[ilbegone]

Originally Posted by Twoller

The town of Laredo is clearly the key in understanding "La Barbie". Everyone concerned about illegal immigration should know our border towns very well, especially on the southern border and their history too.

Here is Wikipedia's entry on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laredo

And here is some older discussion here at SOS on subjects where Laredo comes up incidentally:

Top Five Most-Crime-Ridden U.S. Judicial Districts All on Mexican Border

Mexican Troops Arrest Suspect in the Killing of US Consulate Worker

MECha's Plan: The Plan of San Diego

It's pretty hard to get worked up on the wiki link with entries like this:

Annual festivals

The Washington's Birthday Celebration (WBCA)[33] is a month long event that celebrates George Washington's Birthday. It was founded in 1898 by the Improved Order of the Red Men, local chapter Yaqui Tribe #59. It is the largest celebration of its kind in the United States, with 400,000 attendees annually. The first celebration was a success, and its popularity grew rapidly; in 1923 it received its state charter. In 1924, the Celebration featured its first Colonial Pageant, which featured 13 young girls from Laredo, representing the 13 original colonies. The celebration includes parades, a carnival, an air show, fireworks, live concerts, and a city-wide prom during which many of Laredo's elite dress in very formal attire. The related Jalapeño Festival is one of the United States' top 10 eating festivals.

Jamboozie is held in late January in downtown Laredo as part of the Washington Birthday Celebrations. Similar to New Orleans' Mardi Gras, the Jamboozie is a colorful event, with many people dressed in beads, masks, and flamboyant outfits.

Edgar Valdez is smart and can fit in, a cunning opportunist.

It's not hard understanding what motivates Valdez. He likes women, the good life, "respect", and the money to buy it all with due to a chance encounter with Arturo Beltran Leyva.

If not for that meeting, he might still be in a Mexican jail waiting for someone to bribe his jailers.

If you want to understand Ted Bundy, you don't profile everyone he went to school with. Same with Valdez.

And if you want to understand a city you've never been to, it's best to go there and hang out for a while. Otherwise you'll just remain stuck in your basement clacking out proclamations and demands over the internet you have no intentions of involving yourself with.