Mexican Troops Kidnap Texas Family?

newsmax.com ^ | Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | Jon E. Dougherty

[VU4G10]

As many as eight armed Mexican soldiers crossed the border near a tiny Texas hamlet and kidnapped an American family of five last week, and are still holding one of them, sources tell NewsMax. According to a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the incident was reported to local authorities by family members upon their release the following day. From there, local officials reportedly contacted the FBI; federal officials are said to be looking into the incident.

The source said the Mexican unit may have been prompted to cross into the U.S. because the family – a father, mother and three minors – were shooting rabbits on their property near Candelaria, Texas, which is located along the border in Presidio County, about 170 miles south-southeast of El Paso.

A law enforcement bulletin describing the incident said the "family of five kidnapped … by Mexican officials at gunpoint" occurred around 5 p.m. local time Nov. 24. U.S. border authorities were notified the next day.

The family was "taken by gunpoint by Mexican officials to Mexico," the bulletin said. "As of Nov. 25 … four of the family members – one female and three minors – were released, while (the father) Escarcega, Ladislado remains in custody."

Presidio County, Texas authorities confirmed to NewsMax the incident had been reported to the sheriff's department, but a spokesman there said the FBI had taken over the investigation and referred questions surrounding the report to them.

An FBI spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., referred NewsMax to the bureau's El Paso, Texas office, but no one there returned calls seeking comment.

Nevertheless, the bulletin provided more specifics.

Shooting at Rabbits

"It's believed that the family members were shooting at rabbits along the [Rio Grande] river at the time of their kidnapping," the bulletin said. "Local law enforcement was contacted after the release of family members."

In the meantime, said the bulletin, "sector intelligence is continuing to gather information on the occurrence where … follow-up information is needed."

Law enforcement sources said the family was not shooting into Mexico or otherwise threatening Mexican military or civilian personnel.

The latest incursion into the U.S. by armed Mexican troops follows a series of similar incidents directed against U.S. civilians and law enforcement authorities. The most high-profile kidnapping occurred in August 1985, when an eight-man squad of Mexican troops crossed the border onto private property in San Diego County.

The troops came looking specifically for Robert Maupin, the land owner, after he reported the presence of a met amphetamine lab to the Drug Enforcement Agency, which in turn reported it to Mexican authorities. The lab, Maupin told officials, was visible from his land inside the U.S.

More recently, in May 2002, three armed Mexican troops in a military Humvee on the U.S. side of the border near Ajo, Ariz., fired on a Border Patrol agent in his vehicle. As the agent drove away from the scene, a bullet shattered the back glass of his Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicle, which as clearly labeled with U.S. Border Patrol markings.

House Immigration Reform Caucus chairman Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., told the Washington Times in a year ago his office had documented 118 instances where Mexican military or law enforcement had been seen on U.S. soil. In 60 percent of those cases, he said, the Mexicans were armed.

[txdoda]

bttt.....

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

http://www.house.gov/tancredo/Immigration/incursions.html

[Lucy Lake]

Ping.

[Indie]

All it would take is for all flights from the US to Mexico to be grounded.

In this PC country? Keep dreaming.

[No Blue States]

"Sunland Park police arrived, and eventually the agent was able to persuade the eight soldiers and their captain that they were in the United States."

They knew they were in the US, The Rio Grande is a big river and it marks both borders.

Its pretty hard to miss.

[Missouri]

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., told the Washington Times in a year ago his office had documented 118 instances where Mexican military or law enforcement had been seen on U.S. soil. In 60 percent of those cases, he said, the Mexicans were armed.

To bad a General Patton isn't around. This problem could be solved in about three days.

[Indy Pendance]

So, coming back to the original story, how much is true? How much is the Mexican government involved and how much is this a terrorist faction? (I don't believe in illegal immigration at all) We have to look at the facts. And are the facts correct or embellished to suit an agenda? We are conservatives, and first above all else, I want good hard solid reliabile facts. I don't want some 'reporters' spin on it, be it left or right. I am conservative, but I want the truth.

[HiJinx]

All it would take is for all flights from the US to Mexico to be grounded.

Nah, you really want to hurt them?

Shut down all the cash transfer outfits like Western Union, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc. Turn off that $12 Billion cash pipeline and see what crawls out from under the rocks then!

[Free Vulcan]

Let's see, Mexican troops on our soil is an act of war. Mexican police would be considered armed irregulars, with no rights whatsoever and subject to summary execution.

