Friday April 13, 2012, 7:31 pm

Two people were killed on Sunday night when "an unknown number of subjects in camouflage clothing armed with rifles" ambushed a truck carrying 20 to 30 undocumented immigrants near the southern Arizona town of Eloy," according to the Pima County sheriff's department.

Border Patrol agents and police found one body in the bed of the pickup truck and the other nearby in the desert. The identities of the victims have not been released.

Five other border crossers were found hiding in nearby brush and were turned over to Border Patrol after being questioned. The rest managed to escape into the desert on foot.

When asked if investigators suspect the attack was orchestrated by a militia, sheriff's department spokesperson Deputy Dawn Barkman said investigators are "looking into every possibility but nothing is conclusive."

The truck carrying the immigrants was traveling in a wash that is commonly used for "human smuggling," according to the sheriff's department. A wash is a river in the desert that is often without water.
****
By Mike Ludwig, Truthout | Report

Friday April 13, 2012, 7:36 pm

This is the best we can do for an immigration policy? Maybe the alligator's would be kinder. People cross the border hoping for a chance at a better life, no it's not legal, but to shoot them? I just don't understand this vigilante, mean spirited attitude in this country; not just toward immigration but toward anyone who doesn't fit some preconceived ideas.

Friday April 13, 2012, 8:01 pm
Amen, Kit. This is one example of many, many sad things in this country which I do not understand at all. I just came home from my first training session in my 99% Spring Training and I learned a lot, so there is some things for the old revolutionary to learn. There were four races and four languages in my car on the commuter train. Every one was in a great mood and except for 3 oldsters, every one was under 35. There I was thinking gratefully that there was no awareness of race at all ....and then I read this. It is so painful when a joyful heart suddenly becomes a broken heart.

Saturday April 14, 2012, 2:19 am
Sickening Ty Kit

Saturday April 14, 2012, 10:49 am
I wonder how these fascist tin horn soldiers rationalize murdering unarmed human beings. Karma will make them pay.

Saturday April 14, 2012, 4:37 pm

They are not rationalizing, Robert. Attitudes in this country have given license to people to hate and murder and few will ever pay for the injustice.

Saturday April 14, 2012, 5:52 pm
I can't comment on this - my daughter was born to an illegal - we were legally married - I know a lot about the other side of thins though I don't agree with many things today that the illegals receive - this was over 30 years ago.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 10:15 am
thanks

Sunday April 15, 2012, 10:34 am
Add this to the stupidity of Obama's complete lack of concern or attention for immigration reform.
By the way, what ever became of his aunt and uncle (un-related) who were found to be in this country illegally?

Sunday April 15, 2012, 11:16 am

I'm so sorry to burst your bubble Allan, but this about uniformed, armed vigilante groups committing murder on our borders. Who really give a damn about some relatives of the president. This is REAL, people are being murdered, slaughtered because the people in this country can not seem to focus on more then one issue at a time. Amnesty? Oh, shock and horror! Let's write a fair, honest and reasonable immigration policy that applies to all who enter the country illegally. Hey, maybe we could even do that without name calling, or culling out the herd; never mind that is too much to expect.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 12:34 pm
This is, as the Dem.legislator stated, a public safety issue.....Please, Arizona---do not vote for a vigilante group to patrol the border.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 3:34 pm
Really scary and realy sad.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 4:24 pm
Thanks for posting this, Kit. Little Brisenia Flores was murdered by people with ties to the Minutemen here in AZ. You'd think that would stop any thought of legislation for a legally formed militia. But, here in crazy AZ, it just ramps up the rhetoric for more armed citizens. I've decided that those who continue to spread this nightmare of vigilantism must be mentally ill. I'll continue to badger my legislators not to pass this inhuman, unlawful bill.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 4:43 pm
Thanks Kit.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 5:58 pm
This is very sad. The white supremacy movement and the extreme conservative right-wing are hell bent on using "Mexican-Americans" as the scapegoats for the problems that face our country. Just like Hitler did in Nazi Germany. When will the people learn, that the Nazis and their hatred will only destroy this great country if they are allowed to have their way!


