The group of border area ranchers held an “agency” meeting on Tuesday with various representatives of federal agencies with whom they work on a regular basis. The private meeting was held on the private property of one of the leading ranchers in the area, and was not open to the public.
Until that is, Barber opened it up to the public when he sent out a press release in which he used their good name to tout the fact that he would “meet with members” of the group. When asked about their planned meeting with the congressman, some members expressed surprise and said they didn’t know anything about a meeting. According to members of the group, Barber was not on the meeting’s agenda, nor was his presence expected by our sources.
So, his cameo appearance was a surprise.
Sources report that Barber, who was on his way to meet with Douglas Mayor Danny Ortega, stopped by the ranch briefly, shook hands with various people seated around the table and left quickly as Douglas is approximately 20 miles away from the ranch. Members of the group report shaking their heads in disbelief that he felt comfortable coming in unannounced, offer platitudes, race off, and later use their name in a press release.
“You got to hand it to him. He’s got balls to show up out of the blue like that,” said one source who wishes to remain anonymous. “He uses us down here to act like he is doing something, send out an announcement and the truth is, he doesn’t have more than a minute for us.”
Barber’s press release:
“Barber will meet with members of the XXXXXXX, which is organized and led by ranchers who live and work in Southeast Arizona and Southwest New Mexico.
Barber also will meet with local elected officials, including Douglas Mayor Danny Ortega, faith leaders and constituents in the area.
Barber is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security and of the House Border Security Caucus. He has been especially concerned about the border area east of Douglas to the New Mexico border, where ranchers say smuggling and illegal crossings continue to be a major problem.”
Barber’s office ignored requests for answers about the meeting. Finally in a private message on Facebook, when asked again about the meeting Kimble responded, “the short answer is this was not our meeting., It was the XXXX meeting. They invited the congressman and whoever else they wished to invite. We didn;t (sic) handle invites.” Later Kimble wrote, “Call Me.”
In that telephone conversation Kimble refused to answer as to who invited the Congressman and in turn demanded that the AZDI reveal their sources.
But, it was the invitations or lack thereof that first raised questions about the PR piece. According to sources, the PR piece created controversy in the Customs and Border Patrol offices, when the head of the Arizona CBP, Jeff Self was apparently left out of one of Barber’s meetings scheduled for the day.
According to numerous sources, Jeffrey Self, commander of CBP’s Joint Field Command headquartered in Tucson, was not invited, however an invitation was extended to his subordinate, Manuel Padilla Jr., Chief Patrol Agent. The lapse in protocol ruffled feathers and raised questions.
The AZDI inquired of Barber’s office as to why protocol was breached and what was the explanation for the lapse. Barber’s office did not respond to the question.
Also, Barber’s staff did not respond to a request for information as to who exactly from the ranchers’ group invited the Congressman. They would not say which “faith leaders” met with the congressman.
More importantly, Barber did not respond to the most pressing question for those working along the border; when will the USDA meat inspectors return to the Douglas port to allow for the importation of live cattle.
Since a shooting in the interior of the border community Aqua Prieta over a month ago, the federal agency pulled the food inspectors off of the border and cattle are being rerouted away from the Douglas Port to other ports in Texas.
The town of Douglas, immediately across the border from Aqua Prieta, is struggling. According to sources, Douglas Mayor Danny Ortega and area ranchers are working with anyone they can to restore commerce.
Ortega claims that the town is losing millions of dollars due to the feds refusal to man the port.
The cattle inspection area is far from the normal cartel stomping ground. Sources say that the Mexican government has made several offers of security for the inspectors, but the USDA won’t budge.
According to sources, Barber has advised area residents that he is fighting the federal government, and blames the U.S. government’s intransigence for the situation.
When asked why the Congressman sent out the PR with apparent exaggerations, but would not answer the questions it raised, Kimble responded, “We sent out the release to provide the information on him going to Douglas. We don’t tell everything that he is doing every day. The information that is in the release speaks for itself.” He clearly didn’t expect anyone to ask questions. They rarely do.
The release may speak for itself, but Barber and his staff are mum.