San Diego, CA
Mother of Australian surfers killed in Mexico gives moving tribute to sons at a beach in San Diego
The mother of two Australian surfers killed in Mexico delivered a moving tribute to her sons Tuesday at a beach in San Diego.
“Our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us,” Debra Robinson said, fighting back tears. “They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together.”
Her sons, Callum and Jake, were allegedly killed by car thieves in Baja California, across the border from San Diego, somewhere around April 28 or 29.
Robinson also mourned the American who was killed with them, Jack Carter Rhoad.
The beachside location where she spoke, across the border from the Baja California city of Tijuana, was no coincidence. She noted that her son Callum “considered the United States his second home.”
Robinson noted that her son Jake loved surfing so much that, as a doctor, he liked to work in hospitals near the beach.
“Jake’s passion was surfing, and it was no coincidence that many of his hospitals that he worked in were close to surfing beaches,” she said.
Choking back tears, Robinson conveyed a final message that coincided with her sons’ adventurous lifestyles.
“Live bigger, shine brighter, and love harder in their memory,” she said.
Robinson thanked Australian officials and supporters there and in the United States.
While she thanked Mexico’s ambassador to Australia, she notably did not thank the local officials in Baja California who eventually found the bodies of her sons and Carter Rhoad.
Their killers dumped the bodies of the men into a well about 4 miles away from where they had been attacked at a beachside campsite.
Investigators were surprised when, underneath the bodies of the three foreigners, a fourth body was found that had been there much longer. It was unclear if the body was related to the current case.
The fact that such killers are not caught or stopped in the overwhelming majority of cases in Mexico has led some Mexicans to protest that authorities only investigate such disappearances when they are high-profile cases involving foreigners.
Robinson said that her sons’ bodies, or their ashes, will eventually be taken back to Australia.
“Now it’s time to bring them home to families and friends,” she said. “And the ocean waits in Australia.”
Prosecutors have identified three people as potential suspects, two of whom were caught with methamphetamines.
One of them, a woman, had one of the victims’ cellphones when she was caught. Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but continue to be suspects in the killings.
A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear when or if he might face more charges.
The third man was believed to have directly participated in the killings. In keeping with Mexican law, prosecutors identified him by his first name, Jesús Gerardo, alias “el Kekas,” a slang word that means quesadillas, or cheese-filled tortillas.
He had a criminal record that included drug dealing, vehicle theft and domestic violence, and authorities said they were certain that more people were involved.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a radio station in the Robinsons’ home town of Perth in Western Australia state that every parent felt for the family’s loss.
“I think the whole nation’s heart goes out to the parents of Callum and Jake Robinson. It is every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a son or a daughter.
To lose these two brothers is just awful and my deepest sympathies and condolences and I’m sure the whole nation’s with the parents and with the other family and friends of these two fine young Australians,” Albanese told Perth Radio 6PR.
Albanese said he was reminded of when his only child Nathan Albanese traveled last year at the age of 22 to a musical festival in Spain.
“You do worry, but you think as well that’s part of the Australian right of passage, is traveling around with a backpack and meeting people and it’s how you grow as a person as well so you want to encourage them,” Albanese said.
In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez — from the Baja peninsula.
Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.
Get ready to kick off Barbie Summer at the Pier at the Junior Seau Pier Amphitheater for a fabulous screening of “Barbie.”
Strike a pose at the Barbie box photo op and even stand a chance to win a Barbie RC car or playset! Barbies, Kens, and Allans don your best pink outfits and make this a night to remember!
The event is FREE and open to everyone, making it an unmissable part of your Barbie Summer at the Pier. English subtitles will be on, ensuring everyone can enjoy the movie. Don’t forget to bring your own chairs if you want to sit up close to the screen for the ultimate Barbie experience.
See you there!
Rain or shine, we’ve got you covered—movies will be rescheduled in case of rain. So mark your calendars, gather your friends, and get ready for an unforgettable Barbie Summer at the Pier.
Expect a fun-filled evening that’s perfect for the whole family. Click here for more info.
See you there, San Diego!
San Diego is not only a popular tourist destination but has become a favorite spot for migrants to illegally slip across the US-Mexico border, new data shows.
An astounding 8,016 migrants were apprehended in the second week of May alone — that’s after a jaw-dropping 10,023 were caught two weeks prior, according to figures shared by the region’s Border Patrol.
The numbers show no signs of slowing down, with more than 35,490 arrests made in April, making it the busiest of the Border Patrol’s nine sectors along the southern border for the second month in a row — and for the first time since the 1990s.
The sudden surge could be blamed on the other states suffering from migrant fatigue, like Texas, cracking down on their borders, forcing aliens and their smugglers to seek out easier paths to the US.
“Mexican authorities have put a lot of pressure on key migration routes to Texas, and that may be forcing people to try other routes further west,” Cris Ramón, senior advisor on immigration for the Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS, told the Los Angeles Times.
”Migration is a dynamic phenomenon, and people are going to adjust and find the circumstances where they have the best chance to reach the United States.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has led an intense anti-migrant campaign that involves stationing National Guard Troops along the border and bussing illegal aliens who succeed in entering to more progressive municipalities, like New York City.
AP
California — a Sanctuary State — has proven more forgiving, especially in San Diego, which released a “minimum” of 125,000 migrants from detention onto the city streets “without proper vetting” in the six months since September 2023, officials told The Post this month.
The surge doesn’t reflect a change in overall arrests along the border, but just a switch in where they are entering.
San Diego saw a 69% rise in migrant arrests between Oct. 1 and March 31 while Texas sectors saw a 29% drop, the Times reported.
A senior Customs and Border Protection official who spoke on condition of anonymity told the paper that the government would be dispatching additional agents to the San Diego border to quell the recent swells, which Mexican authorities will be mirroring on their side of the border.
“Just like we’ve done in the past, when the cartels shift, we adjust our operations,” the official said.
The effort might only have a bandaid effect, they warned, suggesting that it would only be a matter of time before new routes emerged elsewhere.
“The cartels,” the official said, “are constantly trying to find ways to exploit and circumvent enforcement.”
San Diego Padres vs. Atlanta Braves, May 18, 2024, 4:15 p.m. PT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: FOX
Radio: 97.3 The Fan
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