Drug smugglers suspected in Arizona deputy ambush

From the Arizona Republic:

Five men suspected of smuggling drugs across the border ambushed a Pinal County sheriff's deputy Friday in a remote area south of Phoenix, underscoring the border-related violence that has catapulted Arizona and its new immigration law onto the national stage.

The rugged desert area where the shooting took place, near the junction of Interstate 8 and Arizona 84 in south-central Arizona, is considered a high-traffic drug- and human-smuggling corridor.

A massive hunt of 100 square miles that included helicopters with night-vision equipment and more than 200 officers, including SWAT teams, from 13 agencies was still pursuing the shooters late Friday.

More than one helicopter came under fire during the evening as officers rescued Deputy Louie Puroll, who had been shot with an AK-47-type weapon around 4 p.m., according to the Sheriff's Office.

Puroll suffered a flesh wound above his kidney that tore off a chunk of skin. He was treated at Casa Grande Regional Medical Center and released Friday night.

"Here we see the tactics have changed and become more dangerous," Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said. "This has reached a critical mass for law enforcement."

Babeu said he has "called out for help" from federal officials to no avail. He said smugglers know "the police are after them and the fact they are firing upon us changes the game."

Gov. Jan Brewer also weighed in, saying in a Twitter message sent out Friday evening: "Our thoughts & prayers go out to the Pinal County Deputy shot during a stop. Contrary to what some leaders say, our borders are not secure."

Critics of Arizona's new anti-illegal immigrant law question its timing and motive by pointing to the facts that illegal immigration and crime are actually down in the state and nationally.  What they fail to recognize is that the nature of the illegals and their crimes has changed dramatically. Arizonans recognized that fact last month when Robert Krentz was gunned down on his 34,000 acre cattle ranch.  The day before, Krentz's brother had stopped a caravan of illegal immigrants carrying 280 pounds of marijuana.  The border patrol arrested all eight and impounded the marijuana.

In a response to Arizona critic, Linda Chavez, Andrew McCarthy at NRO points out another serious problem the state faces:

Linda further notes that illegal immigration and crime in general are down, but that hardly means Arizonans don’t have a severe problem – kidnapping, a staple of Mexico’s drug wars, is now so rampant in Phoenix that lawyers are advertising themselves as specialists in kidnapping defense.

Drug smugglers ambushing law enforcement officers. Retaliation murders. Kidnapping.  And the President has the audacity to call Arizona lawmakers irresponsible.

Retired Army officer, T.J. Woodard offers some insights into the truth about the state of the U.S.-Mexico border at American Thinker in "Report from Cochise County, Arizona."

Arizona: we're mad as hell and we're not going to take this any more

The City of San Francisco is indignant that the State of Arizona has passed a law to actually make it illegal to be in the state illegally, and its supervisors are calling for a sweeping boycott.  From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A resolution that will go before the board Tuesday will call for San Francisco to end any and all contracts with Arizona-based companies and to stop doing business with the state.

"We want to send a message," Supervisor David Campos told a rally on the steps of City Hall this morning. "There are consequences when you target a whole people."

Last Friday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law making it a crime for an immigrant to be in the state without proof of legal residency and requiring police to seek out and detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

The law, which will take effect this summer, is certain to face legal challenges. President Obama has called the bill "misguided" and ordered the Justice Department to determine whether it violates civil rights.

There's no way to tell yet how a boycott of Arizona would affect San Francisco.

"We're trying to figure that out now," Campos said. "We do know that we won't be sending any city employees to conferences in Arizona."

In a state with an unemployment rate of 13% and a city where 1 in 3 city workers earns $100,000 or more, it is doubtful that the State of Arizona will feel anything but validation from a San Francisco boycott.  Today on his show, Rush Limbaugh agreed:

San Francisco says that they are going to boycott Arizona, and I'm sure the people of Arizona are happy as hell about that. In fact, if I were the people in Arizona, I'd capture the illegals and send them to San Francisco. Sanctuary city, hey, you know, like 'em so much, here. Glad to send 'em your way. And, by the way, you don't want to come here to see Arizona, fine and dandy with us. Do you believe -- and I totally do -- the leader of this country, Barack Obama, is leading a charge by the Democrat Party against a state and a personal jihad against a governor. He is supposed to be president of all the people. But, boy, you go against the regime, and the regime will come after you. It's going to be interesting to see.

The elected representatives of Arizona only acted after repeated attempts to get the Obama administration to do its job and protect the borders of the United States of America.  From Fox News:

Brewer says she has sent 5 letters to President Obama, and spoken to him personally about the deteriorating border situation. She says her entreaties have “been met with complete, total disrespect to the people of Arizona. I mean, we don't even get an answer back in regards to securing our border. So, given that, i think that it was time that Arizonans did step up.”

If the President wants to talk about "audacity," I think here's a perfect example.  He has seen fit to call the people, legislature and governor of a sovereign state "irresponsible" for trying to protect our nation's border where the federal government has failed.

While the drug cartels of Mexico stack up body parts like firewood on the Mexican border with Texas and Arizona, the President pushes his agenda on national health care, cap and trade, and ,unbelievably, immigration reform and plays golf.

Mexican special forces kill drug kingpin in Cuernavaca

Mexican President Felipe Calderone accepted the Global Legislators Organization (GLOBE) Award for his leadership on the environment at the Copenhagen climate conference on Thursday.  Xinhua (China) reports:

President Calderon said it was a great honor to receive this award and he considered it as recognition of the efforts of the Mexican government and people in protecting the environment, including fighting climate change.



Before presenting the globe-shaped award to President Calderon, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised his efforts in addressing climate change, especially his proposed Green Fund, aimed at increasing funding to fight climate change.

That's all very nice.  But I propose another award for a truly meaningful contribution to the world by Special Forces of the Mexican Army and Navy.  From the New York Times:

Special Forces from the Mexican military surrounded and killed one of Mexico’s top drug cartel leaders, Arturo Beltrán Leyva, in a firefight that began late Wednesday as part of President Felipe Calderón’s longstanding battle against drug traffickers, the Mexican military said.


Beltrán Leyva died in his apartment in a luxury complex in the southern city of Cuernavaca after a two-hour gun battle with some 400 Special Forces troops from the Navy and the Army. Six other drug traffickers were killed, one as he jumped out the window, and one member of the Navy’s Special Forces died in the shooting.


Even by the gruesome standards of Mexico’s drug lords, Mr. Beltrán Leyva’s capacity for violent revenge was especially brazen, the authorities said. Since September, he has carried out brutal retaliatory attacks against rivals, leaving decapitated heads and tortured bodies across two states with notes left from “el jefe de jefes,” the boss of bosses.


The operation against him was based on intelligence that the Navy had been gathering for some time to track his movements, the authorities said. Six days ago, Special Forces raided a party Mr. Beltrán Leyva had planned to attend, but he managed to escape. With information from that raid, they tracked him to the Altitude apartment complex, a luxury condominium development not far from the center of Cuernavaca.

From NPR:

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says the Beltran Leyva cartel is key in the importation and distribution of tons of cocaine in the United States, as well as large quantities of heroin. Mexico considers the group one of its six major cartels. [snip]

U.S. officials say the Beltran Leyva Cartel has carried out heinous killings, including numerous beheadings. The gang also has had great success in buying off public officials, police and others to protect their business and get tips on planned military raids.



The U.S government added Beltran Leyva and his cartel to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act last year, a movement that denied him access to the U.S. financial system.

According to news reports, more than 16,000 people have been killed in drug related violence since Calderone launched his drug war in 2006.  Just last week, drug killers dumped the severed heads of five police officers and a government prosecutor outside a church in northern Mexico.  The Houston Chronicle recently recalled a single day of violence last summer:

In June, at least 11 bodies were found chopped to pieces and stacked like cordwood in a sport-utility vehicle abandoned in the border state of Sonora.



With no one band strong enough to overcome the others, and the government targeting all of them, chaos has replaced what was once a fairly well-regulated illicit trade.


“It is kind of like Rome; we need a Caesar here,” said Scott Stewart, a vice president for Stratfor, an Austin-based global-intelligence company that monitored the fighting in producing a report published Wednesday.

“In a situation where you have so much violence, the people who rise to the top are those who are exceptionally violent,” Stewart said of what makes a cartel leader. “The warfare skills are more important than the business skills at this point.”

Today the warfare skills of Mexican Special Forces prevailed.  Give those brave men and women an award.