NAVAL INTEREST:
The Continuing War on the Rio Grande

U.S. Customs & Border Patrol Riverine Unit On Rio Grande. Image USCBP

 Editors note:11/15/2015 reviewed, no changes, links checked 1 video removed from linked site. 5/28/2015, no real measurable change for the better since 8/3/2014: First published in July of 2012 We have seen a lot of DHS bluster, promises, and lies. More direct action on the part of Texas but clearly this is still a pretty accurate description of conditions on the Rio Grande.

It's Not Just The Zeta Drug Lords, Terrorists Are Getting In

 Below is a hyperlink to an Atlanta television station news cast concerning the infiltration by terrorist along our Southwest Border. In the broad cast the local investigative journalists provide what they believe is proof that the Southwest Border is being used by terrorists to infiltrate the United States. Worse, the Journalists appear to indicate that the Department of Homeland Security is well aware of all of this and misrepresents whats going on to the general public. Amazingly, this sort of investigative journalism hardly ever gets air time on the national media.

 In our opinion, whats worse is that the Department of Homeland Security routinely is less than candid about the situation on the Southwest Border with Congress. Check out the story via the hyper-link below and then hit your return button to read about our previous coverage of this issue and why we believe the Department of Homeland Security is less than candid to Congress about the relative security along our Southwest Border.
     
  Click anywhere on the hyper link below to view the video:

https://usjf.net/2012/07/video-proof-that-terrorists-are-entering-u-s-from-mexican-border/?utm_source=USJF+List&utm_campaign=cc73cad669-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email  Editor's note 11/15/2015 video has been removed from site.

 We first published on the Southern Border issue on March 2, 2016 when guest blogger Vic Sicotra published his post titles The Aye Ayes of Texas. We urge our readers to go back and reread this posting which describes the arrival of the first of a series of gun boats purchased and operated by the State of Texas to deal with problems posed by the very violent Zeta Drug Organization. As pointed out in the article Texas had asked Congress for a "persistent Coast Guard presence" on the Rio Grande to help combat violent incursions by the Zetas and the use by the Zetas of the Rio Grande as an avenue of transportation. There was already speculation at that point that the Zetas and other Drug cartels along the Rio Grande and along the desert Southwest Border had branched into the illegal human smuggling trade to include not only illegal migrant workers but terrorist operatives as well.

 When we look at the Congressional testimony of the Department of Homeland Security officials in the relevant time frame we see that no less than the Secretary of Homeland Security informed Congress that the U.S. Southwest Border had" never been more secure". In only weeks after this pronouncement was made a Texas State Department of Public Safety official and Texas Rio Grande Valley Sheriffs were before Congress declaring that they had the bullet holes in their squad cars and elsewhere to prove otherwise.

 The Coast Guard was ordered to report to Congress by January of 2011 with a plan to provide the "persistent Coast Guard presence" asked for by Texas. By June of 2011 the Coast Guard had still not provided the plan as requested. The Commandant of the Coast Guard found himself before a Congressional subcommittee and was asked where the report was. At first he tried to take the full blame for the non delivery but on severe cross examination he admitted that the report remained on the desk of the Secretary of Homeland Security where it was delivered in time for presentation to Congress within their requested time frame. By March of 2012 we still found no sign of the requested "persistent Coast Guard presence". In fact, quite the opposite, it appeared that Texas was on a virtual war footing in the Rio Grande Valley busily arming its only equivalent of a naval special boat unit or a Coast Guard Port Security Unit, along with Militarized Recon units of Texas Rangers. 

 Since we are not primarily a news organization we did not follow the story beyond March of 2012 simply because there was so little in the media, including the specialized maritime media that we closely follow. We bring you the news in the above hyper linked video simply because it is the first news we have had since March on the issue. It does not appear that the federal government has responded to the pleas of Texas.

 Obviously along the desert border as opposed to the river border they have captured real terrorists but don't feel that the citizens of the United States or the Congress need to know about this. We're glad that agencies of the DHS have collared some bad guys, but if the DHS is so blind to a virtual riverine war along the Texas border as it apparently is, what assurance do we have that they got all of the bad guys and have done anything to deter terrorists from considering infiltration via our Southwest Border? The international river of the Rio Grande and the Texas request for a "persistent Coast Guard presence" being of particular interest to us as a maritime organization.