Hard not to read something like this and draw some pretty pointed conclusions from it:

Federal authorities raided the headquarters of a Texas border sheriff's office whose top official is widely known for claiming that the border is safe. The sheriff frequently minimizes cartel activity even though one of Mexico's most violent criminal organizations operates in his county.

Me right now:

The cartels, in case you didn't know, are among the most psychopathically violent and destructive criminal organizations ever known. They're awful, the absolute worst, and they run Mexico. Downplaying the threat they pose is, well, very weird.

Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar, however, has done just that, having "made a name for himself for his constant claim that the border is safe and for minimizing the presence of drug cartels in Laredo." (News flash: Drug cartel activity is all over Laredo.)

At one point Cuellar "claimed that a large-scale marijuana growing operation with more than 1,070 plants and with security guards armed with AK-47s was not tied to [the cartel] Los Zetas." Uh huh. Buddy, if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. If that duck grows a metric butt-load of marijuana in or near Mexico and guards it with automatic weapons, it's a cartel duck.

Notably, the sheriff is also the brother of U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar, who has also been raided by federal authorities, allegedly regarding "unnamed associates in relation to dealings with foreign officials."

I get the idea something bad's going on in Webb County, don't you?