Border ALERT!

[American Patriot]

Gunmen seized a Holiday Inn in Monteray Mexico, just south of the border.

New, 12:20 pm: Read the full statement from InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns the Holiday Inn brand.


Original post: About three dozen gunmen stormed into a 17-story Holiday Inn and another hotel in the middle of Wednesday night in the industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico, and dragged off six people including three businessmen from Mexico City, according to reports from outlets including the Christian Science Monitor and the Associated Press.

• FOLLOW: Hotel Check-In on Twitter, Facebook

Among the people abducted: three men who registered at the Holiday Inn as businessmen from Mexico City, and a woman registered from McAllen, Texas, across the border, according to the AP's story. It's presumed to be the latest sign of drug-related violence in Mexico, the reports say.
The gunmen appeared to be searching for specific people, the AP story says.


The gunmen had with them a handcuffed man who led them to the 5th floor, the AP story says. The gunmen then room 517, where an Asian guest was staying; he wasn't who they were looking for so they left, the story says. The group then searched at least seven more rooms on the 5th floor before leaving the hotel and going into the Hotel Mision across the street where they abducted a receptionist, the AP story says.


Readers: InterContinental Hotels Group is sending me a statement now. I'll add it in a few minutes.

[American Patriot]

Gunmen abduct 6 from hotels in northern Mexico


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...879210,00.html

Published:

04.22.10, 09:38 / Israel News

Dozens of gunmen burst into a Holiday Inn and another hotel in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey Wednesday, searching from room-to-room and abducting at least six people, prosecutors said.
Nuevo Leon state attorney general Alejandro Garza y Garza said that between 20 and 30 gunmen abducted four guests and a receptionist from the 17-story Holiday Inn in Mexico's industrial hub, which has seen a surge in violence recently. (AP)

[American Patriot]

Gunmen abduct 6 from hotels in northern Mexico

AP – Suspects stand behind seized marijuana packages guarded by police and soldiers during a presentation …





By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer Olga R. Rodriguez, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 21, 11:38 pm ET


MEXICO CITY – Dozens of gunmen burst into a Holiday Inn and another hotel in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey Wednesday, searching from room-to-room and abducting at least six people, prosecutors said.


Nuevo Leon state attorney general Alejandro Garza y Garza said that between 20 and 30 gunmen abducted four guests and a receptionist from the 17-story Holiday Inn in Mexico's industrial hub, which has seen a surge in violence recently.


The gunmen had with them a handcuffed man who led them to the fifth floor, Garza y Garza said. The assailants stormed room 517 where an Asian guest was staying, realized he wasn't who they were looking for and left, he said.


The group then searched at least seven more rooms on the fifth floor, apparently looking for specific targets, before going across the street to the Hotel Mision where they abducted a receptionist, the attorney general said.


Those abducted included three male guests who registered at the Holiday Inn as businessmen from Mexico City and a woman registered as from the border city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas.


Garza y Garza said a private security guard who was outside the Holiday Inn has been reported missing but that it remains unclear if he was abducted by the gunmen.


Organized crime was likely behind the attacks, the state attorney general said.


"A lot of what we're going through right now is part of a readjustment among cartels," Garza y Garza told a news conference in Monterrey.


Still, it was not clear exactly what motivated the abductions or who the victims were.
Local media reported that the gunmen hijacked several trucks and used them to barricade two main avenues about 15 blocks from the hotels, presumably to prevent authorities from reaching the area. But Garza y Garza said police were still investigating that.


He said the attackers stole a computer containing the Holiday Inn's hotel registry and the hotel's security videos.


The U.S. Consulate in Monterrey denied media reports that an American woman had been kidnapped from the Holiday Inn, and it repeated warnings to U.S. citizens to be wary of violence in Nuevo Leon state.


Violence by battling drug cartels has become increasingly intrusive in Monterrey, where drug cartels have tried to confound police and soldiers by blockading roads with stolen, sometimes-burning vehicles.


Authorities say the violence is the result of a split between the Gulf cartel and its former ally, the Zetas drug gang.


On March 19, two university students were killed in the crossfire of a shootout between gunmen and soldiers outside the gates of their campus.


Since those shootings, at least three U.S. universities have suspended their exchange studies programs in Monterrey.


In one wealthy suburb on Monterrey, the mayor created a group of private crime fighters, unaffiliated with police and paid with donations by local businessmen — a security force he now says will be disbanded.


Mayor Mauricio Fernandez of San Pedro Garza Garcia said the group was "smeared" by allegations it might itself be involved in illegal activities.


He previously said the group would perform "rough work, I would call it cleansing" and suggested it might operate outside the law.


Elsewhere, police found the bound bodies of two men in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca, alongside a banner that threatened to kill 25 more drug cartel members.
Police said the killings are part of a battle between traffickers Hector Beltran Leyva and U.S.-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as "La Barbie."


