drop whatever your doing and go spend half your day picking corn and half your day building cars. I've said it before if people want to come here and work and pay taxes I have no problem with it. They are willing to work for what people want to pay. However, if we want to set a livable minimum wage...go for it. There are segments that will leave, but those are not jobs we really want in this conutry. Maybe if we had better education and affordable college we wouldnt be so reliant on jobs down by illiterates. I would also note that the big japanese three are building plants here as fast as the big three are building them in mexico and canada.

[Soravia]

This is NPR, National Public Radio in liberal channel.http://www.npr.org/templates/s...68212

Even Hillary herself admitted that NAFTA has to be re-negotiated. I don't have to speak for Obama, his leaked memo to Canada said it all.

Things need regulation to certain extent. Only the idiots think the world can be perfect without any regulation.

Super Rich - Super FewRich - FewMiddle Class - PlentyWorking Class - More than PlentyPoor people - Must be equal to job demand.

You see the description above? Once you flood the small job and small pay labor market with a bunch of poor immigrant people, you get this.



Or this. Imagine MWU (Mexican Workers Unions) protesting in farms and driving the food prices up.

You liberals, it makes me ashamed to say that I once supported Dems.

[skylndrftr]

Quote »Ohio resident Brian Draper says the economy is bad, and he can't help but think about having to take a step back from the life he's always known.

Until recently, Draper says he didn't log specific expenses. Now, he says the rising cost of living is forcing him to make cuts, and for the first time, he is watching what he buys at the grocery store. He's buying generic brands, cutting back on going out to restaurants, trying to drive less and canceling plans to go to Disney World with his three children.[/quote]Gotta love modern USA...the president tells us We're at war and our big concern is our trip to disneyworld?

I may not have been there, but my grandparents remember rationing very very well during wartime.