Criminal Background Checks in Kinney County

And, Cartel Kidnapping in Laredo, plus: Organ Harvesting in China and Mexico

Good morning, friends,

One of the things that’s been assumed by many as the border crisis continues is that at least some of those being smuggled through Kinney County and avoiding Border Patrol attention have some kind of criminal background.

Sheriff Brad Coe has been meaning to run criminal background checks on every last person found, but up until recently it hasn’t been feasible to do so in any kind of an organized fashion.

We spoke with the Sheriff late last week. At that time, he said Deputies had run criminal background checks on the last 45 people who’d been taken into custody while being smuggled into the United States.

20 of those 45— almost half— had some kind of significant criminal history.

5 had previous felony convictions.

6 had family violence convictions.

And the remaining 20 had previous determinations of illegal entry to the US, Criminal Trespass, or were otherwise known to Federal Immigration officials.

Odds are decent those who weren’t found with criminal backgrounds were from Mexico, or some other nation where the odds of being granted asylum in the United States are slim to none, accounting for their attempt to illegally immigrate.

A Laredo man is missing and probably dead— he was kidnapped by Cartel gunmen and taken across the river.

Many of our readers might have seen the story at Breitbart.com, but the Laredo Morning Times has a few more details in their coverage here. Much of it appears to be sourced from an FBI affidavit, filed in federal court.

Neighbors say Eric Tadeo Ramirez had been bragging about stealing $50,000 dollars from the Cartel del Noreste in the days before the kidnapping.

Some may be tempted to shrug after hearing that— saying something along the lines of people reaping what they’ve sown, and so forth.

But think about this for a few minutes. The cartels have no fear of entering the United States and doing whatever they want. The only reason they don’t behave in more brazen fashion, is to preserve the illusion that they are relatively benign toward the average American citizen that minds their own business and doesn’t cross them.

Realize— there was a time when the average Mexican citizen might have thought the same about their own status vis-a-vis the cartels, and that hasn’t been true in a very long time. They now live in a twilight existence where it’s not exactly clear where the Mexican government stops, and the cartels begin.

Getting back to this specific story— FBI agents have arrested a suspect in the case— a man named Jonathan Cavriales, who is accused of being one of the ones who drove Ramirez across the river.

Cavriales was arrested three days later, attempting to cross back into the United States, after he’d been identified via videotape of bridge crossings among other things.

Witnesses overheard Ramirez telling a female on the phone that he was in Laredo and that he was not in danger or afraid of her because he was in the United States, the affidavit states.

“Witnesses stated that Ramirez also bragged that Ramirez stole approximately $50,000 from the Cartel Del Noreste,” states the affidavit.

Ramirez gave the female his location on Queretaro. At about 12:45 a.m. March 24, a blue Dodge Ram arrived at the location on Queretaro. Two to three masked men armed with firearms exited the vehicle and assaulted Ramirez. Then, they forced Ramirez into the Dodge, authorities said.

The Dodge then crossed into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico at about 1:09 a.m. March 24 via the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge. Authorities determined that the vehicle was registered to Cavriales’ mother out of the 200 block of Palo de Rosa Loop by the Laredo Ranchettes area, the affidavit states.

—Cesar Rodrigues, Reporting in the Laredo Morning Times

Our associates at the Alliance for a Safe Texas took a closer look last week at what some call the “Red Market” and its links to human trafficking.

The “red market” is basically a reference to illicit organ harvesting and trading.

Those interviewed in the Mexican cartel organizations, self-identified as involved in the red market, describe testing the compatibility for matches needed for organ transplants. According to leadership within the harvesting ring in Mexico, each human organ is worth $200,000. The traffickers claim that the majority of the purchasers are from the U.S., Canada, and Italy.   

By the end of the investigation, Mariana van Zeller stated, "If I had doubts that the red trade existed in Columbia, I have none that it's thriving here in Mexico."

—Mariana van Zeller, as Quoted by the Alliance for a Safe Texas, van Zeller is an Investigative Reporter for National Geographic

So far, organ trafficking through Mexico and the Cartels hasn’t been very high on the radar for either authorities or the general public. The vast majority of the organ trading that is out there, comes primarily from China, where the Government forcibly takes tissue and organs from criminals, political prisoners, and others. Members of Falun Gong, ethnic minorities, and others are all believed to have been brutalized in this fashion.

Presently at the Legislature in Austin, Senate Bill 1040, and its twin, House Bill 2025 are going through the process.

If successfully signed into law, the bill would basically bar people from using their medical benefits to pay for transplants from China or other countries known to participate in organ harvesting.

You can read the Alliance for a Safe Texas’ in-depth coverage of the issue here:

Texas Legislators Unite Against Organ Harvesting

And finally, this morning— something interesting we stumbled upon on Twitter— where writer Benjamin Carlson uses an intriguing old video interview of former President Richard Nixon, to explore the dichotomy between a President as a sort of greater-than-human aspirational figure, and a President as just another person who puts their pants on one leg at a time.

Benjamin Carlson @bfcarlson

In 1983, nearly a decade after resignation, Richard Nixon reflects candidly on the stark difference between the private man and the public figure of a president. Here he shares frankly—and colorfully—on the matter of presidential profanity behind closed doors.

We enjoyed the heck out of the clip— as well as Carlson’s take that followed in his twitter thread. One thing that jumped out at us, was how erudite Nixon is, as he references figures ranging from Eisenhower to DeGaulle. Apparently, the footage is from a series of sit-downs Nixon had with one of his aides in later years.

And, just for fun— here’s the obituary Hunter S. Thompson wrote for Nixon. Adult language ahoy.

Have a great morning— we’ll be back again soon.

As always, the newsletter is an independent work product, kept separate from our day job at Kinney County. It should not be mistaken for an official communication of any sort. Any errors, mistakes, or other misdeeds are ours alone.