Disagree with Gabriela Saucedo Mercer and She Will Censor You

Disagree with Gabriela Saucedo Mercer and She Will Censor You

On October 2, 2012, a tragic event occurred near the U.S./Mexico border.  U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie lost his life and another agent was badly wounded.  From what I have read and heard, Ivie was an exceptional CBP agent who once carried a severely wounded pregnant woman 1 1/2 miles to safety through the treacherous Arizona desert.  Agent Ivie was survived by his wife and two daughters.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and colleagues.

Rather than honoring a life lost and just offering condolences, some politicians attempted to capitalize on Nick's death for political gain.  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer immediately released a statement, "Arizonans and Americans will grieve, and they should, but this ought not only be a day of tears. There should be anger, too. Righteous anger -- at the kind of evil that causes sorrow this deep, and at the federal failure and political stalemate that has left our border unsecured and our Border Patrol in harm’s way. Four fallen agents in less than two years is the result."

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, who has for two years made immigration one of the primary focuses of her campaign for U.S. congress in Arizona's Third District, went beyond Brewer's comments.  The day of this tragedy, Mercer recklessly posted on Facebook: "And yet another one of our finest Border Patrol Agent is murdered by illegals and one seriously wounded. And some people don't want me to talk about the wide open borders in Arizona? My heart and prayers go out to the families of the Border Patrol Agents involved in this tragedy." 

Yes, Saucedo Mercer somehow knew that Agent Ivie was “murdered by illegals” without any concrete evidence to back up her claim.  Even more tragically, on October 5, the FBI confirmed that Agent Ivie was killed by friendly fire.  The FBI came to this conclusion through investigative, forensic and analytical tests.   It is interesting to note how Saucedo Mercer gets her political agenda stated first and then sends her thoughts and prayers to the family.  That's all class!

Once this information was released by the FBI, numerous individuals, including myself, went to Saucedo Mercer’s Facebook page and demanded that she retract her reckless and ill-advised earlier comments and publicly apologize.  Saucedo Mercer, who holds herself out to be a defender of the Constitution and individual liberties, reacted in appropriate fashion: She erased the comments from any person who criticized her post and blocked us all.  I guess Saucedo Mercer forgot about the 1^st Amendment. 

Ivie’s legacy will live on through his family and other hard-working and well meaning Border Patrol agents.  It was a life lost way too young.  Sadly, however, as of the writing of this blog, Saucedo Mercer continues to leave this misinformation on her Facebook page.  For that reason alone, she should continue to get questioned about her commitment to running an honest campaign. 

We live in an era where anyone can pretty much say anything without any truth, and some uninformed person will believe it.  If that’s the sort of political game Saucedo Mercer wants to play, good luck with that.  However, by censoring detractors and fact checkers, her actions demonstrate that she is undeniably unprepared to be a congresswoman and deal with individuals who disagree with her or protect our constitutional right to free speech.