Destruction of U. S. With A Stroke of a Pen

Obama’s Amnesty Executive Order is Coming!

Conservative Daily May 31, 2014 Dear Conservative,

Yesterday, we saw the resignations of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and White House Press Secretary and Habitual Liar Jay Carney. Both resignations came within hours of one another, something that is seldom seen in the modern presidential era.

Shinseki obviously had to go. I have been calling for his resignation/impeachment from the beginning. While I respect his military career immensely, he presided over an unprecedented level of corruption within the VA. Jay Carney was equally bad; however, I think I am going to miss him giving me the propaganda of the day. Even on my worst days, Carney could always make me laugh with the nonsense he would spew.

There is, however, another story brewing in Washington, D.C. that has been overshadowed by these two resignations and it needs your absolute attention. The Obama administration is making some serious moves on the illegal immigrant amnesty front…

Barack Obama has ordered that the internal review of his administration’s immigration policies be delayed until the end of summer. The review is specifically focused on the administration’s immigration and deportation policies which have been arbitrary, at best. Now, I know what you are saying: “Isn’t it good that Obama is delaying his immigration review?” NO!

By delaying the review, which could have otherwise been released any day now, Obama is essentially blackmailing Congress to pass immigration reform before the end of the session. I told you about this a few days ago; how Harry Reid promised that Obama would use an executive order if the GOP didn’t pass an immigration reform bill in the next few weeks. Now, Obama is signaling that he is prepared to do just that. The assumption among policy experts is that within this delayed deportation review is a dramatic conclusion that deportations are not working and that they are unethical. No, you can’t make this stuff up…

The Obama administration is prepared to put an end to deportations and give amnesty to illegals right now, but the President wants to give Congress one more opportunity to acquiesce to his will. That CANNOT be allowed to happen!

It is my sincere hope that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson will resign or be impeached. I know that he’s not a household name like Janet Napolitano was, but he is absolutely a stain on this administration (which is actually saying a lot considering how awful Obama’s presidency has been…).

Jeh Johnson (that’s how you spell his name) is the man who Obama has charged with reviewing the country’s immigration policies. That’s fancy talk for “find a loophole to give out amnesty.” He is authoring the immigration report that Obama has now delayed and, based on everything this man has said, he supports the idea of ending deportations and handing out amnesty to illegals.

Now, hold onto your hats, because this is going to get bumpy. In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this week, Jeh Johnson released a statement condemning Congress’ oversight and accusing your legislators of trying to “micromanage” the Obama administration.

“I think that the legislative branch,” Johnson said, “whether it’s the enforcement of immigration laws, the enforcement of criminal laws or how we conduct counterterrorism operations, needs to be careful not to intrude into the discretion that the executive branch should normally have.”

Congressman Trey Gowdy, everyone’s favorite fiery interrogator, asked Johnson a simple question: what is the difference between “prosecutorial discretion” and simply ignoring parts of the law that the administration doesn’t like? Secretary Johnson’s response is absolutely startling.

“The legislative branch can and should and has the prerogative to set the broad parameters for national policy, and the executive should be given a certain amount of discretion based on existing circumstances to implement and enforce those laws,” the Secretary replied.

Now, that is a nice way of sugar coating the fact that no matter what laws Congress passes, no matter how specific their language may be, the Obama administration will continue to pick and choose which laws are enforced and which are not! Secretary Jeh Johnson, while an idiot, isn’t the problem. The problem is that not only does this administration not understand the rule of law and the constitution, but the Obama White House actually believes that it can rule the country by executive orders!

Obamacare enrollment must end on a certain date? Obama doesn’t care; he’ll just change the law!

Can’t pass gun control through the Congress? Don’t worry, Obama has executive orders for that!

No movement on “immigration reform?” The administration will just stop deporting illegal aliens, regardless of how many crimes they commit!

This is our reality! The President is blackmailing Congress, saying that if they don’t give him what he wants legally, then he will use tyrannical executive orders to achieve it!

