In July, I had a post on Big Government about an article in the El Paso Times which detailed an alleged gun smuggling operation into Mexico from El Paso, TX and/or Columbus, NM. The weapons being smuggled were not part of the 2,500 guns Holder & Co. let walk into Mexico from Arizona, but were alleged to have been regularly transported from the Dallas/Fort Worth area into El Paso or Columbus in an operation overseen by Obama’s State Department.

The weapons smuggled weren’t .22 rifles, .410 shotguns, or pellet guns. Rather, we’re talking about “anti-aircraft weapons and hand grenades from the Vietnam War era [as well as] grenade launchers, assault rifles, handguns, and military gear including night-vision goggles and body armor.” According to at least one former DEA official and one “CIA contract pilot,” the weapons were being sold to drug cartel members in Mexico, where they were being stockpiled for use at an unspecified future place and time.

And just as I currently think of Holder when I read of the DOJ’s complicity in Fast and Furious (because the Attorney General is top dog there), so too when I read about the alleged smuggling out of El Paso and Columbus overseen by the State Department, I wonder what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton knew (and knows).

With this alleged smuggling in mind, I re-read some of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speeches on border violence from 2009 and 2010 and I found myself wondering: Is Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) going to question her on these matters?

After all, it was while in Mexico in March 2009 that Hillary delivered a speech on border violence in which she outraged Americans by blaming the U.S. for the crime being committed in Mexico:

We know very well that the drug traffickers are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States, that they are armed by the transport of weapons from the United States to Mexico.

And exactly one year later, in March 2010, she stood on again on Mexican soil and said:

We accept our share of the responsibility. As I said when I first came here a year ago, I think standing right here on this stage, the United States is your partner and your supporter. We know that the demand for drugs drives much of this illicit trade, that guns purchased in the United States – as we saw some of the examples outside – are used to facilitate violence here in Mexico.

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From The Los Angeles Times:

Torres Marrufo, also known as “the Jaguar,” has been identified by U.S. authorities as the enforcer for Sinaloa cartel chieftain Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman. The Fast and Furious weapons were found at one of Torres Marrufo’s homes April 30 when Mexican police inspected the property. It was unoccupied but “showed signs of recent activity,” they said.

The basement had been converted into a gym with a wall covered with built-in mirrors. Behind the mirrors they found a hidden room with the Fast and Furious weapons and dozens more, including an antiaircraft machine gun, a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher.

“We have seized the most important cache of weapons in the history of Ciudad Juarez,” Chihuahua state Gov. Cesar Duarte said at the time, though he did not know that many of the weapons came from the U.S. and Fast and Furious.

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Fast and Furious is a mess. It’s bigger than we were first told, it involved a greater variety of weapons than we were led to believe, and it’s deadlier than the Obama administration let on. (In addition to U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry’s death, there have been hundreds of deaths in Mexico with Fast and Furious weapons, many of which continue to show up at crime scenes in both Mexico and the U.S.)

Moreover, as details keep leaking out, it looks more and more like it’s a mess that originated in or near the White House.  And the recent discovery of secretly recorded conversations, which CBS News alleges may show some evidence is still being suppressed concerning the death of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry, make it easy to remember what similar recordings did to the Nixon presidency in 1974.

Compounding these issues is the fact that there are still outstanding questions regarding the rocket launcher, grenade launcher, assault rifles, and C4 explosives found near the Mexico/Texas border.

There are still questions about the gun smuggling operation out of El Paso, where it is alleged that Obama administration officials have been selling military grade weapons to drug cartel members in Mexico. (Perhaps this explains the rocket launcher, grenade launcher, assault rifles, and C4?)

Supported by at least one former DEA official and one “CIA contract pilot,” the allegations are that weapons have been regularly transported from the Dallas/Fort Worth area to El Paso, Texas and/or Columbus, New Mexico. From either of those locations they then crossed into Mexico.

But as of yet, there is no word on a serious investigation into these matters.

And not unlike Fast and Furious, the El Paso situation has only gotten messier with time. On Monday the El Paso Times ran a story alleging that just as officials have looked the other way while guns were smuggled across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, so too they are looking the other way while drugs are being smuggled across from Mexico into the U.S.

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When President Obama gave a speech about “comprehensive” immigration reform on May 11^th in El Paso, Texas, one thing was certain: he was in no hurry to close the border.  Instead, he seemed focused on playing politics by offering an emotional appeal to Hispanics and Latinos in a bid to keep their vote for 2012. This is why his so-called immigration reforms center around legalizing the 11 million-plus illegal immigrants “undocumented workers” who are already in this country, and it goes a long way in explaining why Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) describes the president’s rhetoric as “purely political.”

Yet the bigger problem we face as a result of Obama’s willingness to leave the border porous isn’t political so much as practical. In other words, a border that isn’t secure translates into a country that isn’t secure either.

If you think I exaggerate the dangers of an open border then here’s a little experiment for you: Tonight, when you’re headed to bed, lock your front door but leave your back door wide open (and if you really want to emulate what Obama has done by advertising our open border, put a sign up in your backyard that says “back door open for your convenience.”)

I dare say not many among us could sleep well under such conditions, yet those are the exact same conditions Obama places our nation under when he turns a blind eye toward our faltering southern border in order to secure a few hundred thousand votes for the coming presidential election.

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The Institute for Justice has been vindicating the rights of entrepreneurs for the last twenty years.

Across the country, IJ has teamed up with casket makers, florists, hairbraiders, horse teeth-floaters, interior designers, sign-hangers, taxi-drivers, trash haulers, vintners and numerous other Americans to secure their basic right to earn an honest living.

This week, we are proud to announce a new, nationwide effort in our fight for economic liberty:  Our National Street Vending Initiative.

From coast to coast, we will team up with mobile food vending entrepreneurs whenever their rights come under attack, filing lawsuits and engaging in grassroots activism and media efforts.

In conjunction with the launch of this initiative, we have filed a major federal lawsuit against the city of El Paso Texas:

For thousands of years, vending has been a way for entrepreneurs to provide for themselves and their families.  In the United States, this ancient trade is more popular than ever.  By 2007, over 760,000 vending businesses were operating in the country.  And consumers love them, so they continue to grow.

The Economist magazine predicted that in 2011 food vendors would create “[t]he biggest shift in America’s culinary landscape” and that “some of the best food Americans eat may come from a food truck.”

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