EXCLUSIVE: Border Community Organizing Petition to Protest Obama's Immigration Speech

Yep, it's real funny yukking it up about the over reaction of the Republicans to the border situation. Except it isn't an over reaction, it's reality. And the people along the border live the nightmare every day. They don't think obama's jokes are funny. Actually, it sounds like they think he is an asshole. I don't blame them. The safety and security of our Country isn't really a laughing matter...

By Jana Winter - FoxNews

The residents of the Chiricahua-Peloncillo drug and human smuggling corridor that runs from the Mexican border north through eastern Arizona and western New Mexico are circulating a petition to send to the White House in response to President Obama's recent immigration speech.

"It is with great wonderment and sadness that we listened to your May 10 speech on immigration issues. All of the joking about moats and alligators cut residents of Portal, AZ, to the core as we sheltered with friends or at a Red Cross evacuation site, to survive a terrible fire that still threatens our lives and property, as well as our ecotourism-based economy," the letter reads.

On Sunday, a massive fire broke out in Horseshoe Canyon, about 50 miles north of the Mexican border, which residents and law enforcement say they believe was started by criminal illegal aliens. Last year, a fire in the same location caused more than $10 million in damages.

"During its first 24-hrs, the fire consumed a greater area than did last year's fire over a 6-week period. Local residents were roused after midnight, and some slept fitfully in cars after fleeing with family photos and any valuables that could be quickly assembled. Elderly retirees left with medical supplies, including oxygen tanks on which some depend," the letter reads.

The petition comes just days after Obama appeared in El Paso, Texas, to plead the case for immigration reform that has been bottled up in Congress for years. During his remarks, the president argued that the border is as safe as it has ever been but Republican opportunists are using the issue to score political points and prevent legal reforms to address illegal immigration.

"We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we've done," the president said.

"But even though we've answered these concerns, I've got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time. You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they're going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they'll want a higher fence. Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they want alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied," he continued.

Jeff Gee, one of the organizers behind the petition and a firefighter battling the still-burning fire in Horseshoe Canyon, says he was insulted by Obama's speech.

“I’m really disappointed at current border security, I’m really disappointed at the president’s speech saying that people like me wants moats with alligators, but moats with alligators might work, nothing else,” he told FoxNews.com.

“We’re doing everything we can to get the word out that this is serious problem, it’s not just a border issue, the drugs and crime are moving through the corridor and they keep going to major cities. I don’t know if this letter will help, but nothing else is."

Cochise County, Ariz., Sheriff Larry Dever, who penned an op-ed in The New York Times Friday describing the plight of border residents, told FoxNews.com that the petition is a plea for the administration to take a closer look at the hardships they are suffering.

"These people are not overreacting. What they suggest in letter is very deep part of their belief system based on their experience and their experience has been horrific -- they see human smuggling and drug trafficking, they sit on their porch and watch people walk through, they've had their homes burglarized," Dever said.

"It's a beautiful landscape and for those that moved out there for a sense of tranquility and peace, that's been destroyed," he added.

Read the rest at the link above...

Napolitano: US Border Towns with Mexico Are Safe

I'm willing to bet there are a lot of people along the border that will disagree with napolitano's assessment.

What do you think? It seems like every few days we hear of some violence related to smuggling of either drugs or people. There are areas of our own Country that are off limits to us due to these activities. And we keep hearing how safe it is.

It's so bad in South Texas, the Texas Department of Agriculture has developed a website where ranchers can document and share their stories about encounters with drug cartels and other other illegal aliens.

Protect Your Texas Border

And we hear how safe the border is. Who is it, exactly, that napolitano and her flunkies are trying to fool? We are being treated like idiots. This administration thinks we are too stupid to see what is going on in this Country. The sheeples may believe what NBC, ABC, MSNBC and CNN tell them. Those of us with the ability to think for ourselves know the truth, and it's not what we are hearing from obama, biden, pelosi and napolitano...

By Juan Carlos Llorca, Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Thursday that security on the southern U.S. border "is better now than it ever has been" and that violence from neighboring Mexico hasn't spilled over in a serious way.

Napolitano spoke at the Bridge of The Americas border crossing, after a meeting with the mayors of the border towns of El Paso, Nogales, Ariz., and Yuma, Ariz. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin also were present.

Napolitano said the Department of Homeland Security will deploy 250 more border agents and expects to have 300 more under their next budget if it's approved. She stated that Homeland Security is investing "millions of dollars in the side of commerce and trade" to improve infrastructure and technology along the border.

However, she added that there is a need to correct wrong impressions about the border region. Napolitano said border towns are safe for travel, trade and commerce. She noted that the total value of imports crossing the Southwest border was up 22 percent in fiscal year 2010, she said.