We aren’t asking Congress to do a lot. We are just asking that they find their backbones and don’t capitulate to the terrorist occupying the Oval Office who is threatening to destroy this country with the stroke of a pen! 

Time is Short! Border Security - Yes, Amnesty - No

Harry Reid Promises Amnesty Executive Order!

 Conservative Daily May 23, 2014 Dear Conservative,

Believe it or not, Congress is running out of time to pass legislation during the remainder of this session. While they technically have until the end of this year/term, since this is an election year, the window for substantive legislation to be passed is much shorter. The closer we get to November, the less likely these Congressmen and Senators will be to pass any sort of controversial legislation.

Harry Reid has given the Republicans an ultimatum: either John Boehner puts an amnesty bill up for a vote in the House or Barack Obama will use an executive order to stop deportations all together!

This gives Boehner just days to decide what he is going to do. But more importantly, YOU have only days to explain to Boehner, Reid, and the rest of the Congress that both options are completely unacceptable and that these actions would be treasonous and impeachable!

This is the ultimatum that Harry Reid has given us. Either violate our deepest principles and pass a bill to give amnesty to illegal aliens, no questions asked... Or, we get to sit and watch Barack Obama sign another executive order, granting illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship while stomping on the constitution.

"At the end of six weeks, if something hasn’t been done, then there’s gonna have to be a move made,"  Reid told reporters, "and it's too bad we have to do that. We all know things can be done administratively, but it’s better to change the law.”

Reid has given Boehner until the end of the summer to comply with this threat. However, with the way that the Congressional schedule is, if the bill doesn't start its way through committee now, it will never reach the floor on time. That means that the decision on immigration reform will be made ANY DAY!

I warned you back in January that the GOP was waiting until after the party primaries before they brought immigration up for a vote. Now, with many incumbents safe from their tea party challengers, immigration is back on the table because they know you can't knock them off the ballot anymore!

Our response to this threat is rather simple to follow, even for a career politician...

If Boehner goes along with Reid's ultimatum and passes an amnesty bill, that is the end of the Republican Party. We need to let these RINOs know in no uncertain terms that a vote for an amnesty bill means the end of their political careers. PERIOD! Surrendering to this pressure is unacceptable and our legislators need to understand that when Republicans and Democrats are indistinguishable (which they mostly are) We the People won't vote for either!

But if Boehner and the Republicans stand tall and refuse to pass an amnesty bill, and Barack Obama uses an executive order to legalize these criminals, Congress must start impeachment proceedings immediately! The fact that Obama is even threatening to circumvent congress and grant amnesty/citizenship to illegal aliens on his own is impeachable! I'm tired of hearing political pundits claim that impeachment is off the table. If Barack H. Obama uses his "pen and phone" to essentially abolish our immigration system, him and his family must be forcibly removed from the White House!

They say that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists... Well, since Harry Reid is so comfortable throwing that term around against his political opponents, his ultimatum is nothing but a case of domestic terrorism. There, I said it!

To threaten Republicans with an unconstitutional executive order is beyond insulting. Why? Well, it assumes two things. First, Reid assumes that the GOP will go against its own voters, which hopefully will not happen. But secondly, the Democrats are assuming that Conservatives don't have the backbone to impeach the President if he signs an illegal immigration/amnesty executive order!

We need to make sure that both parties understand that both options in this ultimatum are unacceptable and pushing amnesty will mean the end of their political careers.

The Democrats have given the Republicans just a few weeks until the President violates the Constitution and gives out amnesty. They are hoping the Republicans cave and they are counting on the fact that they are too weak to do anything about it!

We must prove to them otherwise! 

Republicans - Revolt or Die!

