#the road to reynosa

[bllsbailey]

A Front-Row Seat to Biden's Open Border

HIDALGO, TEXAS — It's just after 9:00 p.m. local time on Friday night when our vehicle pulls into a deserted parking lot near a Whataburger and Jack in the Box just a few blocks short of the international bridge leading to Reynosa, Mexico. I'm riding shotgun with Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council as he explains how things have changed in Hidalgo and adjacent McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley as the border crisis has worsened. 

"We've been seeing more smuggling cases," Cabrera tells me. "A lot more violence going on." Just a few hundred yards from us, beyond a portion of border fencing and a gate atop a 15-foot embankment and the Rio Grande, lies Mexico. Things over in Reynosa have gotten so bad that those seeking to illegally enter the U.S. are often choosing to take longer routes to unlawfully cross in Arizona or elsewhere, according to Cabrera. "Big ol' mess in there right now," he summarizes of the cartels running — and profiting handsomely — off the open border policies of the Biden administration. It's the worst of the worst: Sinaloa, Gulf, Los Zetas. "You can't say the Mexican government is doing its part," Cabrera emphasizes, though it's not like things are being handled as they should on the U.S. side of the border either. 

Cabrera explains that the U.S. attorney has decided not to prosecute minors, leading the cartels to recruit minors to do their dirty work. Other authorities are told not to chase those working for the cartels and, even when they are chased or caught, they're just let go anyway. Cabrera points out that a 16-year-old working for the cartels on the American side recently lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a parked 18-wheeler while smuggling two illegal immigrants. "He died on impact and the two passengers are in the intensive care unit," explained Cabrera. "It's a shame, a 16-year-old kid, his life snuffed out for smuggling two guys for what, $100-$200?"

"They hop over the wall a lot right here," Cabrera says as we get out of his SUV to take a closer look at the border wall and gate as buses waiting to transport illegal immigrants to nearby processing centers rumble past. He takes the opportunity to explain one of the ploys used by illegal immigrants. 

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"At any given time, you'll have 40-50 people give themselves up, and while our agents are doing the paperwork on them to get them on those buses, you'll have three different groups within half a mile of here throw ladders up on the wall," Cabrera explains. "Ten or fifteen people at a time will come across at the exact same time knowing that we can't handle all the people that we're writing up and the people that are breaching the wall at the same time. It's a pretty coordinated effort."

While we're standing there, border agents toss a few of the homemade ladders that illegal immigrants have used to the side of a road that runs along the border wall. These are made out of thin rebar. A few steps away, wooden ladders used by other illegal immigrants are piled next to a dumpster. The "newer" rebar ones are "not very sturdy," says Cabrera. "We have a lot of accidents with those — people get halfway up and they just collapse under their own weight."

This spot along the border in McAllen is "one area where people turn themselves in and you have runners in the same area — usually it's one or the other," Cabrera emphasizes. "And then you'll see a lot of drugs come through here and at times you'll have money or guns going south through here, you'll have people trying to smuggle it into Mexico through here," he adds. 

Of the illegal immigrants who apprehended or turn themselves in, Cabrera says he's seeing "a dozen" from China in a single day in addition to plenty of Russians and Romanians. He's also seeing illegal immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan a few times a month. While many illegal immigrants are still coming up from countries such as Venezuela, he says China remains the most frequent country of origin outside of Central America. 

"It's a different group that's coming across, a different type," explains Cabrera. "Not everybody's coming to work, they're coming for asylum — the illusion of asylum — probably 85-90 percent don't qualify," he says. "But for some reason, this administration decided that asylum is whatever they want it to be so people are coming over with all different claims and they're allowed to stay."

"There's a drone up," Cabrera relays as we walk closer to the border wall — the first of several he's alerted to during our nighttime visit along the border wall. The unmanned aircraft are used by the cartels to watch and track where U.S. agents are active on a given night. "They're watching us, but we're watching them," he quips. 

A few minutes after 10:00 p.m., he finds out a censor — more specifically a camera — spotted illegal immigrants on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande making their way toward the gate in the wall. While it's unclear how many are with the group, it looks to be multiple individuals, likely a family unit. Meanwhile, other cameras catch literal coyotes slinking through the brush on the barely moonlit night as temperatures dipped into the 40s. 

It turns out to be a group of 22 illegal immigrants: one single adult male, four unaccompanied children, and the rest are family units. The youngest is a 16-month-old boy in onesie pajamas. They're from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Ecuador — and they all claim asylum.

"The families and the kids will go to one location, and the adult male will go to another location for processing," Cabrera says of their future after illegally entering the U.S. and surrendering to border agents. "Most likely they'll all be released into the United States," he adds. If he had to bet on it, Cabrera says none of them will be deported. Instead, they'll be issued a court date as many as "five or six years from now."

As we watch the illegal immigrants go through initial processing by federal agents, Cabrera notes that the group of illegal immigrants in front of us used to constitute a "big group" just a few years ago. Now, it's barely a blip in Biden's open-border crisis. 

[fuckyeahtx]

This is a hard, sad read in places. 

We would go to the markets in Reynosa and Rio Bravo with my grandmother when I was a kid. Right across the border from where my mother went to a high school so small it took three Texas towns to populate it. We would buy the most incredible tamales from the ladies with baskets on the side of dusty roads. One time my English aunt drove me across the border forgetting my passport and had a hell of a time convincing border patrol that the small dark little sweary girl in the back seat of my grandmother’s white 70′s Cadillac was in fact American. Well, half at least.

[shareefabdou]

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey

By PAUL THEROUX and CESAR RODRIGUEZ In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back. Published: September 22, 2019 at 02:00PM from NYT Travel https://ift.tt/30cPz3m via IFTTT

[campfirecreeps]

‘Jeepers Creepers’ Monster Falls From the Sky in Las Milpas

Denise, her mother, aunt and four of her cousins were driving along the South ‘I’ Road ‘in the height of Las Milpas, TX’. The mother was driving the truck while the aunt sat next to her, and Denise and her cousins were in the back. Denise was looking out of the back when her mother shouted ‘Que es eso?!’ (What is that?!) - prompting everyone to look as the mother slowed the vehicle.

In a second, the family realised that what they were looking at was ‘like a man with huuuuge wings struggling to fly’. They screamed in panic and the flying humanoid presumably heard them, seeing as it stopped and fell down into the nearby forest. ‘It was almost getting dark, but there was still enough sunlight to see what we saw’. The entire family was in shock, and Denise kept screaming because she thought that it was going to follow them. They didn’t see its face, but they saw enough to describe it as resembling an average man with enormous wings, and said that the shadow closely resembled the eponymous monster from the ‘Jeepers Creepers’ film series.

This one-time sighting is backed up by Denise’s further assertion that one of her aunts saw something ‘many years ago’ that was similar to this entity on the Pharr-Reynosa Bridge when it jumped in front of her car at night. She told the U.S. Customs about the encounter, and their reaction ‘seemed like they already knew about that creature’. The aunt said that the creature she saw was wearing some kind of long jacket, which would mean that it was almost an exact replica of the ‘Jeepers Creepers’ monster. Denise also said that she has heard that people have seen this winged weirdo all around Las Milpas and the surrounding areas.

Source: https://truehorrorstoriesoftexas.com/injured-jeepers-creepers-creature-falls-sky-las-milpas-texas/

[newstfionline]

Sunday, June 27, 2021

People in advanced economies say their society is more divided than before pandemic (Pew Research Center) A median of 34% of adults across 17 advanced economies feel their society is more united than before the pandemic, but about six-in-ten report that national divisions have worsened since the outbreak began. In 12 of 13 countries surveyed in both 2020 and 2021, feelings of division have increased significantly, in some cases by more than 30 percentage points. Some of these divisions reflect how people view the social limitations they have faced, such as stay-at-home orders or mask mandates while in public.

Historic heat wave blasts Northwest as wildfire risks soar (AP) The Pacific Northwest sweltered Friday and braced for even hotter weather through the weekend as a historic heat wave hit Washington and Oregon, with temperatures in many areas expected to top out up to 30 degrees above normal. The extreme and dangerous heat was expected to break all-time records in cities and towns from eastern Washington state to Portland to southern Oregon as concerns mounted about wildfire risk in a region that is already experiencing a crippling and extended drought. Seattle was expected to edge above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) over the weekend and in Portland, Oregon, weather forecasters said the thermometer could soar to 108 F (42 C) by Sunday, breaking an all-time record of 107 F (42 C) set in 1981. Unusually hot weather was expected to extend into next week for much of the region.

