"48 arrested in U.S. raid on Mexican drug cartel", Obama administration considering using military.

[jody]

48 arrested in U.S. raid on Mexican drug cartel

Reporting from Washington -- Federal authorities said today that they have arrested 48 people in California, Minnesota and Maryland as part of a 21-month investigation targeting the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexican drug trafficking organization that U.S. officials fear has spread into scoresof American cities.

In Operation Xcellerator, federal, state and local law enforcement officials in the U.S. worked closely with authorities in Mexico and Canada to arrest more than 751 people on narcotics-related charges, and seized more than 20 tons of narcotics, a Justice Department official said.

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is expected to announce more details at a news conference today. The operation comes amid growing concern that the Sinaloa Cartel and other Mexican crime organizations are out of control and threaten the stability of Mexico and towns on the U.S. side of theborder.

New Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the Obama administration is considering swarming the border with agents and possibly U.S. military support.

I support using military forces to protect the border but I object to using them for domestic law enforcement inside the U.S.

The Northern Command (NORTHCOM), as an on-call federal response force for natural or man-made emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks will undoubtedly provide the troops and that’s a dangerous step toward a fascist government.

That violates the basic protection I’ve enjoyed under the Posse Comitatus Act that Bush tried to eviscerate.

I hope Obama stops this before it goes any further

[Lost in CT]

1. Federal troops have been used inside the United States to enforce the law from time to time.

I have never understood the inability to remember American History from fifty years ago.

[BlooInBloo]

7. What's hard to understand about that? A lot of us aren't 50+ years old.

[Lost in CT]

19. C'mon this is modern Civil rights history... 1950's

may have been a long time ago but they still teach such ancient history is schools no?

[Still Sensible]

46. Your history is correct, however

there was so much controversy over that Executive Order, which was executed under extremely special circumstances,that subsequent Presidents have gone the National Guard route. And the special circumstance was that Governor Faubus had already activated his National Guard to surround Central High School to prevent segregation, so effectively Ike had no choice but temporary deployment of active duty forces.

[jody]

14. Lost in CT, you're obviously an expert on these matters, what active duty military units were used?

[Lost in CT]

18. 101st Airborne Division (United States)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101st_Airborne_Division_(United_States)#Civil_rights

From September through November 1957 elements of the division's 1st Airborne Battle Group, 327th Infantry (bearing the lineage of the old Company A, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment) were deployed to Little Rock, Arkansas, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to enforce Federal court orders during the Little Rock Crisis.

They were also used here....

n August and September 2000, the 3d Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, helped fight fires on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana. Designated Task Force Battle Force and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Jon S. Lehr, the battalion fought fires on the Valley Complex near Darby, Montana.[

[jody]

21. Excellent, then you know that President Eisenhower in Executive Order 10730 gave his authority under

10 USC 332/333/334.

That was a specific exception authorized by law and it was not the type of domestic law enforcement intended with 18 USC 1385.

[Lost in CT]

22. I don't disagree.

I don't want the 101st Airborne solving murder cases and arresting speeders but Pancho Villa style armies invading from the southern border are right up their alley IMHO.

[jody]

23. That's why I said "I support using military forces to protect the border but I object to using them

for domestic law enforcement inside the U.S."

Have a great day, :hi:

[a la izquierda]

51. You need to brush up on your Mexican history.

The cartels are most certainly NOT Pancho Villa style armies. Pancho Villa had an army. Period. They weren't academy trained me...just savvy guys with guns and grit, 100 years ago.
The cartels are thugs with heavy weaponry, no discipline whatsoever and absolutely no scruples. Do NOT compare the two.

[Lost in CT]

57. I was simply making the comparison of Breakaway armies making

incursions on American soil...

Yes Pancho Villa is not a Mexican Crime Cartel.

[a la izquierda]

58. Well...don't. They're apples and grapes

at this point and the filth that compose these cartels doesn't not need any legitimacy. Period.
Villa is probably rolling in his grave at what his country has become.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I hate to disagree only because I saw the early shootouts

on the mexican side of the border

And I saw how law enforcement was outgunned REGULARLY

Yes Virginia, 38 revolvers are no match for AK-47s (Cuernos de Chivo, as they are known colloquially)... in reality nor are 9mm Berettas.