Republican Party Suicide Watch – Revolt Or Die On Amnesty/Obamacare

April 28, 2014  By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton 

So, the elites in the Republican Party figure that they don’t need the approval of conservative voters anymore apparently. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (D-WA) came out and flatly stated what we all knew was coming if the Progressive Republicans got their way: Obamacare is here to stay and Amnesty will be a done deal by August. In case you don’t know who Rodgers is, she’s the House GOP Conference Chair. You people really, really want to go the way of the Whigs, don’t ya?

It would seem the usual suspect RINOs have been laying out plans to push Amnesty through. And they are playing word games, stating that this has everything to do with legal status and not Amnesty. Nuance. Not to be outdone on the DREAM Act, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) proudly proclaims: “[we] will soon introduce a bill that will establish a path to citizenship for the minor children of illegal immigrants and a guest worker program.” Cheap labor and a permanent slave class for all crony capitalists! I’m sure it will be packaged with a red, white and blue ribbon when it is delivered to the US Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) said the Republican leadership is “as close as we have ever been” and, though “it is still a big, big, heavy lift… I think we’re going to get there.” You’ll try, but when you get there son, you won’t have a Party left to celebrate with.

All of these people, including Paul Ryan, keep saying that conservatives support this — that the American people are behind them on it. Either they are delusional or they think if they say it long enough, it will magically come to pass. Boehner has declared he is hellbent on passing Amnesty and has derided any conservative who stood in the way. With big business lining his pockets as well as his cohorts, Boehner has too much invested to not ensure the Republican Party toes the Progressive line.

Passing Amnesty will put Arizona and Texas into play for the Democrats and will all but ensure a Marxist voting bloc for the foreseeable future. With New York, California and Texas, the Progressives will have a stranglehold on the nation. I have warned many times on this blog that the likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham would push Amnesty into being after the GOP primaries this year.

Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted the GOP leadership’s “immigration principles,” as Amnesty and rightly so. They and a very few others are calling the Republicans out for it and standing against it. The only ones I see fighting are Tea Party candidates. Read here on the five major problems with the GOP’s immigration policies. To summarize, they are:

• Legalization Before Enforcement
• Perpetual Amnesty for Children
• Betrays American Workers
• Obamacare Makes It Tougher for Americans to Buy What GOP Leadership Is Selling
• Legislation Will Be Less Conservative than ‘Principles’

Read it all…The best take down on all this betrayal from the Republican Party is penned by Judson Phillips of the Tea Party Nation, entitled An open letter to the Conservative Republican Members of the House. Judson captures the sentiments out there perfectly. As I have said before, the Tea Party needs to ascend within the Republican Party and take control. Barring that, a nasty divorce is coming which will spell the end of the Republican Party and will put the future of America up for grabs.

We’re done waiting and we are out of time. The conservatives within the Republican leadership must act now. As Judson puts it, they have a choice to make, “revolt or die.” The Tea Party is what brought the Republican Party back to life after Progressive weanies within its ranks brought it to the brink of extinction with prolific spending, taxing and regulation. We saved the Party and as thanks, we have been pilloried, vilified and constantly attacked by enemies within and without — all Progressive and or Marxist in nature.

In 2010, when we routed the Left, all that the Tea Party asked for was smaller government, less spending and a reduction in regulations that were suffocating business growth. We asked that Obamacare be stopped and turned back. Defunded if not outright repealed. Instead, Republicans doubled down and while saying they are against it, have done all they can to see it is entrenched forever in our way of life. Now Amnesty cometh and it will be the final nail in the coffin of a free America. No amount of wealth or power these people have been promised is worth that. It is suicidally short-sighted.

You have surrendered on the debt. You have allowed a whole raft of Marxist Executive Orders to be put in place. Our police have become militarized. The Constitution is shredded. We have never recovered fiscally. Our military prowess and standing globally has been made into a bad and dangerous joke. And instead of righting the conservative ship with some semblance of sanity, you keep running the same Progressive losers over and over for office. Sometimes winning, mostly not. Now you want to run Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney again. Americans don’t trust you or the Democrats. In reality, there is only one Party anymore — the Progressive Party.