Cuernavaca police said the bodies were found early Wednesday outside a bar.
A message left near the cadavers said 25 of Beltran Leyva's henchmen are being held and interrogated in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco and would be executed soon.
Late Wednesday, a clash between soldiers and gunmen in a Mexico City suburb left two alleged gunmen dead, said Guadalupe Sanchez, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutor in Mexico state.


In the border city of Tijuana, the Mexican army seized about 19 tons of marijuana that was packed and ready to be shipped north of the border, Gen. Alfonso Duarte said Wednesday.


State police reported that three men were found shot to death Tuesday in a taxi in Acapulco. It was unclear whether they were related to the drug dispute.
An estimated 22,700 people have been killed in Mexico's drug war since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a U.S.-backed military crackdown on drug cartels.

[American Patriot]

Dozens of Gunmen Storm Mexican Holiday Inn, Kidnapping at Least 6 People
Apr 22, 2010 8:28 AM EDT
Dozens of gunmen have kidnapped at least six people after storming a Holiday Inn hotel in Mexico.
Police said the heavily-armed gang ran from room to room before abducting a receptionist and four guests in the northern city of Monterrey, the country's third-largest city.
The U.S. consulate in Monterrey has denied media reports that an American woman was among the kidnapped.
Nuevo Leon state attorney general Alejandro Garza y Garza said the violence was probably caused by rivalry between drug gangs in the state following a feud between the Gulf cartel and its former ally the Zetas cartel.
Local newspapers said the gunmen hijacked several trucks and used them to block neighboring roads to stop police chasing them.
More than 22,700 people have so far died in drug violence since Mexican president Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on organized crime after taking office four years ago.

[American Patriot]

This happened just across from McAllen Texas. That's a place my Son-in-law and Daughter visit often, and where his Dad lives currently (along with brother and some relatives).

This is really, really bad.

Americans were abducted (woman from McAllen!)

[American Patriot]

Gunmen abduct Mexico hotel guests, no US woman among the victims

April 22nd, 2010 - 2:08 am ICT by BNO News


MONTERREY, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) – Seven people were abducted from the Holiday Inn hotel in downtown Monterrey, Mexico, the El Norte newspaper reported on Wednesday.


Witnesses said that a group of 50 hooded men executed the abductions in few minutes at Holiday Inn Hotel; they fled driving at least 10 SUVs. The operation happened after armed men blocked two main roads using four vehicles in order to avoid contact with military men who were patrolling the area.


At Holiday Inn hotel, a security guard was injured on the head. Several guests witnessed the abduction. It was originally reported that a security guard, the receptionist and four guests, including an American citizen were taken by the armed men. However the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey denied that an American woman was among the seven people abducted in the hotel.


“Our Consulate Office has not received information so far that any American citizen has been kidnapped this morning,” said Brian Quigley, a Consulate spokesman.


“We have information that there were American guests staying at the two hotels, but none were involved in the incident.”


One of the victims tried to escape but he was shot and retrieved by one of the gunmen. “They took many, they were armed, we heard punches and screams,” a witness said.


Earlier it was informed that a second group of hitmen attacked the Mision Hotel at the same time, just a few meters away from Holiday Inn, abducting a man but security personnel of the hotel declared that no person has been kidnapped at that place.

[American Patriot]

That they KNOW about!

[American Patriot]

3 kidnapped from hotel


MEXICO CITY -- In a bold predawn attack, gunmen stormed a hotel Wednesday in the heart of the northern city of Monterrey and kidnapped at least three people, officials said.


Mexican media said up to 50 hooded gunmen arrived in a convoy and burst into the downtown Holiday Inn, seizing guests and employees.


Law enforcement officials, offering only scant details by late afternoon, said it was not immediately clear whether a fourth person was seized. Authorities offered no motive for the kidnappings, but the attack bore the hallmarks of Mexico's drug gang violence.

[Malsua]

Dude, the picture in the 3rd post...that's a lot of weed.

My advice is to convince anyone you know to get away from the border. It's clear that the US government has no interest in policing it beyond some token lip service.

Make a 1 mile exclusionary free fire zone and be done with it. Enough with these shitbags in Washington looking for additional Si Hablo votes.

[American Patriot]

I don't see any images.

Oh, wait, I see THAT ONE!

Ok.

It's high time the folks in Texas sent out the Rangers and the civilian population to defend though.

[American Patriot]

In a strange turn of events today, for the first time I've ever heard of it, a foreign government has issued a "travel advisory" about traveling in the United States.

There might have been such alerts in the past, but this is the first one I've ever heard make the news...

Mexico issues travel alert for Mexican citizens in Arizona

Apr 27, 2010

The Mexican government issued a travel alert today cautioning its citizens about travel in Arizona because of a tough new immigration law and an "adverse political atmosphere" for all Mexican visitors.

The alert by Mexico's Foreign Relations Department to migrant communities and all Mexican visitors urges those in Arizona to "act with prudence and respect the framework of local laws," the Associated Press reports.

Click here to see the potential impact on Arizona of a tourism boycott.

The warning says that once the law takes effect, foreigners can be detained if they fail to carry immigration documents.


While enforcement details are not yet clear, the alert says ,"it should be assumed that any Mexican citizen could be bothered and questioned for no other reason at any moment."


Mexican foreign secretary Patricia Espinosa, speaking to the Institute for Mexicans Abroad on Monday, said Mexican citizens in the United States are experiencing particularly difficult times because of the economy and "a resurgence of hostile attitudes, the product of prejudice and intolerance," according to the Foreign Affairs Web site.


"The recent signing of Law SB 1070 in the state of Arizona is an example of this," she said.


Espinosa also said that Mexicans in the United States will have the federal government's full support, "especially those Mexican citizens whose rights are violated."


Update at 11:37 a.m. ET: Mexican President Felipe Calderon has warned that relations with the U.S. border state will suffer as a results of the law.
The measure, he said on Monday, "opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement," the Associated Press reports.


Calderon also said he had instructed the Foreign Relations Department to double its efforts to protect the rights of Mexicans living in the United States and seek help from lawyers and immigration experts.
"Nobody can sit around with their arms crossed in the face of decisions that so clearly affect our countrymen," Calderon said in a speech at the Institute for Mexicans Abroad.
(Posted by Doug Stanglin)

[American Patriot]

Boycotts of Arizona immigration law add up

By Roger Yu, USA TODAY

Many officials in Arizona's tourism and hospitality industry fear that the state's new immigration law is anything but hospitable.


Hotel owners, tour operators and convention executives say the law could discourage visitors and companies from meeting there at a time when one of the state's vital industries already is suffering.



ENFORCEMENT: Arizona agency seeks federal help


The law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last week, makes it a misdemeanor to not prove lawful U.S. residence when asked to provide such documentation.


Already there are ramifications and threats:


•The American Immigration Lawyers Association notified JW Marriott in Scottsdale that it's canceling a meeting of about 300 scheduled for later this year. George Tzamaras, an association spokesman, says, "We didn't feel it was appropriate to have a meeting in (the) state."
•Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., has called for an economic boycott by businesses that would locate in his state or visitors who would meet there.


•Janet Murguia, head of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights group, says she's considering "economic actions that can be taken."


•Asian American Hotel Owners Association, whose members own about 40% of U.S. hotels, want lawmakers to reconsider, says Ash Patel, the group's former chairman who owns several hotels in Arizona. "(Hotel owners) are very afraid right now," he says.
Arizona has felt the effect of a boycott before. The state lost about 170 conventions from 1990 to 1993 from boycotts because of the state's failure to approve a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.


Debbie Johnson, CEO of Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association, says her members are "deeply concerned."


Brewer says tourism in her state was affected before the law, however. The governor "is deeply concerned that the federal failure to secure our border has already harmed our tourism industry," Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman wrote in an e-mail.


Some business travelers, such as management consultant Randy Jones who's there often, say they welcome the law. "If anything," he says, "Arizona's position will cause me to go there more frequently

[vector7]

Radical Imam Caught Sneaking Into US in Car Trunk

Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 7:06 PM



Imam Said Jaziri appears at his Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Montreal Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007. (The Star)
A radical imam was captured in San Diego after he tried to sneak into the country in the trunk of a car.
LA Times Blog reported:

U.S. border authorities have arrested a controversial Muslim cleric who was deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago and was caught earlier this month trying to sneak into California inside the trunk of a BMW, according to court documents.

Said Jaziri, the former Imam of a Muslim congregation in Montreal, was hidden inside a car driven by a San Diego-area man who was pulled over by U.S. Border Patrol agents near an Indian casino east of San Diego. Jaziri allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling group $5,000 to get him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a “safe place anywhere in the U.S.”

The arrest marks the unexpected resurfacing of the 43-year-old cleric, whose protracted legal battle to avoid deportation drew headlines in Canada. A Tunisian immigrant, Jaziri was deported for failing to disclose a criminal conviction in France while applying for refugee status in the mid-1990s.

But Jaziri’s supporters said he was targeted for his fundamentalist views: Jaziri backed Sharia law for Canadian Muslims and led protests over the publication of the prophet Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

Jaziri is being held as a material witness in the criminal case against the BMW’s driver, Kenneth Robert Lawler, who has been charged with immigrant smuggling. He is at the San Luis Detention Facility near Yuma, Ariz., according to his attorney, Wayne Charles Mayer. His bond has been set at $25,000.

Jaziri allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling group $5,000 to get him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a “safe place anywhere in the U.S.”