NSM Neo-Nazi Rally/ CA's Jeff Hall/AZ's JT Ready, Riverside 10/24/09 ( Quotes at 4:30 of Video)

"Nazi Germany was a great country," "Adolf Hitler was an excellent civil rights leader" J.T. Ready NSM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey7JtRzpcmA

Sunday April 15, 2012, 6:21 pm

Once again I am not able to send out Green Stars to so many deserving comments. My thanks to Frank for sending me so many really good stories, it may take months to get everything posted by I will try. We can only be honest about the truth if see the truth.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 7:11 pm
This is so very sad. They did not deserve this. No one does. But they are not immigrants, ok? It's still not ok to shoot and kill tehm though.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 7:15 pm
Once again zero facts and a lot of speculation. Rival drug and alien smuggling gangs have been known to attack activities by other gangs. Not the first time you on the left have jumped to conclusions. The real issue is the total lack of border enforcement by the Feds that has resulted in lots of deaths of illegal aliens and US citizens. We need a house cleaning in DC especially in the current administration,

Sunday April 15, 2012, 7:36 pm
Murder. It is murder. And it is obvious that the State of Arizona condones such behavior. Very sad.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 8:04 pm

Arizona seems to have stepped beyond condoning this beyond, they have all but put up a Help Wanted sign.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 8:06 pm


America, the flag and Apple pie, once those things brought us together, now we must be from the correct slice of American Pie.

Sunday April 15, 2012, 8:51 pm
thanks Kit

Sunday April 15, 2012, 9:34 pm
Never underestimate the stupidity of rednecks in large numbers.

Monday April 16, 2012, 2:21 am
Disgusting state of affair They call them self civilized nation they are the biggest terrorist worst then Osma Bin Laden or Taliban there is no difference between them They are turning in to WILD WEST

Monday April 16, 2012, 4:46 am
We must cultivate our own love and radiate it as much as possible outside. And we must have a clear picture in our mind WHAT kind of world we want to be in. ..... and we have to fight for human rights.
That's all what we can do ... but it will change the world!

Monday April 16, 2012, 7:19 am
thanks for posting

Monday April 16, 2012, 8:45 am
more gang wars... we need to keep the mexican's violence off our land, GO BACK TO MEXICO!

Monday April 16, 2012, 9:36 am
The racists just come out of the woodwork whenever immigration is the topic, don't they?

What they always miss is that people who eat, sleep, breathe, and love and have families and friends who love them and who have hopes for better lives don't deserve to be disrespected and killed by some idiot who thinks he's better.

Monday April 16, 2012, 11:43 am
True Seth that the racists just seem to SLITHER out from their slimy rocks any time the issue of immigration is brought up here. I notcied that as well.

What it boils down is good old fashioned, xenophobia, nationalism, protectionism and racism that is being justified by conservatives as patriotism and concern for their country. First off, vigilante justice never accomplished anything positive (Trayon Martin's senseless cold-blooded murder is a testament to that). Secondly, regardless of legal status and country of origin they are still human beings that do not deserve to be gunned down like animals by paranoid, power hungry racist, gun toting mobs disguised as self-appointed immigration police. Thorough and compassionate immigration reform is an important issue that can become a reality, but it's not going to happen as long as there is Republican obstructionism and state politicians that prefer a patchwork of racist state laws as opposed to federal reform that has even the slightest potential of showing logic and understanding. The trouble is conservatives want nothing to do with immigration reform unless it involves sealed borders, mass deportations, legalized racism and ethnic elitism in picking and choosing which countries the United States should welcome immigrants from. They scream about amnesty anytime they think their precious Whites only utopia is in danger of being compromised and overrun by people they deem to be inferior and a national threat by virtue of their race or country of origin. Get real. United we stand, divided we fall. Of course some people like it that way since a divided country is easier to conquer and control with extremist ideologies and elitist doctrines.

Monday April 16, 2012, 11:56 am
thanks

Monday April 16, 2012, 12:07 pm
Kit said:
"This is the best we can do for an immigration policy? Maybe the alligator's would be kinder. People cross the border hoping for a chance at a better life, no it's not legal, but to shoot them? I just don't understand this vigilante, mean spirited attitude in this country; not just toward immigration but toward anyone who doesn't fit some preconceived ideas."

I agree, this is cold blooded murder. Illegal or not, they are still human beings. When we make others out as less than human then we also degrade ourselves.

Monday April 16, 2012, 2:01 pm
Another issue where the time and money is not spent to resolve once and for all our border situation. I cannot believe that hatred in its' vilest form exists to this day. No technology, no religion, nothing but law will appease this situation. Bring back our troops to peacefully protect all people at our borders and get fair legislation in place state by state.
For the next generations, we must give them leaders to applaud, learn from, believe, and look to as role models.

Monday April 16, 2012, 3:00 pm
Noted and thank you Kit. This vigilantism is not the way. I throughly agree with Robert O's comments.