The only way to stop this war from spreading north is one nobody at the Federal level is willing to consider.

LEGALIZE and REGULATE the crap, PERIOD.

This is prohibition

They don't

Fifteen years from now I predict the violence we see today in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana will be a day to day occurrence in the middle of the country

Oh and Possee, regardless of who is in the WHite House, will be a nice memory

[truedelphi]

5. Very much agree, but want to point out that one thing it will

Take any politician in order to legalize the SHIT, PERIOD, is to possess a tremendous amount of will power.

The sort of will power that Obama is showing in this excursion into addressing the problem.

The Clintons backed away from what needs to occur (On edit: They were scared off by threats against our agents in Mexico.)

Billie boy runs around all the time saying how marijuana needs to be legalized - HUH? Bill, were you not the President for eight years?

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I know it will take stones

since this is turning back on a policy that's been around for over one hundred years

They don't though.... I still remember getting shot at by the Arellanos on my way out of one too many scenes... and I was just the medic in a nicely marked ambulance that was theoretically neutral

I remember telling one of my partners, brush up on Geneva....

At the time they shook their heads

These days, not so much.

And here in the States, if it goes even half as hot as it has in Mexico, people will demand the army be sent in

[truedelphi]

67. Watching Lou Dobbs last week, remote in hand in case he got crazy-

Hateful, as he is sometimes wont to do, he had this story on about a guy whose home was invaded by the sort of outlaws you used to only see in places like Brazil and Mexico. (On edit: this was in Phoenix, AZ)

He fought off the home invasion with his arsenal of weapons. The local police spokesperson told Dobbs how these sorts of home invasions occurred about twelve to fourteen times a year several years ago. Now they are occurring twelve to fifteen times a month!! The invaders are usually people who are from south of the border, and who get their kicks from pushing the "product" and doing home invasions in their spare time.

Sad commentary on our times. As someone who lived in the most immigrant-
occupied neighborhood in San Rafael, CA in the nineties, I am shaking my head in disbelief.

I felt safer with all the people in that neighborhood around - very friendly and helpful. So sad to see the drug laws enabling the "occupation" of our cities by thugs, with their huge cartels offering them support.

[Posteritatis]

47. What does the colloquial term there mean? (nt)

[benEzra]

49. "Horns of the goat" or "Goat's horn," would be my (bad) translation.

Because of the very curved magazine (a result of the relatively small, tapered cartridge it fires), curved like the horns of a goat.

And in Mexico, the real thing (actual automatic AK-47's, as opposed to the U.S.-legal non-automatic variety) is quite common, as Mexican cartels also have trade routes to and from Columbia and other places awash in military equipment from Cold War proxy wars. If I had to bet, I'd say that's also where the cartels get a lot of their rocket launchers and other military hardware, though some of it is undoubtedly pilfered from the Mexican military as well.

[a la izquierda]

52. Much firepower comes from the US. N/T

[benEzra]

63. Handguns and a few non-automatic U.S.-legal civilian rifles, certainly.

Automatic weapons, hand grenades, and rocket launchers, no, because those things are as tightly controlled in the USA as 105mm howitzers, tanks, and 500-lb bombs. Unless they are stealing them from the U.S. military, National Guard armories, or police departments.

[a la izquierda]

65. I'm going to do some research...

but gun laws are extremely strict down here (in Mexico). They are getting AKs, or mock-ups of them, from the US. Rocket launchers...I don't know. But I'll be back with more info.
Okay, here's one, from the NY Times:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=5&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F02%2F26%2Fus%2F26borders.html&ei=YKCmSfC0CIOftwfIq4X4Dw&usg=AFQjCNHm2n8lR_T28wAxak17jSWHQOxfUg&sig2=BTK-kA4msw-4JNWnhR9qtQ

Another, from ABC news, April 2008:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FBlotter%2FStory%3Fid%3D4695848&ei=YKCmSfC0CIOftwfIq4X4Dw&usg=AFQjCNET6JiOE_6eCwg5YLPQlHNz1mVROA&sig2=YzYYXWYJ11jdBAe0iasyjg

From the Dallas news, re: grenades.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dallasnews.com%2Fsharedcontent%2Fdws%2Fnews%2Fnation%2Fstories%2FDN-grenades_13nat.ART.State.Edition1.4d52ff7.html&ei=haGmSb2VGteitgfH85jkDw&usg=AFQjCNGzeh_AsTxYe3zC3g5Hk2D5a9eq9g&sig2=SaZTS_76Lo33tv_CKVBXSg

Now, one has to keep in mind that there is a serious black market in Central America, as the Dallas article notes. Where do black market military goods in Central America come from? Again, the articles mentions civil wars. I would bet my next paycheck that those goods come from the very same place that drugs are flowing to, based on the history of Central America during the 1970s through early 1990s. Where the hell would narcos get a howitzer? Probably from the US, by way of a Central American country, who's paramilitary we supported against some "commie" threat. Maybe, maybe not. They *could* be getting them from the Mexican military as well...that's not entirely far-fetched, either.

[benEzra]

66. Don't forget that Mexican trade routes also run to and from Columbia,

where genuine, selective-fire AK's and M16's are common and cheap, the legacy of decades of U.S.-Soviet proxy wars. I do not doubt that plenty of handguns, and perhaps a few non-automatic U.S. civilian AR's and AK derivatives are in the mix, but the automatic weapons are most assuredly NOT coming from here, as they are less available here than they are in Mexico itself.

Under U.S. Federal law, possession of any AK (or any other firearm) outside of police/military duty that is capable of automatic fire, or capable of being easily converted to full auto, is a 10-year Federal felony under the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934 as amended by the Hughes Amendment to the McClure-Volkmer Act of 1986, unless you first obtain Federal authorization (BATFE Form 4). If you do obtain a Form 4, only pre-1986 collectibles can be sold to non-LEO civilians, may only be transferred via a specially licensed class III dealer, cannot even be taken out of state without notifying the BATFE, the BATFE gets to inspect your paperwork once a year, and civilian-transferable selective-fire AK's are so scarce that the going rate is $17,000 USD and up.

The MSM is quite clueless about the difference between U.S.-legal NFA Title 1 carbines and the NFA Title 2 restricted machineguns being used in cartel turf wars south of the border, or else ignore the distinction in hopes of spurring support for new U.S. bans. But if machineguns are flowing south of the border from the USA, they are coming from the police/military or their suppliers, NOT from the U.S. civilian firearms market.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wbardwel/public/nfalist/nfa_faq.txt
http://www.titleii.com/

[a la izquierda]

68. Okay, since I know nothing about guns

and you're a gun person, I'll stop while I'm ahead. I don't read the Mexican press on a daily basis--or anything.
You obviously know NOTHING about Mexican gun laws. And I don't think you read the articles I posted. Maybe they're not AKs...but two guys in AZ are getting federal weapons charges...oh, never mind.

I don't do guns. It seems one hell of an iota more logical that guns come from, um, the US (where the drugs go and much, much closer) than passing through several countries or a rather large body of water from Colombia.

[benEzra]

70. I'm not talking about Mexican gun law, but rather U.S. gun law.

The number of automatic weapons manufactured for the U.S. citizen market in the last 23 years is ZERO. None. Zilch. Nada. Their manufacture is restricted to police/military only and are very closely tracked; simple possession of any post-1986, or any unauthorized pre-1986, outside of police/military equals 10 years in Federal prison. And RPG's have never, ever been made in the United States, as the U.S. military does not use them.

If automatic weapons are being funneled into Mexico, they are not coming from the U.S. civilian gun market, since the U.S. does not distribute them outside of government channels.

The U.S. and Soviet governments DID deliver millions of them to Central American fighters in the 1970's and 1980's, though. And a lot of them are now in Columbia.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. True story, one shootout with the Arellanos

though the Army would never confirm it, had a shoulder launched American Made Sidewinder

Wanna bet that toy came from the Afghani War?

Battery was still hot.

As to the weapons trade, I still remember one particular call since it was the dot connecting people refuse to make

We took patient to the San Ysidro border station, where INS was busy disassembling a car for the coke

On the other side the Mexican army was busy confiscating guns from a bus

Both had camera crews filming this. Offered to get local channel access to the other side (would cost me a bottle of good scotch I suspect)

They were under orders from editors not to do that...

INS agent laughed and said, damn, why connect dots? Might make somebody's stomach hurt.

This is almost fifteen years ago...

People at the street level have refused to connect even the most obvious of dots in this war. And it is a war.

[benEzra]

64. True. But they're not getting automatic weapons, RPG's, or grenades here

unless they are being illegally diverted from police/military supply channels.

[nadinbrzezinski]

55. horns of the goat

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. I'd think our various intelligence capabilities could be essential to solving this problem.

Assuming proper warrants are issued, of course, between the U.S. and Mexican governments, I bet monitoring communications could tell you everything you'd need to know about any cartel at any given time.

The problem's already killed more people than 9-11.

[ZombieHorde]

4. So dumb, so profoundly dumb. I feel like we are being fooled. nt

[Bobbieo]

6. I bet you would feel differently if you lived in a border town. I cannot

see anything President Obama does as relating to fascism.

[NMDemDist2]

8. Juarez is a shooting war as are several other Mexican border cities

read this LA Times story for an idea how bad it is.

the military is to protect the US and if that's what it takes it may be better than letting vigilantes take matters into their own hands

it's a tough issue for sure, I understand your viewpoint too

:cry:


edit, I forgot the linky http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bordertown19-2009feb19,0,7443711.story?page=2

[Taverner]

9. Why not just legalize the drugs they're bringing in?

Shit - even if its Heroin, will it really be safer to give these guys the financial edge that keeps them alive?

[PretzelWarrior]

12. that's stupid. legalize Heroin and meth? No thanks.

apparently you haven't seen how it wrecks lives.

[Taverner]

13. Oh believe me, I know lots of people with ruined lives because of that crap

However, criminalizing it only helps the criminals. Seriously - they make a SERIOUS profit because its illegal.

Make it an OTC med, and provide treatment instead of jail for users and lives won't be destroyed

[Bobbieo]

15. Yes Taverner - I am one them with a ruined life and I am all for legalizing the stuff.

[PretzelWarrior]

10. I told my wife I want the US to crack the fuck down on these outlaws

they are worse than terrorists in many ways. We treat them as an everyday occurence. Meanwhile they kill and terrorize newspaper reporters, police, mayors, informants, etc.

THEY NEED TO BE MOWED DOWN and locked up. I'm sick of this shit on our back porch.

[Xithras]

16. These cartels aren't just criminal gangs anymore, they're armies.

In case anyone hasn't been paying attention, Mexico is on the brink of a civil war right now. These drug cartels now openly operate in violation of the law and have de-facto control over large parts of the US/Mexico border. They're armed to the teeth, have openly declared themselves to be above Mexican law, and have directly confronted and engaged the Mexican military.

If agents of these larger cartels cross into the U.S., they're not simply criminals but are agents of a foreign army. Using the military to quash military threats to the populace on U.S. soil has ALWAYS been a legitimate exception to Posse Comitatus.

If the cartels are using their military power to take over criminal networks in the U.S. with the intent of further strengthening funding for their armies, that too is a legitimate use.

[Bobbieo]

17. I think it is just a matter of time before they do break across the border

and God help us all!!!! It will be a bloodbath. Particularly for those of us who have addicts/dealers in the family.

[Xithras]

20. Yeah, I had a student make a good point about that recently.

His family recently fled the border because of the violence, ans we were talking about the control these groups increasingly have over U.S. criminal networks and the fact that they openly declare themselves to be independent of any national laws. A second student made a statement that the U.S. Army should cross the border and crush these militias before they become any more powerful. The first student looked at her and said, "Yeah, but what are you going to do when these cartels start telling the heroin addicts that they no longer accept money for product? What are you going to do when they tell all of the hardcore addicts that the only way to feed their habit is to join their war and start planting bombs in bus stops and police stations? How many crack addicts are going to magically set their addictions aside, salute the flag, and put the country before their need to get wasted?"

The room got very quiet at that point. Nobody had really thought of that, and it was a sobering possibility.

It's also something the drug gartel militas ALREADY do in Mexico. Get the foot soldiers seriously hooked on the drugs, and then threaten to withhold them if the foot soldier doesn't follow orders. Or worse, get innocents hooked on the drugs, and then force them to BECOME fighters just to feed their habit. This already happens EVERY DAY in Mexico. How long before it starts to happen here?

[jody]

24. We are wasting a trillion dollars in the War on Terror overseas and ignoring Domestic Terrorism. n/t

[Bobbieo]

26. Yes, you are correct and it is so very scary and I am so close to it.

Less than 25 miles away on one front and about ten on another front.

[Xithras]

35. My students family is from Mexicali

They ran a small restaurant in town and had to leave because the cartels tried to kill his cousin and uncle. The family had supported a politician who didn't agree with the cartels...they donated money to the campaign and put up signs in their restaraunt...and the cartel responded by shooting up their house. Nobody was killed, but that's just because everyone happened to be either working or shopping.

The fled across the border and are now running a taqueria in Fresno.

I agree that it's a frightning situation. What's even more frightning is that most Americans have no clue what's actually happening down there. The U.S. press doesn't cover it, the Mexican press is afraid to cover it, and these militias are getting bolder and wealthier by the day.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. Actually the mexican press does cover it

it has become a ritual.

Those reporters have also been killed fer covering things the dealers find objectionable

[a la izquierda]

53. It's covered, to a bloody, minute detail.

Every single day, I walk past newsstands with the most graphic pictures on the front pages. There are stories on every news station.

[VP505]

38. Maybe that scenario is one reason that,

drug addiction should be considered a Medical problem treated by Doctors rather than a legal problem dealt with by Dealers and law enforcement. If the addicts have no need for the dealers product, then what?

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. It is already happening

but that's ok, why this crap has to be legalized as a first step

See prohibition... same shit, different susbstances

[Beam Me Up]

50. First of all, that is someone's paranoid fantasy -- not the way things are.

Secondly, all it takes to completely undo that scenario is, as has been suggested numerous times, decriminalization.

If heroin (etc) were available from a clinic where the addict could get their fix for a reasonable fee in conjunction with health maintenance counseling, that would be the end of that, now, wouldn't it?

The only people who don't want drugs decriminalized are the drug cartels.

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. First this is not a paranoid fantasy, since the war is moving north

second, you think only cartels are against legalization?

My lord, you really think that?

Look up how much money goes to police agencies just from confiscation that otherwise wouldn't

and that is the tip of the iceberg

I had a talk with a Major (FAM) some years back, two decades to be exact. He pointed out this little factoid. The war on drugs is good to finance new toys... no matter what side of the fence.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Too late, they already have

San diego has had some doozies of shoot outs already.

To be exact in Chula Vista, and to be exact over the last three years

[NashVegas]

25. You Have No Clue What's Going On Right Now

I have a family member who lives in San Diego. He used to visit Tijuana regularly; now it's drying up and dying because of infighting, ever since Francisco Javier Arellano Félix was busted.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100063216

You do NOT want people bringing this shit up here. If they do, I guarantee you will see people asking to be deputized and then god knows what hell will break out.

[Bobbieo]

31. One good thing here - I think. We have a Marine Corps station in town and an Army

post about 30 miles from town.

This just might be a deterrent!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. No it wont

Tijuana has an Air Force post and an Army post. Both bases are even more secretive by the way than any base this side of the border.

When it comes to the Arellanos (and their ilk) you and I are just in the way... if they need to get to a nice shooting war

They will mostly stay out of some neutral areas, by mutual agreement, but that only works for so long

<---------- Got to see the early stages of that damn war in the flesh

Nothing more fun than transporting the wife of a capo to the hospital with a bullet in her arm and tell her to shut up, unless it is medically related. I didn't want to hear it... mostly for my own safety

Did I mention we left that scene with no police escort and had to play ahem possum and turn lights and sirens off? Starting IVs by maglight, oh the days... There are days I still wake up in a cold sweat.

[hootinholler]

27. So how many of the cartels were born in the CIA?

That's a serious question.

