Mexico

U.S. Won't Charge Border Patrol Agent In Killing Of Mexican Teen

Ryan J. Reilly | April 27, 2012, 5:18PM

The Justice Department will not prosecute the border patrol agent who shot and killed 15-year-old Sergio Hernandez-Guereca on the Mexico border on June 7, 2010 after smugglers hurled rocks at him. DOJ said in a press release late Friday that there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute the agent for either a homicide or a civil rights charge.

"This review took into account evidence indicating that the agent's actions constituted a reasonable use of force or would constitute an act of self defense in response to the threat created by a group of smugglers hurling rocks at the agent and his detainee," the press release said.

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Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart's Mexico Scandal: Stocks Slip As Congressional Investigation Launched

Eric Lach | April 24, 2012, 5:55AM

The fall-out from allegations that Wal-Mart bribed officials in Mexico began in earnest on Monday, with the company's stock suffering, observers raising the prospect of large fines and even jail time, and lawmakers in Washington announcing the launch of a Congressional investigation into the activities of the world's largest retailer.

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Arizona

Extremists Go To 'War' In The Arizona Desert

Nick R. Martin | March 20, 2012, 5:07AM

At left, one of the bombs prosecutors say Jeffery Harbin made. At right, the border fence near Sasabe, Ariz.

Early last year, a young neo-Nazi called his girlfriend from a jail cell in Phoenix. She was upset. She was confused. She wanted to know why FBI agents were in her living room saying they caught him making pipe bombs and stockpiling other explosives.

"Why were you guys making that stuff?" she asked. "Why did you have it in your truck?"

"Because," he told her, "we wanted to make those things for the border."

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Fast And Furious

Republicans Buy Into NRA's 'Fast And Furious' Gun Control Conspiracy Theory

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 11:35AM

Out of the sound and fury of Attorney General Eric Holder's day before the House last week one thing was clear: Republican members of Congress are latching onto the conspiracy theory that the Obama administration let guns "walk" into Mexico in order to erode Americans' second amendment rights.

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ATF

Emails: Bush-Era Embassy, Prosecutor's Office Approved ATF 'Gun Walking' Tactic

Ryan J. Reilly | October 14, 2011, 5:00PM

As House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) continues to try to pin the flawed "gun walking" tactic employed in Operation Fast and Furious on the Obama administration, it's becoming increasingly clear that problems with ATF's Phoenix division date back at least into the Bush era.

TPM has obtained the documents relating to another Bush-era ATF operation (on top of Operation Wide Receiver) which deployed the "gun walking" tactic. The development was first reported by Pete Yost of the Associated Press.

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Manssor Arbabsiar

Friends Say Used Car Dealer Was Too Much Of A Mess To Pull Off Iranian Plot

Ryan J. Reilly | October 13, 2011, 6:00AM

Manssor Arbabsiar

Friends of Manssor Arbabsiar, the man accused of trying to get a man he thought was affiliated with a Mexican drug cartel to arrange for the killing of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., aren't exactly painting a picture of a criminal mastermind. In fact, they're saying he's not straight out.

"He's no mastermind," David Tomscha, who once owned a used car lot with Arbabsiar, told the Associated Press. "I can't imagine him thinking up a plan like that. I mean, he didn't seem all that political. He was more of a businessman."

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ATF

Report: ATF Officials Left Colleagues In Mexico Out Of The Loop On 'Fast And Furious'

Ryan J. Reilly | July 26, 2011, 12:01AM

Acting ATF Head, Ken Melson

Ahead of another House Oversight Committee hearing on ATF's "Fast and Furious" controversy on Tuesday, the Republican and Democratic staffs of the House Oversight Committee have issued dueling reports on the latest information uncovered by congressional investigators.

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Project Gunrunner

Issa's Office: Obama Admin Wouldn't Answer Questions On 'Role In Arming Deadly Drug Cartels'

Ryan J. Reilly | April 29, 2011, 12:55PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and President Barack Obama (D)

As congressional investigators ramp up their investigation into Project Gunrunner, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is ramping up his rhetoric.

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ATF

Amid Probe Of 'Project Gunrunner,' Obama Seeks Comments On ATF's Anti-Gun Trafficking Rule

Ryan J. Reilly | April 28, 2011, 3:55PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and President Barack Obama (D)

As House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) probes Project Gunrunner -- the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) effort aimed at combating gun trafficking on the Mexican border that went awry -- the Obama administration is seeking another round of comments on a controversial proposal to make gun dealers in four border states report sales of multiple rifles.

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Drug Cartels

Texas Lawmen Not Amused By 'Call Of Juarez: The Cartel' Video Game

Eric Lach | February 17, 2011, 8:32AM

Ever fantasize about being in a shoot-out with murderous cartel members in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico? This summer, the video game company Ubisoft is scheduled to release "Call of Juarez: The Cartel," the latest installment in the "Call of Juarez" series. A couple of real life Texas lawmen are already expressing worries about the game.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

2 U.S. Immigration Agents Shot In Mexico

Eric Lach | February 15, 2011, 6:48PM

Two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents were shot in Mexico earlier today, the agency has announced. The agents were driving between Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico, and were attacked by "unknown assailants."