Why police have been quitting in droves (NYT) When the media adopts a storyline, sometimes stories that fit into the narrative are retained while those that don’t quite fit are discarded. While there’s been a wholly justifiable focus on police brutality, there hasn’t been much attention paid to a group of people caught in the media crossfire: good cops who do a good job but are still treated like the bad guys. Those cops are quitting in high numbers. Consider the experience of Officer Lindsay C. Rose in Asheville, N.C.: “Various friends and relatives had stopped speaking to her because she was a cop. During a protest in June around Police Headquarters, a demonstrator lobbed an explosive charge that set her pants on fire and scorched her legs. She said she was spit on. She was belittled. Members of the city’s gay community, an inclusive clan that had welcomed her in when she first settled in Asheville, stood near her at one event and chanted, ‘All gay cops are traitors,’ she said. By September, still deeply demoralized despite taking several months off to recuperate, Officer Rose decided that she was done.” Rose wasn’t alone. At police departments across the country, “retirements were up 45 percent and resignations rose by 18 percent in the year from April 2020 to April 2021.” About a third of the Asheville police force has left the job. Their chief explains: “They said that we have become the bad guys, and we did not get into this to become the bad guys.”

Disappearances rise on Mexico’s ‘highway of death’ to border (AP) As many as 50 people are missing after setting out on three-hour car trips this year between Mexico’s industrial hub of Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo on a well-traveled stretch of road local media have dubbed “the highway of death.” Relatives say family members simply vanished. The disappearances, and last week’s shooting of 15 apparently innocent bystanders in Reynosa, suggest Mexico is returning to the dark days of the 2006-2012 drug war when cartel gunmen often targeted the general public as well as one another. As many as half a dozen of those who disappeared on the highway are believed to be U.S. citizens or residents, though the U.S. Embassy could not confirm their status. One, José de Jesús Gómez from Irving, Texas, reportedly disappeared on the highway on June 3. Most of the victims are believed to have disappeared approaching or leaving the cartel-dominated city of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. About a half-dozen men have reappeared alive, badly beaten, and all they will say is that armed men forced them to stop on the highway and took their vehicles.

Prominent Nicaraguan opposition leaders and journalists flee an escalating government crackdown (Washington Post) The stream of high-profile opposition leaders, journalists and members of civil society fleeing Nicaragua has surged, as the regime of President Daniel Ortega wages the most alarming political crackdown in the country’s recent history ahead of a November election. In the last week, several of the most influential critics of the Ortega regime sneaked out of the country—convinced they would be detained if they remained. Journalists for mainstream publications were stripped of their passports, but decided to leave anyway. Even some of Ortega’s former top Sandinista comrades are seeking refuge abroad. The consequences for remaining in the country could be dire: Over the past several months, at least 16 opposition figures have been jailed. Journalists have also come under threat in recent weeks. Veteran journalist Miguel Mendoza was detained on June 21, when police broke into his home. The day before that, police arrested Miguel Mora, the former director of 100% Noticias. Mora had stepped down from his role at the outlet to run for president. Julio López, another prominent journalist, was stripped of his passport last week. He decided at that point to seek refuge in Costa Rica.

Russia launches Mediterranean drills amid rift with Britain (AP) The Russian military on Friday launched sweeping maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea featuring warplanes armed with state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles, a show of force amid a surge in tensions following an incident with a British destroyer in the Black Sea. Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to force her out of an area near Crimea that Russia claims as its territorial waters. Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon and said she was sailing in Ukrainian waters. The Russian drills that began Friday in the eastern Mediterranean come as a British carrier strike group is in the area. Earlier this week, British and U.S. F-35 fighters from HMS Queen Elizabeth flew combat sorties against the Islamic State group.

Pakistan’s leader sparks protests by blaming women ‘wearing very few clothes’ for sexual assaults (Washington Post) Pakistan’s prime minister is facing protests and calls for a public apology after suggesting there would be fewer sexual assaults if women dressed more modestly. In an interview with Axios earlier this week, Imran Khan was asked about whether there was a “rape epidemic” in Pakistan, where advocates believe that a large number of assaults go unreported. “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the man unless they are robots. I mean, it’s common sense,” he responded. Women in Pakistan responded by sharing photographs of the “modest” clothing that they were wearing when they were sexually harassed, as well as anecdotes about inappropriate behavior they have encountered—such as unwanted touching—even when conservatively dressed in traditional headscarves and shalwar kameez. It’s the second time in recent months that Khan — who was one of Pakistan’s top cricket players and a national celebrity before he entered politics—has come under fire for his comments about rape.