-Hoot

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. The sinaloa and Tijuana cartels are local

now you could make a case that some of the Colombian cartels can be traced to that crap. And the two above styled themselves after the Colombian ones

Blowback is your friend... NOT

TOO MUCH INSIDE BASEBALL I know

[cbc5g]

28. Hmm legalization works too and without all the bloodshed and loss of rights

[NashVegas]

30. It's Gone Beyond That

Read the story at the link in my above post.

[MadHound]

29. Geez, and legalizing drugs would end this shit

It would end the violence, the crime, the insane usurpation of our rights and our Constitution.

How long are we willing to suffer before America finally says enough?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

32. "When all you've got is a hammer..."

Can't the military be used to grow food and build homeless shelters?

Legalize pot, problem solved.

More reactionary BS from the phony "War on Drugs."

[NashVegas]

33. This Is _So_ _Not_About_Pot

This is about mob-style racketeering without the restraint (ha!) of 20th century Italian-style ethics code.

[Bobbieo]

36. That apparently is what is happening - power seems to be the goal,

So, it has come to this - the whole Mafioso plus complete control.
These bastards want to run the country!!! Haven't they done it in Africa?

[Still Sensible]

34. The governors of the states can use their

National Guard units for this purpose if they so choose. The federal government cannot order it nor use the active U.S. military. Of course, this assumes there are some guard units that aren't stuck in Iraq and available if the need arises.

Napolitano knows this full well. The article did not quote her. I wonder if this is just another case of sloppy reporting. I can't imagine her saying anything about using the U.S. military unless the country is under attack. And I don't think she would try the Bush-like tactic of stretching this to that extreme.

[Lost in CT]

37. See posts above . The federal Govenment can use active duty military.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. Here is the problem, having seen some of this crap in the flesh

you could make the case that the country is under attack by a foreign agent, aka the ground for federal armed forces under federal control

The Army was not deployed in Mexico just because the President wanted to... though Calderon is an idiot, but that is besides the point

They were deployed after fifteen years of worsening conditions that law enforcement could not control... no level of Law Enforcement...

There are many complex reasons for that. But having seen that mess when it began, in the flesh. I see the same already happening here.

To say that this is not scary would be to lie. But if this is not brought under control and it has precious little to do with drugs at this point, Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana are coming to middle america... fifteen years at most.

[Still Sensible]

69. You are, of course, correct

the drugs are just the current primary enterprise of Mexico's organized crime. If drugs were legalized, these criminals would find some other illegitimate enterprise as their source of money and power. And we are already seeing a spike in similar criminal terror in some places here--Phoenix for instance.

[lib2DaBone]

39. When Booze was Decriminalized... Al Capone was out of business...

We learned NOTHING in the 30's.

[Bobbieo]

40. You are forgetting prostitution, extortion, kidnapping, blackmailing - control is the name of the

game, now.

[Are_grits_groceries]

59. It has gone beyond "drugs and decriminalization."

These cartels are well armed, powerful, and growing by the day. Take away the drugs, and they will move on to controlling something else. They probably already do.
I don't like the armed forces taking action domestically at all. However, this is one time somebody better take an issue seriously. The police aren't equipped to deal with what they are coming up against.

[jody]

60. Agree so why doesn't the stimulus pkg include billions of dollars for domestic law enforcement? nt

[Are_grits_groceries]

61. There should be more support for domestic law enforcement.

However, you would have to equip police in the situation with Mexico like an army. They would have to have major training and weapons. I believe it will take the army to go up against these cartels inside the US and break their backs here. There needs to be some serious action taken so that it is prohibitive for them to cross the border. I wouldn't play with this for one second.
IMHO, the police and the citizens they are trying to protect are being hung out to dry now. They are sitting ducks for the power they are up against.

[jody]

62. I agree with using guard and active duty troops for border defense but IMO we should fund existing

law enforcement and not violate the Posse Comitatus act by using military forces for domestic law enforcement.

If state law enforcement is overwhelmed for a period, state guard units should be equipped and trained so a governor can use them.

I believe that is the intent in Article I, Section 8 of our Constitution:

"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;"

I believe facts show that Congress is derelict in doing its duty for the "organized militia" and essentially nothing has been done for the "unorganized militia".