Rescue takes tragic turn(Border Patrol agent drowns rescuing illegal)

Yuma Sun ^ | 12/17/03 | Jacob Lopez

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

A Border Patrol agent was missing Tuesday night after attempting to rescue a Chinese illegal alien from the Colorado River, officials said.

Several law enforcement agencies were searching the river for the agent Tuesday night. He was swept away by the rivers current as he tried to pull the alien to safety around 6:30 p.m., said Border Patrol spokesman Joe Brigman.

The agent, whose identity was not released, had not been found as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

During a routine check of the river near Andrade, Calif., Border Patrol agents discovered approximately seven illegal aliens, Brigman said. The group had crossed the river and, upon spotting the Border Patrol agents, attempted to return to Mexico when one crosser was caught in the current, he said.

The missing agent was attempting to help the illegal when he was caught in the current, Brigman said. Other agents on the scene were able to rescue the crosser in distress.

Other law enforcement sources on the scene said the crossers were Chinese nationals. Brigman was not able to that report.

[Texas_Jarhead]

ah, damn

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Terrible what goes on on that border.

[South40]

That's very sad. These are the same Border Patrol agents who are often targets of ILLEGALS from the south.

[Knightsofswing]

I pray for the family of the lost agent, but the illigal should be fish food!

[c-b 1]

Terrible what goes on on that border.

It continues to deteriorate.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Tough, tough job, from what I've heard. They will probably let the Chinese illegal go.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

They probably treated the illegal, and let 'em go with a promise to report to court.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Yep, American citizens come last.

[SouthernFreebird]

Chinese sneaking in... that can't be good.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

I'm sure every country comes in through Mexico.

[HiJinx]

Yeah, this is just the way the good guys are.

God bless the BP agent, and comfort his family...

[txdoda]

Tough, tough job, from what I've heard. >>>>>>>>

SHEESH......I don't see how can find anyone to work for BP....an agent's job is to STOP illegals @ the border, while the agent's BOSSES (our gov't) do NOTHING to the millions of illegals already here.


They will probably let the Chinese illegal go.>>>>>>

Yes, but only after they *promise* to leave the USA within 30 days.


Prayers for the agent and his family.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the ping HiJinx. Prayers for the Agent and his family.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

It continues to deteriorate.

Sure is, it's an invasion.

[txdoda]

Chinese sneaking in... that can't be good.>>>>>>>>

Our 'electeds' are TOO BUSY working on the next amnrsty to be worried about WHO is sneaking across our borders.

Just mention the word AMNESTY, & the number of 'invaders' goes UP. (they want to be here for their REWARD too)

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

I was just at their "unofficial" site:http://www.usborderpatrol.com

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

That about wraps it up.

[Baynative]

The responsibility for this lies squarely on the shoulders of our impotent cngress and the celebrities that hold it hostage for their own profit. - YOU ELECT THEM - SO, if you're not willing to do something about it STFU!

[txdoda]

Good link.....

Just had time to read a little......I did see where they said "20 miles (of fence) on San Diego is the 'most fortified' on the southern border.

and just LAST NIGHT, I saw where a mexican POLICEMAN (in street clothes) was caught after he climbed the fence to get in. Seems his (US) residency card had been permanently revoked.
These folks just REFUSE to obey US laws.

[RiflemanSharpe]

My God have mercy on his soul.

[DLfromthedesert]

OH NOOO!!! If no American wants to be a BP agent, you know what THAT means!!!!

[SandRat]

GepFart and Das-Hole will want us to contract it out to the French.

[janetgreen]

The blame for this invasion and the deaths along the border rests squarely on the White House and the moron who occupies it. He should have closed the borders after September 11, but he refused to, he didn't want to hurt Mexico's feelings. He has virtually put Vicente Fox in charge of America's immigration policies.

[JustPiper]

A Border Patrol agent was missing Tuesday night after attempting to rescue a Chinese illegal alien from the Colorado River, officials said.