Thirteen peacekeepers wounded, six soldiers killed in Mali militant attacks (Reuters) Thirteen U.N. peacekeepers, 12 Germans and one Belgian, were wounded in northern Mali on Friday by a car bomb, the U.N. mission said, while Mali’s army said six of its soldiers were killed in a separate attack in the centre of the country. The attack in the north targeted a temporary base set up by the peacekeepers near the village of Ichagara in the Gao region, where Islamist insurgents linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State are active.

UN: Madagascar droughts push 400,000 toward starvation (AP) The U.N. World Food Program says southern Madagascar is in the throes of back-to-back droughts that are pushing 400,000 people toward starvation, and have already caused deaths from severe hunger. Lola Castro, WFP’s regional director in southern Africa, told a news conference Friday that she witnessed “a very dramatic and desperate situation” during her recent visit with WFP chief David Beasley to the Indian Ocean island nation of 26 million people. Hundreds of adults and children were “wasted,” and hundreds of kids were skin and bones and receiving nutritional support, she said. In 28 years working for WFP on four continents, Castro said she had “never seen anything this bad” except in 1998 in Bahr el-Gazal in what is now South Sudan.

As virus surges in Uganda, hospitals accused of profiteering (AP) As he struggled to breathe earlier this month, Dr. Nathan Tumubone was tormented by thoughts of hospitalization as a COVID-19 patient. Thinking of the costs involved, he knew he wanted to stay home. “The truth is I didn’t want to go to hospital,” said the general practitioner. “We’ve seen the costs are really high, and one wouldn’t want to get in there.” As virus cases surge in Uganda, making scarce hospital beds even more expensive, concern is growing over the alleged exploitation of patients by private hospitals accused of demanding payment up front and hiking fees. Although the practice of requiring deposits from patients has long been seen as acceptable in this East African country where few have health insurance, it is raising anger among some who cite attempts to profiteer from the pandemic. Some hospital bills shared by families of COVID-19 patients emerging from intensive care show sums of up to $15,000, a small fortune in a country where annual per capita income is less than $1,000.

Intel report is inconclusive about UFOs (AP) A long-awaited U.S. government report on UFOs released Friday makes at least one thing clear: The truth is still out there. Investigators did not find extraterrestrial links in reviewing 144 sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories. But they drew few other conclusions and instead highlighted the need for better data collection about what’s increasingly seen by Democrats and Republicans as a national security concern. In all but one of the sightings investigated, there was too little information for investigators to even broadly characterize the nature of the incident. Long the domain of science fiction and so-called ufologists, the subject of UFOs has in recent years drawn serious study from the Pentagon and intelligence agencies. Congress last year required the creation of the report delivered Friday. While its lack of conclusions has already been made public, the report on what the government calls “unidentified aerial phenomena” still represents a milestone in the study of the issue.

[mironivanov]

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey

In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back.

[leanpick]

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back.

[sam-hall-offshore]

Sam Hall shares: Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey by PAUL THEROUX and CESAR RODRIGUEZ By PAUL THEROUX and CESAR RODRIGUEZ In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back. Published: September 22, 2019 at 08:00PM from NYT Travel via IFTTT

[graphicsforyou-blog1]

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey https://fc.lc/2Nog In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back.. via NYT Travel BY PAUL THEROUX AND CESAR RODRIGUEZ Travel and Vacations, Road Trips, Immigration and Emigration, Drug Cartels

[thegreato1ne]

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey by BY PAUL THEROUX AND CESAR RODRIGUEZ

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey by BY PAUL THEROUX AND CESAR RODRIGUEZ

By BY PAUL THEROUX AND CESAR RODRIGUEZ

In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back.

Published: September 23, 2019 at 11:00AM

from NYT Travel https://ift.tt/30cPz3m via NYT Full Post

[soniaaristo]

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back.. via NYT Travel

[outsidetheknow]

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey by BY PAUL THEROUX AND CESAR RODRIGUEZ

Paul Theroux’s Mexican Journey by BY PAUL THEROUX AND CESAR RODRIGUEZ

By BY PAUL THEROUX AND CESAR RODRIGUEZ

In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back.

Published: September 23, 2019 at 09:00PM

from NYT Travel https://ift.tt/30cPz3m via IFTTT