rip crew is a rival drug smuggling gang that steals drugs and cash from other smugglers

The Sonoran Desert National Monument, about 60 miles southwest of Phoenix, contains more than 487,000 acres of the most beautiful and biologically diverse desert in North America. This national monument includes a saguaro cactus forest, three distinct mountain ranges and wide, lovely valleys. It is home to many archaeological sites and historic trails and landmarks.

Because of its vast beauty, the Sonoran Desert monument beckons thousands of visitors every year. People come to sightsee, horseback ride and hike its many trails. Backpacking and primitive camping were until recently quite popular.

No longer. Nearly 80 miles from the Mexican border, the rampant crime taking place today within the monument is so out of control that the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management website warns: "Visitors should be aware that narcotic smuggling activities occur within this national monument. If you see any activity that looks illegal, suspicious, or out of place, please do not intervene."

The website warns people not to travel off well-marked roads or pick up hitchhikers — and to avoid all contact with distressed people asking for water or assistance. For those hardy souls still willing to visit, signs have been placed throughout the area warning starkly of the dangers from active drug- and human-smuggling activities.

In a June 1 guest editorial in the Sonoran News, Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Ariz., noted that last year 219,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended in one section of Arizona alone — and the U.S. Border Patrol estimates another 400,000 made the journey successfully. The sheriff discussed the dangers our porous borders pose, and he noted that many of those apprehended have had "troubling ties to terrorism."

He should know. Recently in his jurisdiction, a man was found dead and another wounded after a group of drug smugglers was attacked by a rival gang. The injured man told deputies that he was traveling through the desert with 14 other illegal immigrants when they were attacked by a rip crew that opened fire on them. (A rip crew is a rival drug smuggling gang that steals drugs and cash from other smugglers.)

And it's not just in Arizona. According to the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, in Texas alone there have been 22 murders, 24 assaults, 15 shootings and five kidnappings linked to Mexican drug cartels since 2010.

 
From California to Texas, county and small-town law enforcement officials have sounded the warning that the drug wars and bloodshed that have plagued Mexico have begun to spill over into the United States. And the cartels responsible for drug smuggling have expanded their activities into the grim business of human smuggling.

Trafficking humans has become a $20 billion-a-year business for Mexican drug cartels. That has made immigrating illegally into the U.S. a very dangerous activity for desperate migrants. Having commandeered the human-smuggling business from independent coyotes, drug cartels often charge outrageous sums of money for transportation across the border.

Immigrants are often forced into prostitution or held captive until family members can raise the required ransom. Countless numbers of immigrants have been raped, abandoned along the way or murdered.

In March, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano spoke in El Paso, Texas. She stated that security on the southern U.S. border "is better now than it ever has been," and she denied that serious violence from neighboring Mexico had spilled over into the U.S. Napolitano stressed that border towns are safe for travel, trade and commerce.

Last month — again in El Paso — President Obama delivered a policy speech on immigration. Full of praise for his administration's efforts, Obama's speech was notable mainly for his snide comments about Republicans. In a speech that did absolutely nothing to help foster a bipartisan attempt at border security, he told the crowd:

"So, we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. But even though we've answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They'll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They'll say we need a higher fence to support reform. Maybe they'll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That's politics."

Who is correct? Napolitano and Obama or the local sheriffs and residents living in border towns?

Is Amy Pope, a U.S. attorney general deputy chief of staff, correct in saying there hasn't been a crime spike of any significance on the U.S. border, or do we believe the Burns family of Brooks County, Texas, who packed up and left their 38,000-acre ranch because the drug cartels are just too much of a threat?

Do we ignore the pleas of the family of murdered rancher Richard Krentz for military troops to be stationed on the border? Or do we believe the president when he says the border has never been safer?


Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl have introduced a 10-point plan to tighten the border. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, has introduced legislation seeking to designate six Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Such a designation would limit their financial interests and travel abilities and inflict harsher punishments on those who seek to provide them financial support.

There is no easy answer to border security. Mexicans and Americans living along the border towns share histories and bloodlines that go way back. Families who have crisscrossed the border for years, visiting back and forth, should not have to be cut off from one another. On the other hand, Americans should not be forced to sacrifice their safety on our roads and in our cities and national parks.

Sheriff Babeu may have summed it up best in his editorial: "Mexico is not our enemy. The cartels are the enemy of Mexico and America. They have brought their violence here to America. Local sheriffs can't fight them alone. We can address this growing threat, or we can make jokes, laugh and believe the border is more secure than ever."