It is two sides of the same Marxist coin. You say tomato, we say Communist.

Again, it is time for the leadership of the Republican Party to make a choice: “revolt or die.” Either clean house and get rid of the likes of Boehner, Cantor, McMorris Rodgers and McConnell, or go the way of the Whigs and end the Republican Party. You don’t have until 2016… the make or break point is here and now this year and if you insist on pushing these suicidal policies, the Tea Party will split from the Republicans. I guarantee it.

If you are going to ram home Progressive policies such as Obamacare, Amnesty, printing more and more money, out of control spending, higher taxation and stifling regulations, then why the hell should we bother with you? Because if we don’t vote for you the Democrats will win? What’s the difference?

There are true conservatives in America. I contend there are a whole lot of them. If you pass Amnesty, be prepared to watch them walk right out your door and tell you to pound sand and I’ll be there with them.

From Judson Phillips: Either the House Leadership is replaced by conservatives or you will see conservatives walk this fall.

For any Republican Members of the House currently suffering from Potomac Fever, here is a clue. K Street cannot reelect you. The Chamber of Commerce cannot reelect you. The conservative activists in your districts are the ones who reelect you. It would only take a switch of 16 to 18 seats to put Nancy Pelosi back in the Speaker’s chair.

Vote them out because you oppose them on principle or vote them out and replace them with conservatives simply because you want to stay in the majority. The choice is yours. Either live up to the conservative values that you claim you support or watch conservative voters leave the GOP for a new party.

Choose well. Indeed, choose as though your Party’s life depended on it, because it does. America is officially on Republican Party Suicide Watch. The Tea Party will take a conservative stand — you can change and welcome us into the fold and embrace Constitutional principles, or you can choose political extinction. Revolt or die.

Identity Theft - Click The Links For an Education

Illegal Aliens and Child ID Theft: "Acts of Hate"?

By Ronald W. Mortensen, May 5, 2014

Why does Jeb Bush hate American dads and their children? That question flows naturally from the fact that the illegal-alien dads, who Jeb has said sneak into the United States as an "act of love" for their families, immediately turn to what can only be described as "acts of hate" against American families.

One of the very first things that Jeb's illegal-alien dads do is to illegally obtain a Social Security number (a felony) in order to get jobs and other benefits reserved for American citizens and legal immigrants.

Jeb's illegal-alien dads much prefer the Social Security numbers of young American children since their numbers can be used for years before their American dads are even aware that the children they love are the victims of this criminal identity theft. In Utah alone, it is estimated that 80,000 Utah children are victims of illegal-alien-driven, job-related identity theft.

Jeb does not seem to care that his illegal-alien dads can do irreparable damage to American children's futures by:

• Destroying their credit,
• Corrupting their medical records with potentially life threatening consequences, 
• Leaving them with arrest records attached to their Social Security numbers, 
• Saddling them with unpaid taxes on income earned on their Social Security numbers, and
• Making them ineligible for Medicaid, financial aid for college, and other means-tested benefits because of income earned on their Social Security numbers.

In Jeb Bush's world, stealing an American child's Social Security number and destroying the child's future can be an "act of love". However, for thousands of children in Utah, and nationwide, whose Social Security numbers are used by illegal aliens, this is more like an "act of hate".

Solution: Secure Borders - National Destruction: Amnesty

Republicans Should notSupport 'Scamnesty'

Tuesday, 22 Apr 2014  By Joe Battaglia Newsmax.com

 Republicans who say they are in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants are "continuing a scam," that got them elected but could ultimately spell ruin for the party, according to one conservative author.

In discussing Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake's support of Jeb Bush's "Act of Love" immigration comment, Steve Deace, author of the book "Rules for Patriots: How Conservatives Can Win Again,"  told J.D. Hayworth, and John Bachman on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV that "never before in human history have so many people been willing to self-immolate for a worthless cause."

