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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| America's most dangerous mountain, where Mexican cartels now have TOTAL control: 'It's like a scene from Sicario |
| 2024-07-27 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Catholic Church-owned mountain that towers nearly a mile high near El Paso, Texas - its giant statue of Jesus Christ for decades drawing faithful to the summit - has been turned by Mexican cartels into a human smuggling stronghold where migrants are robbed, beaten and raped while chasing entry into the US. Mount Cristo Rey sits largely on American soil - located just inside the border at Sunland Park, New Mexico, where that state, Texas and Mexico all meet along a now-perilous boundary. The mountain is now totally controlled by Mexican cartels who use it to sneak illegal immigrants into the country - sparking warnings to any visitors. Officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety gave the DailyMail.com a first-hand look at the peril within Mount Cristo Rey, passing out night vision goggles for a covert helicopter tour after dark - the busiest time for migrant smuggling. They explained that any green dots we would see through the special gear were smugglers whose body heat was visible with the goggles. Sure enough, as we looked down at the mountain's Mexican side and put the goggles up to our eyes, the terrain was absolutely crawling in green dots - reminiscent of a scene right of the Hollywood movie 'Sicario.' With an elevation of 4,675 feet, the highest reaches of the mountain are a no-man's land, with no law enforcement presence - allowing the gang members to rob, beat and sexually assault unchecked. On the US side, people who live at the base describe the horrors of naked migrant women showing up at their doorsteps covered in blood and begging for help. In Texas' sixth largest city, Mount Cristo Rey (Spanish for Christ the King) is a religious shrine many of El Paso's Catholic faithful will climb at some point in their lives. Church-led pilgrimages take place around Easter, often on Good Friday, as the faithful climb the 2.5 miles and 2.5 miles down to remember Christ's journey to Calvary where he was crucified. The crude trails have Stations of the Cross along the way. Hiking Cristo Rey during this time is considered safe, as the Catholic diocese provides security for the hundreds who turn out. But as the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee's official website warns, the rest of the year, 'YOU DO CLIMB AT YOUR OWN RISK!' 'Vandalism, assaults and robberies are still an ongoing problem and visitors are encouraged to visit on days when organized events are being held and security is on site. Please visit the events page to get dates of upcoming events,' the monument's website warns. Although Border Patrol has long guarded Cristo Rey for illegal border jumpers, activity has spiked since 2021, as the border crisis has brought historic numbers of migrants to the area. The cartels control the mountain - not US authorities - even though at the summit, the smugglers are in the US illegally. It has become so out of control that US Border Patrol has ceded the peak to the cartels, agency sources explain. Teenage scouts who work for the cartels are perched up high most of the day, watching for an opportunity to sneak illegal immigrants down the rugged hills and into the US. Instead of sending agents racing up and down every time they see a smuggler - which is almost constant - the agency has decided in most cases, that it's a better use of resources to let the migrants come to them. That's where Border Patrol believes the migrants, not the agents, have tired themselves out - and where resources can be pooled to stop any runaways. Additionally, dispatching even a handful of agents up the mountain at night would put agents themselves in danger - with the possibility of one-on-one confrontations with cartel members who may or may not be armed. Smugglers often guide illegal immigrants through Cristo Rey because it appears to be a shorter distance on paper, but it's filled with danger. 'They'll move them through the draws and the canyons in Cristo Rey Mountain system, but even that short trek to get down to McNutt (Road in Sunland Park, New Mexico,) Border Patrol spokesman Landon Hutchens told DailyMail.com. 'It may be linear distance not that long, but when you go over that rough terrain with no shade whatsoever and the ground temperature is 125 degrees on the rocks, it's very easy for migrants to expire in a short distance.' Once the migrants make it closer to the bottom, agents on foot or on horseback are ready to move in to arrest the illegal border crossers. Migrants who make it past Border Patrol agents are guided to getaway cars by the smugglers on the mountain. 'Those polleros (smugglers,) they use cell phone to guide the migrants. They tell them, "Just run,"' Hutchens said. Related: El Paso: 2024-07-26 Sinaloa Cartel co-founder ‘El Mayo' taken into US custody El Paso: 2024-07-12 Gunmen in Mexico Kidnapped 200 Migrants Headed for Arizona Border El Paso: 2024-06-28 Illegal migrant suffocated Syracuse woman, 21, he'd known since childhood on her birthday Related: Sunland Park: 2024-04-28 LEAKED: Secret Recording Shows Dem Governor Slamming Border Patrol for Seizing Drugs Sunland Park: 2021-08-08 Migrants crossing border in New Mexico area instructed to take Ubers and Lyfts, local police helpless Sunland Park: 2019-09-06 Fisher Border Wall El Paso, TX Extended Cut Version (video) |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #5 *happy sigh* If only the big generals were clever enough to read Rantburg! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2024-07-27 23:05 |
| #4 The Texas Army National Guard now has the 3rd Squadron, 278 Armored Cavalry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas. Gov Abbott should notify National Guard Bureau that he is mobilizing elements of the Squadron in a State Active Duty Status, and put A and B Troops (the ground combat elements) in support of the US Border Patrol to restore order and clear the area. M1A1 Abrahms and Bradly Fighting Vehicles will solve this in an afternoon. Posse Commitatus issues become moot as such activation is strictly governed by state law not federal and the restrictions of Title 10 US Code do not apply. The L.A. Riots give ample proof of how the military support to civil authority role of the Guard is effective in such cases. https://www.militarymuseum.org/CAARNGLARiot.pdf |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2024-07-27 20:08 |
| #3 #1 Fort Bliss, next door at El Paso, has the 1st Armored Division. Wouldn't take much on the Executive to declare the first 3 miles from the border in unincorporated land to be a military zone, then move the necessary force in. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2024-07-27 17:07 |
| #2 There's never an Inquisition when you need one... |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2024-07-27 13:52 |
| #1 Where's the 10th Mountain Division? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-07-27 09:37 |