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Canada

Gov't Accountability Office Slams DHS Control Of Northern Border

Ryan J. Reilly | February 2, 2011, 8:37AM

Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security have long been facing criticism over whether the feds are doing enough to secure the Mexican border. But the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report this week that the government is ignoring the threat on the porous border shared with our neighbors to the north.

DHS has been challenged in its efforts to address the threat of illegal activity on the northern border "where the extent of illegal activity is unknown, but the risk of terrorist
activity is high," the authors of the GAO report write.

The GAO's review of reports from 2010 showed that for the northern border overall, just 32 of the nearly 4,000 border miles had reached an acceptable level of control.

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ATF

As Deadline On Anti Gun Trafficking Rule Passes, ATF Fights Back In PSA (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 5, 2011, 9:25AM

Today's the day the White House's Office of Management and Budget was supposed to give the ATF the go-ahead to implement a rule requiring gun dealers on the Mexican border to report bulk sales of semiautomatic weapons to the feds, a plan intended to combat the trafficking of such firearms south of the border.

But the Obama administration says it needs more time.

"ATF's information collection request is still under review," an administration official told TPM.

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Drones

Border Patrol: This Is The First Mexican Drone Crash We've Had

Rachel Slajda | December 17, 2010, 2:51PM

A spokesman for U.S. Customs & Border Patrol, the agency which found a small Mexican drone after it crashed in an El Paso neighborhood, told CNN today that it's the first time a Mexican drone has crashed on U.S. soil.

Officials confirm the drone, which crashed in residential yard Tuesday, was an unmanned, radio-controlled craft called an Orbiter Mini UAV owned by the Mexican government. Border Patrol was the first to respond to the crash, and has since turned the investigation over the the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates plane crashes.

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Mexico

Unmanned Mexican Drone Crashes Near El Paso, Texas

Eric Lach | December 16, 2010, 5:08PM

A remote-control drone operated by the Mexican government crashed in the United States near El Paso, Texas, this week, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency confirms to TPM.

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Rick Perry

Texas Gov. Perry Open To U.S. Military Going Into Mexico

Eric Lach | November 18, 2010, 1:09PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has long criticized the federal government on border security. He's firmly in the camp that argues that the border needs to be "secured" before any kind of immigration reform can be legislated. On MSNBC this morning, Perry blamed "the federal government's abject failure" to provide troops and equipment to "defeat this drug cartel threat" for the recent deaths of American citizens near the border. When host Chuck Todd then asked Perry if the U.S. military should cross the border to help Mexico combat drug cartels, Perry said "we have to have use every aspect of law enforcement that we have, including the military."

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ATF

DOJ Watchdog Knocks ATF's Anti-Gun Trafficking Program

Ryan J. Reilly | November 9, 2010, 12:04PM

Weapons seized from members of the drug cartel, "Los Zetas."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is not sharing information with other federal agencies, is not properly communicating with Mexican officials and is focusing too much of their effort on low-level gun traffickers while ignoring the bigger cases, according to a report by the Justice Department Inspector General released Tuesday.

DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine's report focuses on ATF's implementation of "Project Gunrunner," which became a national initiative in 2006 to combat illegal gun trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border. Fine found "significant weaknesses in ATF's implementation of Project Gunrunner undermine its effectiveness."

The agency "does not systematically and consistently exchange intelligence with its Mexican and some U.S. partner agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection," the report found.

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Staten Island

Is Mexico Really Sending Its Police To Patrol Staten Island?

Eric Lach | August 30, 2010, 8:36AM

Staten Island, NY (Mexican soldiers, inset)

A breathless report published recently by the American Free Press titled "MEXICAN POLICE TO PATROL NY?" told an unbelievable story. The writer, Jeff Smith, reported that the government of Mexico would soon "begin patrolling the New York City borough of Staten Island to 'safeguard' its nationals there." Smith reported that the move had caused "wide notice and a storm of protests" and had been reported in various outlets, including The New York Times.

But the Mexican consulate, New York City politicians, and various news reports, including the Times, reveal a very different picture: a neighborhood plagued by a wave of assaults against immigrants, and a coalition of politicians, community groups, and civic agencies trying to do something about it. Not a national security story, but a community safety one.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

In 1979, Less Complicated Oil Leak Took 10 Months To Stop

Rachel Slajda | May 31, 2010, 3:40PM

An aerial view from the Ixtoc oil spill in 1979

The BP oil spill has been called an "unprecedented disaster" by both the president and BP's top executive. But the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe has echoes of a 1979 spill, when a rig in the southern Gulf exploded after the blowout preventer failed.

Thirty-one years later, we haven't come that far technologically with how we deal with underwater oil drilling spills. The Mexican company running the Ixtoc I rig attempted a slew of now-familiar remedies --- they pumped mud into the well, capped it with a metal "sombrero," shot lead balls into the well and drilled relief wells -- but it took 10 months to stop the leak even though the drilling was taking place just 160 feet below the surface.

The Deepwater Horizon, which blew on April 20, was drilling 5,000 feet underwater.

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