According to Deace, who also hosts a conservative radio talk show, continued support of "scamnesty" by Republicans "drunk on corporatist money from King Street" will ensure that a conservative will never again win the White House.

"Before the Reagan amnesty in '86, seven of the 10 presidential elections before that saw Republicans win California," Deace said. "Since then they haven't won since 1988. Four times the Republican nominees for president didn't get 40 percent of the popular vote there. Currently about 28 percent of Californians identify as Republicans and understand that those are California Republicans, or what Mississippi calls Democrats.

"Now imagine the same demographics exist in Texas right now that existed in California prior to the Reagan amnesty — 65 percent of new residents effective since the year 2000 are Hispanic, legal or illegal. If you do 'scamnesty' and you allow all those people to register to vote, within a decade, if not sooner, you will turn Texas blue just as you did to California and if California and Texas are both blue, that is one-third of the total electoral college vote that it takes to win the presidency, which means Republicans can never win another national election again in the foreseeable future."

Deace said the belief that supporting amnesty is a sure-fire way for Republicans to win the Hispanic vote is a major misconception.

"People say, 'Well that's why we've got to do this amnesty so Hispanics will vote for us.' That's not how this will actually result. Since 1980, 31 percent of Hispanics have physically voted Republican in presidential elections. Even George W. Bush, who spoke Spanish, barely got 40 percent. The people that are coming here illegally are coming from countries that are government, nanny states, welfare states countries that have infused Christian subculture with Marxism. When those countries are dried up, when they no longer have the pennies to take care of those people, they come here because we still have a welfare state.

"This is why you see Hispanics overwhelmingly, for marriage amendments for example, and then turn right around and vote for President Obama because in the end, people always vote their self-interest and this is a group of people that are used to governments taking care of their self-interest. So all you're going to do is take the current numbers, of demographics of Hispanics that vote about 70-30 in favor of the Democrats and you're just going to multiply them by millions. The demographic will remain the same but the number will even go higher."

In Deace's eyes, the only real solution to the immigration problem is to secure America's borders.

"If you actually want to fight back on this issue, you have to call the other side's bluff," he said. "Would the other side be in favor of amnesty if, in exchange for paying restitution for breaking the law, we told those people that are here illegally they'll never have the right to vote? You think they'd be for it? Of course they wouldn't because all they really want is to give them the right to vote so they'll vote for Democrats. So what you really need to do is attack this is a piecemeal fashion. It's not border security first, it is border security only.

"We've got drug cartels operating openly in broad daylight on our southern border in an era where 1 million, maybe 10 million jihadists around the world would love to just walk right across the Rio Grande and drop some plutonium in open air or into the water supply just to see what would happen. What kind of an American doesn't want to know that their border is secure when we're facing a global threat of terrorism? So to me, let's secure the border, let's see what that actually looks like, and then we'll have the conversation about what to do next."

Border Security Fiasco

Border Patrol Announces Plan to Help Illegals Enter!

Conservative Daily, May 1, 2014 Dear Conservative,

Every time there is a push to “modernize” our immigration system (liberal-speak for giving amnesty to people here illegally), Conservatives and RINOs alike push the Left for one specific concession: Border Security.

You see, when amnesty movements become a habit, the logical step to take is to close down our southern border so that if we reform our immigration system, we won’t have to do it again a few years down the road.

Dealing with illegal aliens without stopping migrants from further invading our country is nothing but perpetual amnesty. That is why under Presidents Reagan, Bush, and now Obama, one key component of immigration reform has always been border security and the construction of a southern border fence/wall.

Such a wall has never been fully completed. Out of the nearly 2000 miles of the southern border, less than 50% is currently walled off. A border fence was mandated in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, but it was never completed. In 2006, George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act, which was supposed to construct an additional 700 miles of double-layered border fences. However after Obama’s election, Nancy “Pass It to Learn What’s In It” Pelosi and the Democrats snuck a provision into an appropriations bill dictating that “nothing… shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border.” This provision has given DHS the complete authority to refuse to construct a border fence!

As I said, there is already a little less than 1000 miles of fences and walls along our southern border. Many of these fences, however, are nothing more than crudely erected sticks that couldn’t stop a roving toddler, let alone a Mexican drug trafficker. When the border walls are actually formidable (which is near major population centers), they still just funnel illegal aliens into arid desert areas. The logic behind this was that the desert served as a natural barrier that would surely deter people from entering the country illegally… WRONG!

Border Patrol Agents found 194 bodies and rescued 802 illegal migrants who tried to brave the desert last year alone. So far this year, agents have discovered 38 bodies already in the Tucson sector alone (which represents just 262 miles of the border). No one wants to see someone die, even if they were trying to invade our country. This is why it is absolutely imperative that we complete the border fence immediately!

But that isn’t what the Obama administration is doing. Instead of building more fences and walls, the Obama administration is installing distress beacons in the desert for illegal aliens to radio for help if they are dehydrated or if they need help crossing! This is ludicrous!

Anyone who has gone on a college or university admissions tour knows exactly what these devices are. They are large towers that emit a high powered radio frequency whenever someone is in distress and presses the call button. So instead of walling off our border and stopping the influx of illegal immigrants, the Obama administration is installing call boxes so that Border Patrol agents can rescue migrants in distress. Does anyone actually think that these people will be deported after calling for help?

Why stop there? How about we erect lemonade stands throughout the desert to keep these illegal alien criminals hydrated? God forbid we have illegal aliens who are parched.

Or better yet, how about we install those moving walkways used in airports? We can’t afford for these illegal aliens to be getting blisters as they are violating our sovereignty and immigration laws. That would be inhumane! </sarcasm>

Obviously that is in jest, but we aren’t far off from that.

We have laws on the books prohibiting individuals from illegally entering our country. We should be erecting fences and manning the border with the National Guard, not installing help kiosks to better serve these invaders.

The GOP has promised that a border fence provision will be a part of their amnesty bill that they plan to unveil by the end of the summer.

First of all, why the hell does protecting and securing our border have to be connected to giving illegal aliens amnesty? Is this really what this country has become? Democrats are threatening not to enforce our border if we don’t grant citizenship to 12+ million criminals? Not in my America! The border should be enforced… PERIOD! There shouldn’t be any caveats or preconditions.

Secondly, do these RINOs actually believe that if they mandate border enforcement that the Administration will actually follow that law? Does anyone actually expect Barack Hussein Obama to start enforcing laws that he doesn’t agree with? It’s never going to happen! Obama has already ordered the cessation of most deportations. His goal is to have more illegal immigration, not less, so of course he will never actually protect our border!

If we want to help these illegal aliens from dying in the desert while illegally entering the U.S., the best thing we can do is build a damn fence. We need to build a fence and actually staff it with agents to physically stop these people from entering the country.

The Obama administration has a different plan. They have already dispatched border patrol agents to hand out desert survival literature to illegal aliens preparing to cross the border (Fact), now they are installing a network of distress beacons to help these criminals navigate the desert!

I am tired of treating our immigration laws and border security as if it is something to be bargained for! We shouldn’t have to compromise to keep illegal migrants, drug and human traffickers, and terrorists out of our country. You can’t trust anyone who says that border security can be used as a bargaining chip because as long as it is acceptable to negotiate security and enforcement in one way, they will continue to use it to get what they want!

Our border security and national sovereignty is non-negotiable and it is time that Congress understood that! I am tired of Democrats holding our country hostage and the GOP just accepting that!

Joe Otto Conservative Daily 

Another Threat to American Sovereignty

Mexican drug cartels move deeper into United States to maximize profits

The Associated Press www.nydailynews.com  April 1, 2013 (Part II of II)

Statistics from the DEA suggest a heightened cartel presence in more U.S. cities. In 2008, around 230 American communities reported some level of cartel presence. That number climbed to more than 1,200 in 2011, the most recent year for which information is available, though the increase is partly due to better reporting.

Dozens of federal agents and local police interviewed by the AP said they have identified cartel members or operatives using wiretapped conversations, informants or confessions. Hundreds of court documents reviewed by the AP appear to support those statements.

"This is the first time we've been seeing it - cartels who have their operatives actually sent here," said Richard Pearson, a lieutenant with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, which arrested four alleged operatives of the Zetas cartel in November in the suburb of Okolona.

People who live on the tree-lined street where authorities seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana and more than $1 million in cash were shocked to learn their low-key neighbors were accused of working for one of Mexico's most violent drug syndicates, Pearson said.

One of the best documented cases is Jose Gonzalez-Zavala, who was dispatched to the U.S. by the La Familia cartel, according to court filings.

In 2008, the former taxi driver and father of five moved into a spacious home at 1416 Brookfield Drive in a middle-class neighborhood of Joliet, southwest of Chicago. From there, court papers indicate, he oversaw wholesale shipments of cocaine in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Wiretap transcripts reveal he called an unidentified cartel boss in Mexico almost every day, displaying the deference any midlevel executive might show to someone higher up the corporate ladder. Once he stammered as he explained that one customer would not pay a debt until after a trip.

"No," snaps the boss. "What we need is for him to pay."

The same cartel assigned Jorge Guadalupe Ayala-German to guard a Chicago-area stash house for $300 a week, plus a promised $35,000 lump-sum payment once he returned to Mexico after a year or two, according to court documents.

Ayala-German brought his wife and child to help give the house the appearance of an ordinary family residence. But he was arrested before he could return home and pleaded guilty to multiple trafficking charges. He will be sentenced later this year.

Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez was convicted in 2011 of heading a massive drug operation in suburban Atlanta's Gwinnett County. The chief prosecutor said he and his associates were high-ranking figures in the La Familia cartel - an allegation defense lawyers denied.

And at the end of February outside Columbus, Ohio, authorities arrested 34-year-old Isaac Eli Perez Neri, who allegedly told investigators he was a debt collector for the Sinaloa cartel.

An Atlanta attorney who has represented reputed cartel members says authorities sometimes overstate the threat such men pose.

"Often, you have a kid whose first time leaving Mexico is sleeping on a mattress at a stash house playing Game Boy, eating Burger King, just checking drugs or money in and out," said Bruce Harvey. "Then he's arrested and gets a gargantuan sentence. It's sad."

Because cartels accumulate houses full of cash, they run the constant risk associates will skim off the top. That points to the main reason cartels prefer their own people: Trust is hard to come by in their cutthroat world. There's also a fear factor. Cartels can exert more control on their operatives than on middlemen, often by threatening to torture or kill loved ones back home.

Danny Porter, chief prosecutor in Gwinnett County, Ga., said he has tried to entice dozens of suspected cartel members to cooperate with American authorities. Nearly all declined. Some laughed in his face.

"They say, `We are more scared of them (the cartels) than we are of you. We talk and they'll boil our family in acid,'" Porter said. "Their families are essentially hostages."

Citing the safety of his own family, Gonzalez-Zavala declined to cooperate with authorities in exchange for years being shaved off his 40-year sentence.

In other cases, cartel brass send their own family members to the U.S.

"They're sometimes married or related to people in the cartels," Porter said. "They don't hire casual labor." So meticulous have cartels become that some even have operatives fill out job applications before being dispatched to the U.S., Riley added.

In Mexico, the cartels are known for a staggering number of killings — more than 50,000, according to one tally. Beheadings are sometimes a signature.

So far, cartels don't appear to be directly responsible for large numbers of slayings in the United States, though the Texas Department of Public Safety reported 22 killings and five kidnappings in Texas at the hands of Mexican cartels from 2010 through mid- 2011.

