Breaking: Border Rancher Rob Krentz And Dog Found Shot To Death

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Murder of Arizona rancher puts spotlight back on illegal immigration
By Sean J. Miller - 03/30/10 07:45 PM ET
The recent murder of a longtime rancher has rekindled the debate over illegal immigration in Arizona.

Robert Krentz was found shot to death on his property near Douglas, Ariz., last Saturday. U.S. Border Patrol agents tracked footprints from the crime scene to the nearby Mexican border. Some have speculated that Krentz was killed by an illegal immigrant, but no arrests have yet been made.

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) used the incident as opportunity to blast Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "Each one of them is culpable in this man's death," Tancredo told FoxNews.com.

McCain reacted forcefully to the news -- reiterating his call for troops to be deployed to the border. "I am asking you and the Administration to immediately reconsider your position and send National Guard troops to our southern border region," he wrote in a letter to Napolitano on Monday.

But the crime -- and the reaction it's sparked -- is a reminder that McCain remains exposed on the controversial issue.
His primary opponent, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, remained critical of the senator.
"One of the reasons [J.D. Hayworth] is challenging John McCain, is because of McCain's past sponsorship of legislation that would grant amnesty to illegal aliens," the former congressman's campaign said in a release expressing condolences to the Krentz family.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...al-immigration

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Border mood changing after murder
By Philip Franchine, Green Valley News
Published: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 8:34 PM MST
Friends, officials and border activists are begging the federal government for definitive action to address border violence after the murder Saturday of a beloved Cochise County rancher.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona’s 8th District, late Tuesday joined Gov. Jan Brewer and Sen. John McCain in calling for using the National Guard on the border, citing the difficulty that law enforcement agencies have in covering the vast spaces of Southern Arizona.

Retired rancher Robert Brown, 63, of Green Valley, who knew Robert Krentz and his family before leaving Cochise County in 1982, praised Krentz as a mentor to others and a warm, generous man who reached out to other ranchers, illegal border crossers and anybody who crossed his path.

Krentz, 58, was shot on his ranch Saturday, and officials say the shooter apparently was an illegal immigrant who escaped by walking 20 miles to the Mexican border.

Brown said times have changed drastically since he was a young man and his mother and aunt routinely fed small groups of illegal immigrants who crossed his ranch in hopes of seeking work. Now, paid smugglers herd groups of 30 to 50 across and heavily armed drug traffickers send smugglers across on foot.

Authorities said drug smugglers were arrested on the Krentz ranch Friday, but have not said that Krentz was killed in retaliation.


“I remember as a kid, the illegals came through there and we’d feed and help them just like Rob did,” Brown said. “But this is a different bunch of people — the drug smugglers and the smuggling of human beings.”

“This has changed big time. The U.S. needs to put the military on the border and stop it by any means possible,” Brown said. “The Border Patrol? I imagine they’re doing what they can do, but when you got people running drugs and armed to the hilt? That calls for drastic action as far as I’m concerned.”

Giffords spoke at a Border Patrol intelligence center dedication in Tucson on Tuesday, saying the new center may help in solving the rancher’s death.

She said in her request for National Guard help that law enforcement agencies have not communicated effectively with each other and noted that those crossing the border have become far more dangerous than in the past.

“We know that every time we implement a new border strategy, the smugglers find new ways to circumvent our strategies,” she said.

Giffords said the 262-mile long Tucson Sector is where about half of all drugs and humans are smuggled each year across the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. The Tucson Sector has increased its staffing from 1,100 to 3,200 agents since 1999, U.S. Border Patrol Chief and former Tucson Sector Chief David V. Aguilar said Tuesday.

Giffords has called for comprehensive immigration reform, which would include a temporary guest worker program.

Brown has changed his mind over the years on comprehensive reform and now opposes it, saying, “Mexico has every natural resource known to man. These people shouldn’t have to be coming to this country looking for work. Mexico is so corrupt that poor people don’t have a chance down there.”

Brown and many in Cochise County, including Sheriff Larry Dever, said the lack of protection for ranchers has been a tragedy waiting to happen for years and that federal officials have not acted to help. The Krentz ranch, covers 55 square miles.

Border activists Gary Meinert of Green Valley and the Rev. Randy Mayer of Sahuarita agreed that Krentz’ death was a tragedy and called for different measures to reduce border violence.

Meinert said the Border Patrol needs more resources, and said it has found that 17 to 20 percent of those apprehended in some areas have serious criminal records.

Mayer said adding resources without a guest worker program is not working, as the tripling of agents in the Tucson Sector has been accompanied by higher rates of violence.
http://www.gvnews.com/articles/2010/...krentz0329.txt

[Twoller]

Does anyone have any idea what is going to happen to Krentz's property now that he is gone?

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Originally Posted by Twoller

Does anyone have any idea what is going to happen to Krentz's property now that he is gone?

He has a wife, children and grandchildren.

[Twoller]

Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore

He has a wife, children and grandchildren.

So the wife is staying on?

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Originally Posted by Twoller

So the wife is staying on?

Some family members will continue the ranching probably. His sons worked the ranch with him. Some articles have the ranch at 34,000 and 35,000 acres, and some said 38,000. Which ever is right doesn't matter, it's still a big ranch.

[Twoller]

Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore

Some family members will continue the ranching probably. His sons worked the ranch with him. Some articles have the ranch at 34,000 and 35,000 acres, and some said 38,000. Which ever is right doesn't matter, it's still a big ranch.

Sure, it's a big ranch. And if the old guy were in the way on the border there, that might have been a reason to have him killed.

My sense is that our borders have many parts where land owners are not exactly sympathetic with border security. Land ownership can come and go.

But if this were a family farm, the remaining family is more likely to uphold whatever attitudes the senior Krentz held. And I assume that he upheld border security. Maybe he didn't and a lax attitude was what found him in a confrontation.

We deserve more details as to how this particular border spot was managed by both the authorities and the land owner.

....

For his part, Krentz was well known in the area as a rancher who was kind to illegal immigrants he found on his property, despite having been robbed by them once. “You know, if they come in and ask for water, I'll still give them water," he told PBS's "Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly" in 1999. “You know, that's just my nature."

Krentz’s brother, however, had called border patrol agents the day before the killing. The agents stopped a caravan of illegal immigrants carrying 280 pounds of marijuana, raising the possibility of the crime being retaliation.

....