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Killing of Arizona Rancher Roils Immigration Debate
This is just an example of what the citizens of Arizona deal with every day. Please note this man helped the immigrants and even sympathized with their cause. He gave illegals food and water on a regular basis. This was probably linked to drug smuggling. But can anyone prove to me it wasn't a terrorist carrying a weapon? Therein lies the problem. We know dangerous people are crossing in droves. But we don't know how dangerous or even who they are. Osama bin Laden and staff could saunter across our southern border and no one would be any the wiser.
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Killing of Arizona Rancher Roils Immigration Debate
Updated: Friday, 09 Apr 2010, 1:19 PM MDT
Published : Friday, 09 Apr 2010, 12:51 PM MDT
By AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) - Cattle rancher Rob Krentz often helped illegal immigrants he found stranded on his sprawling Arizona ranch.
Then two weeks ago, he and his dog were gunned down shortly after he reported spotting someone who appeared to be in trouble. Foot tracks were followed from the shooting scene about 20 miles south, to the Mexico border, and authorities suspect an illegal immigrant.
The killing of the third-generation rancher has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate as politicians cite the episode as further proof that the U.S. must do more to secure the violent U.S.-Mexico border.
The governors of New Mexico and Arizona took a public tour of the border this week in support of more security. The subject has ignited endless discussion on blogs, and has been politicized in the U.S. Senate Republican brawl between J.D. Hayworth and incumbent John McCain.
Hayworth has accused McCain of not doing enough to protect U.S. citizens from growing border violence. McCain, for his part, has called for increased security in response to the killing.
"The federal government must do all it can within its power to curb this violence and protect its citizens from criminals coming across the border from Mexico," McCain wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former Arizona governor.
Krentz will be remembered at a funeral Saturday in Douglas, about 35 miles southwest of his 35,000-acre ranch and the home where he raised three children with his wife of 33 years, Sue.
Investigators have not definitively tied the killing to the drug trade, but the slaying comes at a time when well-armed cartel factions have battled each other and federal authorities in several Mexican border cities, resulting in thousands of brutal killings.
The violence has been concentrated in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez on the Texas border and Tijuana, just south of San Diego, and hasn't yet spilled over into Arizona's remote border region.
Krentz's death sparked fears that was changing.
The Krentz family was no stranger to the problems of illegal immigration. Their home was robbed, and Krentz once found the carcass of one of his calves that had been killed for food, presumably by starving immigrants.
But the soft-spoken rancher bore no ill will toward illegal immigrants, according to friends and family.
They say Krentz sympathized with their desire for a piece of the American pie. He gave them food and water if they were in distress, and sometimes he'd call the U.S. Border Patrol, which meant deportation but also guarantees of medical assistance and escape from possible death.
"If they come and ask for water, I'll still give them water," Krentz once told PBS' Religion & Ethics Newsweekly in 1999. "You know, that's just my nature."
Wendy Glenn, who has a ranch south of the Krentz property and is a good family friend, said she believes she heard some of Krentz's last words when he used a radio to talk to his brother the day he was killed.
"He says, 'I see an immigrant out here, and he appears to need help. Call the Border Patrol,'" Glenn, 69, said she heard Krentz say at about 10:30 a.m. on March 27. "He was not frantic. He was not calling for help."
After Krentz went missing for hours and hadn't communicated with anyone, Glenn said she and others assumed he'd been robbed and stranded somewhere on his property. But his body was found just before midnight in a remote area of his land.
After he was shot, the 58-year-old Krentz managed to drive away in his all-terrain vehicle before losing consciousness and dying from his wounds. Nothing had been stolen from him, and his gun was still in its holster. His dog was killed, too.
Glenn and those who knew Krentz say he never would have confronted anyone he thought was dangerous. Most likely, he was just trying to help, they say.
"There are a lot of people out here who are unarmed that need help, and I'm sure Rob didn't realize he was armed," Glenn said. "I think he approached to see if he could help him and the guy thought maybe he was going to get arrested, that maybe Rob was the law ... I don't know what the guy thought, but he never gave Rob a chance."
She said Krentz was modest, honest and an unwavering friend, and that everyone who knew him is "absolutely devastated."
"I keep expecting to see Rob walk in the door," she said. "The reality now is very hard to face. That man is gone forever."
Krentz's family members declined requests for comment, but released a statement saying he was a humanitarian "who bore no ill will toward anyone" and instilled in his children the importance of honesty and fair dealing.
The family said they hold no malice toward the Mexican people and blame the U.S. and Mexican governments for the killing.
"Their disregard of our repeated pleas and warnings of impending violence toward our community fell on deaf ears shrouded in political correctness," according to the statement. "As a result, we have paid the ultimate price for their negligence in credibly securing our borderlands."
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Killing of Arizona Rancher Roils Immigration Debate
Updated: Friday, 09 Apr 2010, 1:19 PM MDT
Published : Friday, 09 Apr 2010, 12:51 PM MDT
By AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) - Cattle rancher Rob Krentz often helped illegal immigrants he found stranded on his sprawling Arizona ranch.
Then two weeks ago, he and his dog were gunned down shortly after he reported spotting someone who appeared to be in trouble. Foot tracks were followed from the shooting scene about 20 miles south, to the Mexico border, and authorities suspect an illegal immigrant.
The killing of the third-generation rancher has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate as politicians cite the episode as further proof that the U.S. must do more to secure the violent U.S.-Mexico border.
The governors of New Mexico and Arizona took a public tour of the border this week in support of more security. The subject has ignited endless discussion on blogs, and has been politicized in the U.S. Senate Republican brawl between J.D. Hayworth and incumbent John McCain.
Hayworth has accused McCain of not doing enough to protect U.S. citizens from growing border violence. McCain, for his part, has called for increased security in response to the killing.
"The federal government must do all it can within its power to curb this violence and protect its citizens from criminals coming across the border from Mexico," McCain wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former Arizona governor.
Krentz will be remembered at a funeral Saturday in Douglas, about 35 miles southwest of his 35,000-acre ranch and the home where he raised three children with his wife of 33 years, Sue.
Investigators have not definitively tied the killing to the drug trade, but the slaying comes at a time when well-armed cartel factions have battled each other and federal authorities in several Mexican border cities, resulting in thousands of brutal killings.
The violence has been concentrated in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez on the Texas border and Tijuana, just south of San Diego, and hasn't yet spilled over into Arizona's remote border region.
Krentz's death sparked fears that was changing.
The Krentz family was no stranger to the problems of illegal immigration. Their home was robbed, and Krentz once found the carcass of one of his calves that had been killed for food, presumably by starving immigrants.
But the soft-spoken rancher bore no ill will toward illegal immigrants, according to friends and family.
They say Krentz sympathized with their desire for a piece of the American pie. He gave them food and water if they were in distress, and sometimes he'd call the U.S. Border Patrol, which meant deportation but also guarantees of medical assistance and escape from possible death.
"If they come and ask for water, I'll still give them water," Krentz once told PBS' Religion & Ethics Newsweekly in 1999. "You know, that's just my nature."
Wendy Glenn, who has a ranch south of the Krentz property and is a good family friend, said she believes she heard some of Krentz's last words when he used a radio to talk to his brother the day he was killed.
"He says, 'I see an immigrant out here, and he appears to need help. Call the Border Patrol,'" Glenn, 69, said she heard Krentz say at about 10:30 a.m. on March 27. "He was not frantic. He was not calling for help."
After Krentz went missing for hours and hadn't communicated with anyone, Glenn said she and others assumed he'd been robbed and stranded somewhere on his property. But his body was found just before midnight in a remote area of his land.
After he was shot, the 58-year-old Krentz managed to drive away in his all-terrain vehicle before losing consciousness and dying from his wounds. Nothing had been stolen from him, and his gun was still in its holster. His dog was killed, too.
Glenn and those who knew Krentz say he never would have confronted anyone he thought was dangerous. Most likely, he was just trying to help, they say.
"There are a lot of people out here who are unarmed that need help, and I'm sure Rob didn't realize he was armed," Glenn said. "I think he approached to see if he could help him and the guy thought maybe he was going to get arrested, that maybe Rob was the law ... I don't know what the guy thought, but he never gave Rob a chance."
She said Krentz was modest, honest and an unwavering friend, and that everyone who knew him is "absolutely devastated."
"I keep expecting to see Rob walk in the door," she said. "The reality now is very hard to face. That man is gone forever."
Krentz's family members declined requests for comment, but released a statement saying he was a humanitarian "who bore no ill will toward anyone" and instilled in his children the importance of honesty and fair dealing.
The family said they hold no malice toward the Mexican people and blame the U.S. and Mexican governments for the killing.
"Their disregard of our repeated pleas and warnings of impending violence toward our community fell on deaf ears shrouded in political correctness," according to the statement. "As a result, we have paid the ultimate price for their negligence in credibly securing our borderlands."
I think the Euro is going down the tubes, Italy is also in a bad way ... I have heard that democracy is in danger in Europe ....
Actually I am waiting for a backlash on the situation in Europe. I know France isn't very happy. And Germany is not exactly welcoming them with open arms. I do expect a more conservative Europe to emerge. Immigration and financial woes will force their hands.
hahah well the way we are going we may get there...I hear Europe is really going to the dogs ..maybe they need a few 'Turrets they are not being over run by Mexicans they are being over run by Muslims ....
You're right. We need to start using a page our of the far left playbook! Minus the violence! No violence. But demonstrations and petitions are desperately needed. I guess maybe the American people who oppose illegal immigration need a lobbyist! Seems to work for everyone else.
We here in Texas have started drafting legislation similar to that of Arizona. Our area of the Big Bend is a vast wilderness. Perfect for the smugglers and I don't want this beautiful natural resource shut down and handed over to Mexican drug cartels.
Marg, I know you're familiar with Hadrian's Wall. The Romans did it with their own soldiers in a mere 6 years. Why can't we? A similar wall might just solve a lot of problems. Complete with miletowers and turrets.
We here in Texas have started drafting legislation similar to that of Arizona. Our area of the Big Bend is a vast wilderness. Perfect for the smugglers and I don't want this beautiful natural resource shut down and handed over to Mexican drug cartels.
Marg, I know you're familiar with Hadrian's Wall. The Romans did it with their own soldiers in a mere 6 years. Why can't we? A similar wall might just solve a lot of problems. Complete with miletowers and turrets.
I blame them aswell I blame the Mexican goverment and obviously the US government its time we got on their case , maybe a few calls to the WH about this rubbish aswell, I do believe if we all.. en Masse stand up to this rotten congress we may get heard ..Americans are too quiet a few yellings and protests wont go amiss. and we do need to follow AZ's lead ...especially here in California ,I have moved to a rural area ..I may aswell be over the border, now dont get me wrong they are good hard working people and I like them ,but I am uncertain if they are legal ....
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