Still, police worry that increased cartel activity could fuel heightened violence.

In Chicago, the police commander who oversees narcotics investigations, James O'Grady, said street-gang disputes over turf account for most of the city's uptick in murders last year, when slayings topped 500 for the first time since 2008. Although the cartels aren't dictating the territorial wars, they are the source of drugs.Riley's assessment is stark: He argues that the cartels should be seen as an underlying cause of Chicago's disturbingly high murder rate.

"They are the puppeteers," he said. "Maybe the shooter didn't know and maybe the victim didn't know that. 

But if you follow it down the line, the cartels are ultimately responsible."

Another Threat to American Sovereignty

Mexican drug cartels move deeper into United States to maximize profits

The Associated Press www.nydailynews.com April 1, 2013 (Part I of II)

 An Associated Press review of federal court cases and government data finds that drug groups south of the border have been deploying agents into non-border states. ‘It’s probably the most serious threat the United States has faced from organized crime,’ said Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chicago office.

CHICAGO — Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.

If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.

Cartel activity in the U.S. is certainly not new. Starting in the 1990s, the ruthless syndicates became the nation's No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, using unaffiliated middlemen to smuggle cocaine, marijuana and heroin beyond the border or even to grow pot here.

But a wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. Cartel operatives are suspected of running drug-distribution networks in at least nine non-border states, often in middle-class suburbs in the Midwest, South and Northeast.

"It's probably the most serious threat the United States has faced from organized crime," said Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office.

The cartel threat looms so large that one of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpins — a man who has never set foot in Chicago — was recently named the city's Public Enemy No. 1, the same notorious label once assigned to Al Capone.

The Chicago Crime Commission, a non-government agency that tracks crime trends in the region, said it considers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman even more menacing than Capone because Guzman leads the deadly Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in Chicago and in many cities across the U.S.

Years ago, Mexico faced the same problem — of then-nascent cartels expanding their power — "and didn't nip the problem in the bud," said Jack Killorin, head of an anti-trafficking program in Atlanta for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "And see where they are now."

Riley sounds a similar alarm: "People think, `The border's 1,700 miles away. This isn't our problem.' Well, it is. These days, we operate as if Chicago is on the border."

Border states from Texas to California have long grappled with a cartel presence. But cases involving cartel members have now emerged in the suburbs of Chicago and Atlanta, as well as Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and rural North Carolina. Suspects have also surfaced in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Mexican drug cartels "are taking over our neighborhoods," Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane warned a legislative committee in February. State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan disputed her claim, saying cartels are primarily drug suppliers, not the ones trafficking drugs on the ground.

For years, cartels were more inclined to make deals in Mexico with American traffickers, who would then handle transportation to and distribution within major cities, said Art Bilek, a former organized crime investigator who is now executive vice president of the crime commission.

As their organizations grew more sophisticated, the cartels began scheming to keep more profits for themselves. So leaders sought to cut out middlemen and assume more direct control, pushing aside American traffickers, he said.

Beginning two or three years ago, authorities noticed that cartels were putting "deputies on the ground here," Bilek said. "Chicago became such a massive market ... it was critical that they had firm control."

To help fight the syndicates, Chicago recently opened a first-of-its-kind facility at a secret location where 70 federal agents work side-by-side with police and prosecutors. Their primary focus is the point of contact between suburban-based cartel operatives and city street gangs who act as retail salesmen. That is when both sides are most vulnerable to detection, when they are most likely to meet in the open or use cellphones that can be wiretapped.

Others are skeptical about claims cartels are expanding their presence, saying law-enforcement agencies are prone to exaggerating threats to justify bigger budgets.

David Shirk, of the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute, said there is a dearth of reliable intelligence that cartels are dispatching operatives from Mexico on a large scale.

"We know astonishingly little about the structure and dynamics of cartels north of the border," Shirk said. 

"We need to be very cautious about the assumptions we make."