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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Probe of Mexican drug cartel leads to nearly 1,200 arrests in U.S. Authorities say recent raids have targeted La Familia Michoacana's fast-growing operations in California, Texas and other states. Reporting from Washington - In a series of recent raids throughout the United States, federal authorities have arrested nearly 1,200 people who they say are connected to one of Mexico's most aggressively expanding and deadly drug trafficking cartels, known as La Familia Michoacana, law enforcement officials told The Times' Washington bureau. At least 300 of the arrests occurred today and Wednesday in California, Texas, Georgia and numerous other U.S. locations where the crime syndicate has set up bases to engage in drug trafficking, extortion and other crimes, authorities said. The crackdown, dubbed "Project Coronado," was described by one knowledgeable source as the largest single strike in the United States against the Mexican cartels, based on a multi-agency investigation that lasted nearly 3 1/2 years. The source said authorities seized huge amounts of drug, money and evidence that can be used to go after more senior members of La Familia. Although it is a relative newcomer to Mexico's drug underworld, La Familia has been one of the most violent and quick to attack Mexican troops and lawmakers who have tried to halt its expansion, U.S. counter-narcotics officials say. It also has been locked in a violent struggle with a group known as the Zetas, former allies who serve as the armed wing of a Gulf cartel. La Familia has been linked to hundreds of drug-related killings in Mexico, including the kidnapping and torture and murders of 12 federal agents in the western state of Michoacan, La Familia's home base, in July. The investigation involved hundreds of agents and analysts from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as prosecutors and other officials from the Justice Department. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and the directors of the FBI, DEA and ATF are expected to announce the results of the effort at a news conference this morning. Representatives of all three agencies involved said they would have no comment in the meantime. On Wednesday, federal and local authorities arrested 90 people in Dallas as part of a nationwide methamphetamine drug distribution bust tied to La Familia, authorities there said. Local news reports said authorities also seized massive amounts of methamphetamines and cocaine, as well as money and guns. Dozens of others were arrested in and around Los Angeles and Atlanta, which has become a major hub for La Familia in recent years. Authorities say they are trying to unravel not only La Familia's presence in the United States, but also the many independent drug distribution branches that it supplies with drugs.
Poster Comment: I read that the major drug gangs have 250,000 employees inside the US.
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#1. To: Horse (#0)
Yet the border is, for all practical purposes, wide open. I know of at least 3 halfway houses, in Mexico across from El Paso, where middle easterners are given a shave, western clothing, minimal Spanish training, and then mixed in with illegal aliens for an easy trip to the states. They are processing over 100/month, and have done so for years. I have no idea how many more of these "houses" there are spread over the rest of the long border. Some of these people may be illegally seeking a better life here, but am not so stupid to think that there aren't some very bad apples amongst the group. With the Keystone Kops watching our back, we are totally screwed.
If a man has nothing that he is willing to die for, then he has nothing worth living for.
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