I am getting so fed up with people diminishing the Mexican border and saying it is the Canadian border we need to worry about. Here you lose one of your good men because someone again decides to break the law via Mexico. Damn shame. Sorry for the loss of this agent doing a thankless job by our politicians! ;(

[JustPiper]

A Border Patrol agent was missing Tuesday night after attempting to rescue a Chinese illegal alien from the Colorado River, officials said.

I am getting so fed up with people diminishing the Mexican border and saying it is the Canadian border we need to worry about. Here you lose one of your good men because someone again decides to break the law via Mexico. Damn shame. Sorry for the loss of this agent doing a thankless job by our politicians! ;(

[gubamyster]

This is very sad. God bless this agent & his family.

[Pro-Bush]

Damn shame is right!

[america-rules]

"The blame for this invasion and the deaths along the border rests squarely on the White House"

You blame the WH when the border patrol caught the illegals trying to get in. What the hell could the WH have done to prevent this from happening to the border patrol agent ?

You can't put M60's every 300 yards on the border both north and south with orders to shoot anyone crossing. The cost would be several hundred billion dollars with 500,000 agents to man them and this wouldn't prevent tunnels.

The fix is to crack down and fine millions to anyone who hires an illegal and make it federal law to deport anyone (after treatment) who shows up at any emergency room that is an illegal.

Do sweeps on hotels, farms etc. and verify employment status of all the workers and deport the illegals.

The cost/risk factor has to be too high for illegals to cross over not just putting up a speed bump !

[PRND21]

Yep, American citizens come last.

Idiotic reply. You monger enough on all the other immigration threads. Can it.

The agent is a hero.
R.I.P.

[TLI]

Yes, but only after they *promise* to leave the USA within 30 days.

They make them pinkie swear.

[Smokin' Joe]

I didn't think so either. Pity this agent has probably given their life in an act so humane and professional, when the job seems to get more thankless every day.

[txdoda]

OH NOOO!!! If no American wants to be a BP agent, you know what THAT means!!!!>>>>

Yikes !! I bet the 'Fox' already has 'trained' replacements, in HIS plans, for OUR BORDER.

[AZHSer]

Thanks for the ping. Prayers going up for this brave man and his family.

[Bikers4Bush]

A noble thing that the agent tried to do but no illegal is worth the life of one of our agents.

[Ches]

Prayers for the agent and members of his family.

[Ches]

"I'm sure every country comes in through Mexico."

They do. The following chart has the numbers (not all from the Mexican border.)

