By Andrew Becker
Many of the thousands of new border agents hired in recent years as part of a push to block drug traffickers and other safety threats from entering the country might actually pose security risks themselves, a Homeland Security official testified today.
An ongoing drug trial in U.S. District Court in El Paso, Texas, provides an uncommon glimpse into the violent battle for Juarez, just across the U.S.-Mexico border. The trial has had as many twists and turns as the Rio Grande, which splits these New Wild West towns into something like Heaven and Hell.
Mexico’s brutal drug war has rattled that country’s sense of security, deepened its economic crisis and shifted attention from other pressing concerns. Leading journalists and scholars explore the roots of the violence, what its lasting impact may be, and how the drug war might be resolved. They examine ways that the narco-violence is affecting – and affected by – the United States. And they discuss how the U.S. press is covering the issue and what stories about Mexico we might be missing.
Corruption-related investigations of federal immigration and border agents in the Southwest has increased for the third year in a row, according to records obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting through a Freedom of Information Act request.
More than 80 investigations were opened last year by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General in the four Southwest border states against employees of Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agencies that police the border and immigration.
A retired Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced today in San Diego by a federal judge to three years probation for allowing an illegal immigrant to be smuggled through his inspection lane, according to court records.
Alonso Vasquez, 64, was arrested in May 2008 at his home in Escondido following an investigation by the FBI-led Border Corruption Task Force in San Diego, federal agents said.
An investigation by The Chauncey Bailey Project has found that Sgt. Derwin Longmire, the lead detective assigned to investigate Chauncey Bailey's slaying, is a supporter of Your Black Muslim Bakery and has failed to document that he has analyzed evidence of the bakery CEO's possible involvement in the murder. The detective has also interfered for bakery CEO Yusuf Bey IV in two other felony cases, according to the Project's investigation.
>> Read the full story that ran in the Oakland Tribune and other outlets:
EVIDENCE IGNORED IN CHAUNCEY BAILEY MURDER CASE
By Thomas Peele, Bob Butler, and Mary Fricker
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One of China's most powerful political figures is facing allegations in a U.S. court that he directed a torture campaign against religious followers. The Bush administration is trying to get the case thrown out. Bo Xilai, the son of one of modern China's most influential leaders, has thus far led a life of privilege and entitlement. It's also been marked by controversy.
Bo Xilai, 58, is the eldest son of Bo Yibo, one of the so-called Eight Immortals, Communist Party leaders and revolutionaries who helped usher in China's booming market-oriented economy. Bo Yibo was a friend of former Chairman Mao Zedong and an influential adviser to former Chinese leaders Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin—relationships that have no doubt helped fuel Bo Xilai's rise.
Though nepotism is frowned upon in China's political establishment (the offspring of party leaders are often derided as "princelings"), it hasn't derailed Bo Xilai, analysts say. He was mayor of the city of Dalian in the 1990s, governor of Liaoning Province thereafter and the country's trade minister from 2004 to 2007. Today he's the top official in one of China's most populous cities, Chongqing, and a member of the country's ruling Politburo.
Bo turned Dalian, formerly a sleepy backwater, into an economic powerhouse. He was responsible for "transforming the center of Dalian, with architectural styles reminiscent of the Mediterranean and Sweden, making it a unique city in China," according to a report on the website for the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang. "Bo's reputation as an effective and forward-thinking politician is based on his role in Dalian's transformation."
His success in Dalian earned him a promotion to the governor's post in Liaoning. His subsequent reforms there helped the province become one of China's largest industrial centers. The resulting economic boom, though, came against the backdrop of controversy.
Bo was appointed governor in the wake of a political corruption scandal in the province and, according to published reports, is said to be responsible for the imprisonment of a Chinese journalist. Investigative reporter Jiang Weiping wrote that Bo covered up corruption among friends and relatives while mayor of Dalian. Jiang was accused of revealing state secrets and, through his stories, inciting subversion. He served five years in prison and was freed in January 2006. The Bush Administration had pressed for his release.
In 2004, Bo was appointed minister of commerce, one of the country's most visible and prestigious posts. China's trade with the U.S. has since increased 67 percent, and China recently passed the U.S. as the world's second-largest exporter with $1.2 trillion in goods in 2007, according to the World Trade Organization.
Late last year, Bo left the Commerce Ministry and was appointed Communist Party secretary of Chongqing, said to be the world's fastest-growing urban center and considered to be China's next boomtown (following the likes of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen). He also was promoted to China's powerful Politburo, the country's top decision-making body. Chongqing, a provincial-level municipality of 32 million people, has been referred to as "China's Chicago" because, like Chicago once was, it is "a gateway to vast and largely undeveloped lands to its west, a hub where the traffic of roads, rail lines and waterways converged, and a center for business where ambition eviscerated risk."
Bo is widely considered to be a rising star. He's comfortable with the media and, given his success as China's trade minister, equally comfortable with foreign officials and business leaders. There are rumors that he could one day become Premier. It remains to be seen whether this latest controversy will impede his ascent up China's political hierarchy.
Part one of a three part series investigating environmental, health and corruption concerns related to the $3.7 billion oil pipeline constructed in Chad and Cameroon by an international consortium that includes the World Bank, Exxon Mobil, and ChevronTexaco. The pipeline will allow the United States to tap a new source of petroleum just as war, terrorism and rising anti-Americanism threaten to disrupt Middle East oil supplies. But can the largest development project ever undertaken in Africa fulfill its promises of economic development?
Part two of a three part series investigating environmental, corruption, and health concerns related to the $3.7 billion oil pipeline under construction in Chad and Cameroon. The pipeline, built by an international consortium, including the World Bank, ExxonMobil, and ChevronTexaco, is expected to begin pumping oil for the U.S. market by the end of 2003. The second story in this series explores the unfulfilled promises made by the pipeline consortium to create economic development and offset environmental destruction along the pipeline route.
Associate reporter Richard H. P. Sia investigates whether the Better Business Bureau is for consumer protection or profitable enterprise. This report reveals that some bureau members have become disturbed over dubious sales tactics, while consumers are also hurt when inquiries mislead. This is a CIR-assisted story.
