US Border Patrol Open Fire at Group Hurling Rocks from Mexico

WOAI San Antonio ^ | March 3, 2006 | AP

[Mulder]

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A U.S. Border Patrol agent in El Paso shot at a group of people hurling rocks at him from across the Rio Grande on Thursday. No one was injured.

Robert Boatright, assistant chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol in El Paso, said the group of suspected illegal immigrants threw the rocks after running back across the river from the United States when they spotted the agent. They threw the rocks from about 25 yards away.

The agent, who Boatright did not identify, fired at least once.

Ciudad Juarez police officers went to the area but did not find anyone, Boatright said.

Thursday's confrontation, reported in the midst of the federal trial of two agents accused of unlawfully shooting a suspected drug smuggler and trying to hide the crime last year, is one more example of the rising danger along the U.S.-Mexico border, Boatright said. More than 770 assaults were reported last fiscal year, compared with just 396 in 2004.

The incident also coincided with a U.S. Senate hearing about increasing violence along the border.

So-called "rockings," as Border Patrol officials describe incidents like Thursday's, have become so prevalent in recent years that the federal agency has erected high-impact plastic glass barriers in spots along the Rio Grande where agents can park their vehicles in and around El Paso. Agents in some parts of the border are even starting to see "flaming rocks" - rocks wrapped in cloth, soaked in alcohol and lit on fire.

"We've had rock assaults where there was certainly sufficient velocity to break a windshield," Boatright said.

"Nobody did get hurt today but rocks can cause severe damage to someone's skull or face."

[OKIEDOC]

Okiedoc said:
I can not believe that the Mexican government is supporting civil lawsuits against American property owners.

binkdeville wrote:

What's not to believe .

REPLY:

Whats going on with our border situations is absolutely incredulous.

I did not think that putting a sarcasm tag would make it any less so.

The last time something like the current border situation happened America sent down General Black Jack Pershing to set things straight.

America has had to invade Mexico about every 40 or 50 years since the Alamo and Mexico is way over due for another invasion.

I read a poll yesterday that shows over 61% of Americans say the border situation is our of hand and needs to be shut down.

The Taliban freak attending Yale is proof that the State Department is not watching or doing it's job.

Instead of increasing the number of H1 and J visas we need to completely shut down the program.

Hell needs to be raised and the stink needs to rise to the high halls of Washington D.C.

State needs to explain how a former Taliban spokesman with a 5th grade education was issued a visa to attend a self anointed smug elitists university that regulars turns down deserving American students.

The liberals and some RINO's want to open the doors as if this country can absorb all the worlds problems.

Call it profiling but I would definitely start with cutting back on countries with large terrorist supporting populations.

[absolootezer0]

"molotov rock" ping