INS Fiscal Year 2002 Apprehension Numbers

COUNTRY OF CITIZENSHIP TABLE

Afghanistan	85	Albania	217	Algeria	68	Andorra	1
Angola	18	Antigua-Barbuda	36	Argentina	465	Armenia	70
Aruba	2	Australia	84	Austria	21	Azerbaijan	13
Bahamas	193	Bahrain	8	Bangladesh	129	Barbados	51
Belgium	24	Belize	160	Benin	6	Bermuda	12
Bhutan	2	Bolivia	103	Bossnia - Herzegovina	32	Botswana	4
Brazil	3,493	British Virgin Islands	14	Bulgaria	119	Burkina Faso	6
Burma	19	Burundi	3	Byelarus	24	Cameroon	23
Canada	3,493	Cape Verde	47	Cayman Islands	3	Central African Republic	4
Chad	8	Chile	139	China	1,753	Christmas Island	3
Colombia	1,748	Congo	33	Costa Rica	334	Croatia	17
Cuba	2,750	Cyprus	4	Czech Republic	135	Czechpslovakia	149
Denmark	12	Djibouti	5	Dominica	31	Dominican Republic	3,229
Ecuador	959	Egypt	408	El Salvador	9,209	Equatorial Guinea	1
Eritrea	8	Estonia	29	Ethiopia	84	Fiji	38
Finland	3	France	118	French Guiana	2	French Polynesia	6
Gabon	2	Gambia	73	Georgia	81	Germany	183
Ghana	129	Greece	60	Grenada	28	Guadeloupe	3
Guatemala	8,344	Guinea	80	Guinea-Bissau	4	Guyana	222
Haiti	1,058	Honduras	11,295	Hong Kong	34	Hungary	122
Iceland	63	India	909	Indonesia	213	Iran	161
Iraq	110	Ireland	63	Israel	350	Italy	115
Ivory Coast	38	Jamaica	1,748	Japan	66	Jordan	504
Kampuchea	123	Kazakhstan	42	Kenya	166	Kuwait	36
Kyrgyzstan	7	Laos	217	Latvia	25	Lebanon	190
Liberia	71	Libya	13	Lithuania	86	Luxembourg	1
Macedonia	42	Madagascar	1	Malawi	20	Malaysia	125
Mali	38	Malta	1	Marshall Islands	9	Martinique	1
Mauritania	2	Mauritius	2	Mexico	994,720	Micronesia	42
Moldova	10	Mongolia	32	Morocco	210	Mozambique	1
Nambia	2	Nepal	12	Netherlands	65	Netherlands Antilles	13
New Zealand	59	Nicaragua	823	Niger	24	Nigeria	333
North Korea	6	Norway	8	Oman	8	Pacific Island Trust Territories	1
Pakistan	1,444	Palau	7	Palestine	20	Panama	123
Papya New Guinea	4	Paraguay	13	Peru	619	Philippines	720
Poland	415	Portugal	140	Puerto Rico	1	Qatar	7
Romania	114	Russia	298	Rwanda	3	Saudi Arabia	122
Senegal	53	Seychelles	1	Sierra Leone	54	Singapor	16
Slovakia	43	Slovenia	6	Somalia	84	South Africa	66
South Korea	527	Spain	61	Sri Lanka	207	St. Kitts-Nevis	23
St. Lucia	34	St. Vincent - Grenadines	55	Stateless	2	Sudan	89
Suriname	7	Sweden	26	Switzerland	14	Syria	122
Taiwan	48	Tajikistan	10	Tanzania	63	Thailand	149
Togo	16	Tonga	67	Trinidad and Tobago	314	Tunisia	156
Turkey	280	Turks and Caicos Islands	6	Uganda	21	Ukraine	156
United Arab Emirates	12	United Kingdom	427	Unknown	21	Uruguay	78
U.S. Virgin Islands	1	Uzbekistan	73	Venezuela	273	Vietnam	437
Western Sahara	4	Western Samoa	29	Yemen	121	Yugoslavia	94
Zaire	20	Zambia	19	Zimbabwe	44

[wjcsux]

I'm sure every country comes in through Mexico.
I have a frind who just retired from the Border Patrol last year. He was assigned to the Southern NM district. They apprend illegals from Angola to Zaire and every place in between.

[janetgreen]

The cost/risk factor has to be too high for illegals to cross over not just putting up a speed bump !

This administration and the one before it has made it clear that there is no wish in Washington to enforce existing immigration and border laws. They continue the pandering to Mexico especially, and won't take any action on the employers who hire illegals.

The cost to California ALONE due to illegal immigration is in the BILLIONS every year, and we are forced to pay it. I would rather those billions be spent on enforcement rather than medical care for illegals, schooling for illegals, housing assistance for illegals, food stamps for illegals, college for illegals, and now home down payment for illegals, wouldn't you?

Washington winks and nods as millions of illegal aliens stroll over the border every year. The fault for this mess lies directly on Washington's shoulders. Americans have to obey laws, illegal aliens don't, and taxpayers get screwed while we watch our country turn into Mexico.

[PRND21]

BTW, PRND21, our local Aztlan apologist, is back.

Link a post that proves that rubbish, coward.

