Charlie Daniels fed up with Mexican violence

A vintage picture of Charlie Daniels

Country music legend Charlie Daniels says it's time either to give California, Arizona and Texas back to Mexico or "take the gloves off and mount an all out border war with these bloodthirsty thugs."

Daniels, on his weblog Soapbox, was referring to the violence that has come to Mexico through a war between drug cartels and the government.

He wrote about the problem after he decided to cancel a concert in Monterrey, Mexico, because of the violence and mayhem going on south of the border.

Daniels said never before in his "50-plus year career" had he canceled a concert for that reason.

But "after being presented with the evidence of what is currently going on south of the border, I refused to expose myself and my people to the violence, the threat of kidnapping and all the other out of control madness that's going on down there," he wrote on his blog, which coveres issues ranging from Hollywood to the economy.

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"Murders of civilians run into the thousands, murders of police officers into the hundreds and the animals have added beheading to their arsenal of terror tactics," he wrote. "Several weeks ago, the U.S. military put the whole country of Mexico off limits for its troops. It's just too dangerous to go there."

WND has reported multiple times on the war among rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico.

The number of Mexicans fleeing the drug violence by seeking asylum in the U.S. has doubled in recent years.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2,231 Mexican citizens requested asylum in the U.S. in fiscal year 2008. About half, or 1,366 people, sought asylum in 2006 before Mexico's bloodshed began to rapidly escalate.

"The issue of asylum claims is one part of a number of signs we're seeing that are the results of border violence," Michael Friel, director of media relations at Customs and Border Protection, told Fox News.

Immigration officials have been stretched thin because U.S. law prohibits them from sending the Mexican asylum-seekers back home without first processing their applications. Many are determined ineligible and sent back home after months of legal paperwork.

The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 states that asylum-seekers must face persecution in their home country based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinions.

However, escaping from the bloodshed of Mexico's drug war doesn't qualify a person for U.S. asylum, Kathleen Walker, immigration attorney and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers' Association in El Paso, Texas, told Fox News.

"Fleeing violence in a particular region of Mexico doesn't provide me a basis to claim asylum under our immigration laws," she said.

Daniels said what actually is occurring just south of the U.S. is "nothing short of a full-fledged war between rich drug cartels and the Mexican federal forces, who are outgunned, outspent and face a mercenary gang of cutthroats who literally don't care who or how many innocent bystanders are killed."

He said, "We've got another potential Iraq on our border. The drug cartels already practically own the state of Sinaloa, they slaughter people daily in Juarez just across the Rio Grande river from El Paso, Texas. Phoenix, Arizona, is now the kidnap capital of America as enforcers come across the border to ensure the payment of overdue drug debts by kidnapping wives and children.

"People, if something isn't done, and I'm not talking about sending letters and signals to the Mexican government, I'm talking about putting guns on the border, guns plentiful enough and big enough to destroy this violent gang before it's too late. We are going to see some of our border towns controlled by murderous drug cartels who are as bad, or worse than Russian mafia types," he wrote.

GrayMalkin, a participant on Daniels' forum page, wrote, "An important issue with Charlie's post, in my opinion, is why the situation has received so little notice in the mainstream media. Were it not for talk radio, the Internet, and good people like Charlie who generously provide a forum such as this, would we know the situation even exists?"

"I don't believe events are unique and isolated. I believe they are all tied together, not only intentionally but strategically ignored by the media and government. Their motive can only be guessed at, and the conclusions we arrive at too troubling to consider with regard to the future of our nation and people," he wrote.

 

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