"There is a perception that the border is worse now than it ever has been. That is wrong. The border is better now than it ever has been," she said.

The perception that the violence in Mexico has spilled over to bordering U.S. cities is "wrong again," Napolitano said. Violent crime rates have remained flat or decreased in border communities in the Southwest, she said. However, she recognized that "there is much to do with (their) colleagues in Mexico in respect to the drug cartels" that are largely responsible for the unprecedented wave of violence in that country.

Read the rest at the link above...

Arizona Sheriff Scoffs at Suggestion to Tone Down Rhetoric

Every time I hear something about Sheriff Paul Babeu I like the guy more and more. He is an honest to goodness badass. These mayors should be ashamed of themselves. Just because they have bought in to the obama bullshitfest it doesn't mean that the border problems are going to go away. obama and his gang of thugs are trying blow smoke up our ass and call it sunshine. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that the violence in northern mexico is spreading across our border on an almost daily basis.

Ranchers in Arizona are being threatened and harrassed by drug smugglers. Law enforcement officers are being targeted by these thugs. Innocent civilians are being killed. Sections of OUR Country aren't even accessible by American Citizens because of the drug smugglers.

Who are you going to believe, a highly respected law enforcement officer or some mayors trying to keep tourists coming in to their towns regardless of the dangers? I'm gonna pick the LEO...

By Joshua Rhett Miller - FoxNews

An outspoken Arizona sheriff has responded to a letter from the mayors of three border cities who asked him to tone down his comments on border security problems, saying, "feel free to 'drink the Kool-Aid'" of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Dennis Burke and President Obama.

In a letter dated Feb. 14, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said his jurisdiction is the "number one pass through county" nationwide for smuggling people and drugs.

"The threat from an unsecured border is real, where 241,000 illegals were apprehended last year by the border patrol and an additional 400,000 got away just in Arizona alone!" the letter reads. "These are failing grades by anyone's score card."

Babeu's letter is in response to a Feb. 9 letter he received from the mayors of Nogales, San Luis and Douglas that asked him not to "cultivate a culture of fear" regarding border security.

"While your misstatements about efforts to keep communities along the U.S.-Mexico border may keep national media coming to Arizona, at the same time your consistent inaccuracies hurt cities and towns like ours by causing those who live and travel to the border to fear for their safety when in our communities," reads the letter signed by Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino, San Luis Mayor Juan Escamilla and Douglas Mayor Michael Gomez.

The letter to Babeu acknowledged "more work to do" along the 2,000-mile border, but cited significant progress being made daily and additional forthcoming efforts by federal authorities to strengthen security.

"The facts show that violent crime is down or remains flat in our border region as we are sure it is in your area as well," the mayors' letter continued. "In 2002, it peaked at 742 per 100,000 residents, but has since drastically dropped to 219 per 100,000 in 2009 (per the FBI Uniform Crime Reports Program)."

The letter also called on Babeu to focus on "building strong relationships" with local, state and federal governments to further secure the nation's border with Mexico.

"We say as one voice, 'Creating panic where only vigilance is warranted helps nobody,'" the letter concludes.

Babeu, however, cited a rise in the amount of marijuana seized in his county, vehicle pursuits and calls to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2010 compared to those figures four years ago. In 2007, for example, 28,093 pounds of marijuana was seized in Pinal County, compared to 44,819 in 2010. Likewise, the number of vehicle pursuits in the country reached 340 last year, up from 142 in 2007.

"Feel free to 'drink the Kool-Aid' of Janet Napolitano, Dennis Burke and Barak [sic] Obama all day long, yet this threat to America remains, until our border is secured," Babeu's letter continued. "Their agenda is clear -- they want 'immigration reform' and must convince the public that everything is just fine."

Babeu recommends implementing a 10-point border security plan announced last April by Republican Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl. He also took issue with the mayors' attempt to begin a discussion on the issue.

"If your intent was to establish dialogue with me, you would have called, or at least waited for your letter to arrive by mail at my office, prior to releasing it to the media," Babeu's letter concludes. "You have done the very thing they accuse me of doing. I do not represent you, or the citizens of your community, yet I do represent the nearly 400,000 citizens of my county and the viewpoint of the solid majority of Arizonans, who laugh at Secretary Napolitano's suggestion that our border is more secure than ever."

In an interview with FoxNews.com, Babeu said he has recently increased enforcement near the border with "constant patrols" by SWAT team officers armed with AR-15s and night vision goggles.

"I'm sending out deputies to meet these armed cartel members," Babeu said Wednesday. "And we will not use less than lethal force."

Babeu said the letter he received from the three mayors was an attempt to silence his stance on border security overall, rather than how he advocates for improving it.

"They want us to sit and shut up," he said. "Well, that's not going to happen. This isn't a time to sit on our hands and ignore the issue. It's a time for action."