Texas Congressman Discusses Border Crime; Lawyer for Jailed Sheriff Speaks Out
BECK: Well, the Pentagon recently reported sniper attacks in Iraq have quadrupled over the past year. Really? Sniper attacks, per month. I thought they were actually down. Bottom line is the surge is working. And I`ll give you a story you`re not hearing anyplace else. That`s tonight`s "Real Story", and it`s coming up. But first, I told you about the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo yesterday. We talked about this story, and it is the kind of place that makes Baghdad look like Disneyland, quite frankly. In towns all over the border with Mexico, drug cartels have taken the place of the government. And they are ruling through extortion, murder and kidnapping. It wouldn`t be pretty, even if all the ugly violence were on the Mexican side of the border, but it is bleeding -- no, I`m sorry. It is hemorrhaging into the United States. And it is getting ugly. Last year dozens of Americans were either kidnapped or killed or both, and these two teenage girls are among them. So what`s the solution? Well, here`s where it gets tricky. Mexican authorities have seemingly willingly given up control of their country. U.S. authorities only have so much jurisdiction. You`d think the press might help, but they`re scurrying like little cockroaches hiding underneath the refrigerator, because nobody wants to end up being the next kidnapped or murdered. No one is willing to the talk to the media, and the media is scared themselves. The border crisis is only getting worse, and it is time this country stepped up to fight fire with fire. Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar has taken up the issue in Washington, D.C. Congressman, I talked to a sheriff yesterday who is down in Laredo, and he is just sick of everybody in Washington giving him lip service. Meanwhile, we`re talking about giving the Mexican government $550 million to help fight. Why aren`t we down there with troops?</s>REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D), TEXAS: Well, first after, you know, this is a law enforcement issue that we need to address. Talk about Border Patrol. This year we`re adding another 2,500 Border Patrol. Next year, we`re going to add another 3,000 Border Patrol. So we`re beefing up our border. At the same time we do have to work with the local law enforcement officials and we actually have sent money down there. Millions of dollars to help the local law enforcement so we can fight this to make sure that we don`t allow the Mexican drug cartels to spill over to the United States, which it has spilled over already. That`s what I`m concerned about.</s>BECK: Yes, well, I mean, Congressman, this is -- I mean, I don`t mean to throw you under the bus. Because from what I understand, you`re one of the guys who is actually trying to fight this and you`re fed up with the lip service, as well. But I mean, in your district, you have more people that have been kidnapped than were kidnapped by the Iranians in 1978 and `79. I mean, you`ve got a real problem there. And nobody is paying attention to this. Why is the media not involved?</s>CUELLAR: Well, first of all, on the Mexican side, the media has been intimidated so many ways. In fact, next to Iraq, Mexico has more journalists that have been kidnapped and killed than any other country in the whole world. So, you know, that`s what`s been happening over there. They`re silenced and intimidated.</s>BECK: But what about this side. I mean, look, you have two teenage girls, two young women that were taken and, we believe, that they were taken and given as gifts, given as gifts to a drug cartel member. And yet, you`ve got Natalee Holloway, one girl missing, and the media was all over it for months. Where is anybody with these two girls?</s>CUELLAR: And you`re absolutely right. I mean, this has been one of the most frustrating cases I`ve seen in the -- you know, you`ve got some young girls that have been kidnapped. And there`s really -- there`s about 60 missing Americans that we`ve seen that have been kidnapped. Some have been returned after moneys have been paid. And some of them just haven`t been found. I talked to the families for the last couple years, and what they want is they want some sort of closure. And this is why we`ve got to force the Mexican side to do more...</s>BECK: Congressman...</s>CUELLAR: To work with us.</s>BECK: Congressman, let me tell you something. I mean, I`ve taken on everybody but the fricking Mob, man. I mean, I don`t really care anymore at this point. You tell me what is going on. You help us get the story out, sir. And I will get the story out. Thanks for being on the program. Now let me move to another man who is a victim of border crisis: Gilmer Hernandez, a border town sheriff who tried to stop a car full of illegals. It was a van. He said they tried to run him over. He shot out the tires. Well, he was prosecuted, wrongly, I believe, went to prison. But apparently, he could have avoided jail-time if he just confessed to a lie dressed up as a plea bargain. This is insidious. Here with more details on the proposed deal with the devil is Jimmy Parts Jr., attorney for Gilmer Hernandez. Jimmy, I wanted to get you on because, first of all, the first question is, this deal involved Gilmer taking his official report and changing it so he had to admit that he was intentionally targeting the back of the van and not the tire, because he knew that there were illegals in the back of the van. Is that true or false?</s>JIMMY PARTS JR., ATTORNEY FOR GILMER HERNANDEZ: Yes, but what the federal government met up with, Glenn, was an individual who`s very noble, a man of impeccable character who refused to violate his conscience and, rather than take an easy probation deal, he stood to fight rather than sign that document.</s>BECK: OK. Well, here`s the problem, Jimmy. Nobody is on this story. Nobody is -- this is an outrage. I have told senators about this and they say, "Oh, I`m going to look into it." And nobody`s looking into it. If our government is making a law officer change his testimony to say, "I was intentionally targeting illegal aliens," there`s something really wrong here. Now, why aren`t we hearing more on this? What are you guys doing to dig into the details on this, and who is involved in this?</s>PARTS: Well, we need your help. We need individuals like you to get the message out. The Mexican consulate started this. They started with a demand for his investigation and prosecution. And that put the focus on Gilmer, the criminal, not Gilmer, the law enforcement officer. And as a result, the federal government just steam- rolled him because of what the Mexican government did. When an entire country`s government is demanding that your government come after you, we need help from individuals like you.</s>BECK: OK.</s>PARTS: We`re helpless down here.</s>BECK: OK. I mean, have you seen this show? I mean, like four people watch this show. Conway, can we please -- let`s make a commitment to these last two stories. I want to know -- Conway is our producer, by the way. I want to know that we can follow the Laredo story. Let`s get people on that. And I want -- I want to call these congressmen. I want to call these senators. And I want them on the TV screen explaining why our government can ask somebody to change their testimony and lie that they were intentionally targeting illegals. What good would that do? I want to find those answers out. Thanks, Jimmy. Now, don`t, please, forget the border agents Ramos and Compean. They`re continuing to serve their decade-plus prison sentence for doing nothing more than trying to keep our country safe. I believe this makes them our nation`s first political prisoners. For more on what you can do to help them and their families, we`ve got a legal defense fund set up for them. You buy a great Border Patrol T- shirt says "To protect and serve time." Go to GlennBeck.com for all the details. That`s GlennBeck.com. Do it now. Coming up, millions of children will go trick-or-treating tomorrow night. How do you know which houses are OK and which ones have the pedophiles? Jeez, remember when we were only worried about razor blades on apples? And we`ll speak with comedy king Jeff Foxworthy. Redneck. How much is he pulling down a year?