Pubdate: Fri, 24 Sep 2004
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2004 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117

WE CAN'T TOLERATE THIS:

Cornyn Should Push Probe of Juarez Informant

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Boston FBI was more mobbed up than the
mob. Leading agents knew that their informants were racketeers,
druggies and the subject of rumors about gangland murders. That didn't
matter. They tipped informants off about sting operations and even
exchanged Christmas presents with them.

As hard as it is to imagine, history may be repeating itself in El
Paso, where the office of a federal border agency is facing its own
version of informants gone bad.

The Dallas Morning News' Alfredo Corchado reported twice this week on
the situation. First, files from the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency show that U.S. agents knew the Juarez informant
helping them crack a Mexican drug cartel was more than a bystander to
a border murder.

According to ICE documents, Mr. Corchado reported, the informant,
known as Lalo, assigned people their roles in slayings. He suggested
how they knock off a victim. And he paid the killers. Lalo even
sometimes alerted U.S. agents when the deed was done.

The second wrinkle in the case is that El Paso police now say the
informant is linked to five recent slayings. Mr. Corchado reports the
dead include three people from El Paso.

Despite so much dirt, our side kept working with the informant. A
murder here, a murder there, no matter. Lalo helped battle druggies.

At some point, decent people have to say "enough." This is one of
those moments. Congress needs to step in, even though a federal
investigation is under way. Legislators fund the agency, so they have
the right to probe.

We particularly encourage GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to push the
Senate Judiciary Committee to look at this situation. As a panel
member and a former Texas former attorney general, he is a natural to
lead an examination.

No one expects informants to resemble chamber of commerce presidents.
But the story unfolding in El Paso and Juarez looks as bad as the
Boston FBI episode. As a nation that preaches the rule of law, we
can't tolerate history repeating itself.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake