Border Smuggling So Severe, Feds Decline to Prosecute

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Border Smuggling So Severe, Feds Decline to Prosecute

Last week, a House subcommittee hearing revealed the smuggling along the southern border is so severe, federal prosecutors decline to prosecute many cases. This news was the focus of a hearing, held by the House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, which examined the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) cooperation with state and local law enforcement officials on immigration.

At the hearing, witnesses testified that due to massive illegal activity, federal prosecutors in districts along the Southwest border decline to charge drug smugglers and illegal border crossers unless the amount of narcotics and/or aliens smuggled into the country reaches a certain threshold. Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff Larry Dever testified: "There are policies in place that establish thresholds for quantities of drugs and numbers of illegal aliens before consideration for prosecution can be entertained." In at least one federal district in Texas, Sheriff Dever continued, prosecutors will not file charges against those caught smuggling less than 750 kilograms of marijuana. And, in cases of smuggling illegal aliens, those caught smuggling fewer than six will not be prosecuted, and those crossing individually have seven chances before being charged with a misdemeanor, he said.

Subcommittee Ranking Member, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) then questioned Ronald Vitiello, Deputy Chief, U.S. Customs and Border Protection about the thresholds. "Give me your understanding of what the threshold is [in border states]" and what is the policy for those caught with drugs at checkpoints, he asked. Failing to provide Rep. Cuellar with a direct answer, Deputy Chief Vitiello replied that policies are "locally-based" in the various U.S. Attorneys Offices. However, a 2010 Associated Press article corroborates Sheriff Dever's statements regarding the smuggling threshold. (The San Diego Union-Tribune, Apr. 27, 2010) That article states that until recently, Arizona prosecutors refused to initiate charges against drug runners illegally crossing the border with less than 500 pounds of marijuana. (Id.)

Sheriff Dever claimed the prosecutorial threshold was part of what he dubbed the federal government's "Turn Back South" policy. The "Turn Back South" policy, according to his testimony, includes federal inaction at both the "prosecutorial and judicial level," as well as the turning back of "people who are detected [illegally crossing the border] but not caught." His testimony regarding the policy comes at a time when DHS Secretary Napolitano continues to claim that the border is more secure than ever because border apprehensions are at a low-point. (CNSNews, Apr. 5, 2011)

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And meanwhile...Rome is burning around Emperor Obama while he plays his violin (and basketball).

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