[hsmomx3]

Is this the same person who is presumed "missing" according to ALL Arizona (Phoenix) tv newscasts this morning? If so, they are soooo behind on the news.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Update in Yuma Sun:Agent James Epling, 24 years old, father of 3.

[wjcsux]

Touchy, aren't we?
Post a link where you advocate soverignity of our nation's borders.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Yep A to Z. I wonder who the guy from Puerto Rico was?

[gubamyster]

Update in Yuma Sun:Agent James Epling, 24 years old, father of 3.

God bless James his family & especially his 3 children.

[jsbankston]

I wonder when Tom Ridge will bestow U.S. Citizenship upon the Chinese illegal?

[DLfromthedesert]

OH, this is soooo sad. I hope Senor Ridge does something for this family.

[jsbankston]

OH, this is soooo sad. I hope Senor Ridge does something for this family.

I have complete faith that Tom Ridge will make sure that that family of the Chinese immigrant is granted citizenship, put on welfare, social security, free college education and the best health care money can buy.

[WestCoastGal]

This will make you mad. It's a shame that private citizens have to defend our borders. And since when do illegal immigrants have civil rights in this country??????????

Ariz. Ranchers Sued by Civil Rights Group Thu Dec 11, 3:56 AM ET

By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN, Associated Press Writer

TUCSON, Ariz. - A monastery official and a human rights advocacy group sued a southern Arizona ranch family Wednesday, accusing them of impersonating federal agents and violating the rights of undocumented immigrants.

Border Action Network, a human rights organization, and Donald J. Mackenzie, groundskeeper for and vice president of Summerland Monastery Inc., filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Roger Barnett; his wife, Barbara, and his brother, incorrectly identified as Ralph. The lawsuit will be amended to correct the name Ralph to Donald, attorney Jesus Romo said.

The civil action accuses the Barnetts of conspiracy to interfere with the civil rights of immigrants and seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions against them.

Reached at the office of a towing company he operates in Sierra Vista, Barnett said he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined to comment.

For at least four years, the Barnetts have patrolled their 22,000-acre ranch about five miles north of Douglas, apprehending illegal immigrants crossing their property and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Arizona has become a crossing point for hundreds of thousands of migrants annually, and the flood of undocumented people has drawn several armed civilian groups that act as self-appointed border watch organizations.

The groups have come under increasing fire recently. One member of Texas-based Ranch Rescue was arrested last month near Douglas on suspicion of felony flight to avoid prosecution, accused with another person of unlawfully detaining and beating a Salvadoran couple in Texas.

None of the civilian patrol groups was named in the lawsuit.

But Border Action Network announced during the summer that it hoped to sue on behalf of migrants allegedly victimized by organizations patrolling the border — with hopes of bankrupting them. Jennifer Allen, the network's director, called Wednesday's lawsuit a start.

"We have been working with border residents, ranchers, elected officials and with migrants to challenge the growth of the anti-immigrant movement along the Arizona-Mexico border," she said.

"The Barnetts and other vigilante groups have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation for both migrants and community members."

She said many state and federal authorities have ignored border watch groups' activities.

Allen said Roger and Donald Barnett detained a group of 30 undocumented immigrants on Mackenzie's ranch.

Mackenzie said he initially thought Roger Barnett was a Border Patrol agent because of his weaponry and clothing, including a cap that said "U.S. Border Patrol."

Mackenzie said in talking with them, he discovered the Barnetts were not federal agents but did not challenge their presence or report them later. He said he never gave the Barnetts permission to enter the property.

Mackenzie said he got more concerned and angrier as he subsequently researched the issue. "These vigilantes who have come into southern Arizona from out-of-state don't belong here," he said. "We don't need them here. The Rambo wannabes are not the kind of people that live in Arizona."

Allen and Romo said they did not have identities or statements from any of the 30 people allegedly involved in the Oct. 11 Summerland Monastery incident.

A spokesman for the Border Patrol said the agency does not disclose information on citizen calls that result in arrests. ___