Monday April 16, 2012, 3:57 pm

Thank you and Kudos to many comments that seem to really grasp the depth of this situation. I'm sorry Penny, you seem to drift away into that sad group of people that hate first and discuss later.

I wish I could have sent out more Green Stars.

Monday April 16, 2012, 4:05 pm
I'd even go a step further and wonder how many of the border militia goons, who claim to be so patriotic, have served in the military, and I'd be willing to bet that many of them have not.

Monday April 16, 2012, 5:40 pm
I'd like to know the names of those killed, but I really want to know who all these wannabe militia are. I'm sure their families are just "oh so proud" of these killers, who don't see these illegal immigrants as human beings, but as some kind of threat to their way of life. What a tragedy. And it's beyond comprehension that Arizona would pass a law allowing this hatred to manifest into killing more people.

Monday April 16, 2012, 7:22 pm
A big maybe, but not probably, Mr. Coleman. Arizona has a very long history of this kind of thing.
Either way, it highlights the futility of both the do-nothing-for-now status quo approach of the Administration
and the wall building and neo-secessionism of the 1070/Tea Party/Nativist fanatics. "Land, Borders
and (Zombie) Culture" is no solution, much less a fair and humane one. Reform Immigration Now.

http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/

http://immigrationreformnow.org/

http://www.fairus.org/home

Relight the lamp and open the golden door.

On a personal note, living as I do in this awesomely beautiful, politically dreadful state, I am almost as disgusted by the scant media attention to this locally as I am by the murders.

Fortunately, there are many non-Latinos as well as Latinos here still saying: Si, Se Puede!

Monday April 16, 2012, 7:31 pm
PS: I included the FAIR address solely for purposes of comparison. It's negativism and fear mongering, hopefully, speak for themselves.

Monday April 16, 2012, 8:22 pm
The wild west is alive and well in 19th century idiotic AZ.

Tuesday April 17, 2012, 7:21 am
Awful reality in the 21st century.

Tuesday April 17, 2012, 7:40 am
"This is not the first deadly attack by people reportedly dressed in paramilitary-style gear in the area. In 2007, four men armed with an assault weapon and wearing camouflage and berets ambushed a vehicle 40 miles north of Eloy and killed a smuggling suspect and wounded another person."

Reminds me of the "Guardian Angels" in NYC in the 80s. Vigilanteism is NOT the answer. I say OPEN THE DAMNED BORDERS. I bet you see as much traffic going south as you do going north. AND, doing that takes the money away from the drug cartels, who make at least as much money smuggling people than they do smuggling drugs. Yeah. Shall we de-fund the violence at the borders, or shall we continue to contribute to it with our idiotic policies?

I for one am an American who has hated the Klan in ALL its forms since before I can remember. I will always fight against this kind of racist and stupid behavior. God knows no borders. Therefore, Man has no right to kill other men and women for trespassing man-made imaginary lines in the desert. Period.

Tuesday April 17, 2012, 11:53 am
Sounds like something Sherrif Joe Arpaio approved.

Tuesday April 17, 2012, 1:15 pm
I don't want people coming here, illegally. But if this border patrol, killed those two, as a fear factor to the rest, then God help them. Besides what did they accomplish? Most escaped into the desert. So now they are here any way.

Tuesday April 17, 2012, 2:58 pm
This is RACISM, at its finest!

Tuesday April 17, 2012, 5:15 pm
"This is the best we can do for an immigration policy?"
No, it isn't. People forget we are a nation of immigrants. Well, first a nation of invaders who nearly exterminated the continent's original inhabitants, but then a nation of immigrants. We do have legal policies. I wish things weren't so bad in Mexico that their people have to resort to the horrors they do only to come here and be worked to death as virtual slave labor or to end up in the sickest state in the union, Arizona. Militia is too good a word for those murdering fools. Militia is used in our constitution but it NEVER meant vigilantism. And it never will. I hope Arizona puts as much effort into finding and punishing those men, of course they were men or what passes for men in Arizona, as they do into harassing anyone who even looks like they might have sometime visited Mexico. That entire state should be ex-communicated, or maybe just a nice big barb wire fence put around it, so decent humans can easily avoid it.

Tuesday April 17, 2012, 9:29 pm
I am afraid we are going to see more and more of this as time passes. Well, we are going to hear more and more about it. This has been going on for a long time. This won't be the last time this happens either.

Sunday April 22, 2012, 5:30 am
Kit, are the email and messages messed up? I can’t access neither, or even post personal comments on my friends profiles.

Thanks,

Frank S