If it were me, and I just happened to be ex-military, police, or whatever, and also owned land along the border, I would go out shooting one day like I was trying to kill smugglers, take a highly visible path back to my home well inside the border, then wait with a few well chosen buddies. Then when the federales show up, smoke 'em.

That ought to make the national news.

[Indy Pendance]

That was exactly my first reaction! Read my later posts, you'll see I've responded more logically. Thanks, I saw red for a moment and apologize to everyone for my haste.

[PoorMuttly]

Acts of War.

[Paul C. Jesup]

It is possible that these are the former Mexican military troops that have been growing in power in the smuggling trade on the US/Mex border in the last 6 months.

[HiJinx]

This looks to be sole-sourced. I did a Google search on Escarcega's name, news and www, and Newsmax is the only hit I got.

[sarcasm]

CANDELARIA, TEXAS. Candelaria is a ranching community at the end of Farm Road 170, across the Rio Grande from San Antonio El Bravo, Chihuahua, Mexico, and forty-two miles southwest of Marfa in western Presidio County. The Candelaria community was originally known as Gallina. The town lies in an area of rugged mountain terrain in the Chihuahuan Desert, where scrub, sotol, cacti, and sparse grasses grow. The post office at Candelaria was established in 1901. By 1910 the town reported a population of 543, a general merchandise store, a church, and a school. A cotton gin and flour mill were constructed there in 1913, after the introduction of cotton to the area. The United States Army built a cavalry outpost overlooking Candelaria shortly after the mobilization of National Guard troops along the border in May 1916. On August 19, 1919, troopers of the Eighth Cavalry crossed into Chihuahua at Candelaria on the last American punitive expedition into Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.^qv The army outpost was closed after the cavalry withdrew from the upper Big Bend area in September 1919. After the army camp at Candelaria closed, the community's population began to decline: it fell to 250 in 1925 and to seventy-five by 1940. By 1985 Farm Road 170 to Candelaria had been completed, providing the first paved access to the remote community. In the late 1980s Candelaria comprised a two-room elementary school, a store, a Catholic church, and a cluster of adobe houses. The community had an estimated population of fifty-five in 1990.

[Dog Gone]

NewsMax makes its money by feeding red meat to a select group of people. It can't possibly compete with the wire services, or even a major newspaper in terms of resources and people to secure original news stories.

It's America's Debka.

That doesn't mean that it makes the stories up. It's my opinion that seize on any information they find and slant it to fire up their readership. NewsMax has no intention in ever being objective, because it would cost them dearly.

I share their conservative bias. But I hate it when it permeates their "news stories", because you can't possibly trust them. They take the conservative bias WAY too far.

[Indy Pendance]

Thanks for searching. If that is the case, no wonder why not even Fox picked up on it. I would more than love to hear real news, but news max can sometimes embellish as the lib networks do relentlessly.

[stevie_d_64]

This is just another example of how inept our Government is when it comes to them doing their Constitutional mandated job...

There a a few civilian groups out there patrolling the border as well...

But what do they get from ALL sides when they make statements and or detain illegal border crossers???

Grief, labeled as racist, they get investigated by our government for any little thing they can find or make up...

All because they would really prefer the government to do its job, and what they are doing is illustrating that deficiency...

Whether the story is credible or not...That is far from my point, and not meant to disparage the originator...

But what it (story) does "is" illustrate a serious problem that needs attention, other than lip service...

The risks of inaction, far outward the diatribe and traditional hand ringing done when things like this get discussed here...

If there was a solution...The normal letter/calling/emailing your elected officials may get a cursory glance by the same...Beyond that is anyones guess as to how effective our collective outrage at even the slightest risk this poses to our country and our border States...

I am sure most of us have the ear of some official at some level of our "system"...Pulsing them enough may generate a wave of uphill proportions that may create some reaction or discussion (or even "GASP!", a solution) at the appropriate level...

I'm all for the aggressive stances some tout here...But I am sure all realize the downside to that...

So the proverbial question always is...

"What are you prepared to do, or sacrifice, to prove your point?"

The people living down there on the border see the problem everyday...It governs their lives...It governs their actions...Some welcome those of us who feel the way we do, and some reject us whole-heartedly, and laugh at our agenda...

So how do you stop the problem??? Find out what drives it all in the first place...

Money (who's making the cash?)

Drugs (the flow is one way...North)

Profit (Zot the big fish in the chain, and someone may come in behind them...)

Power (A government(s) who does not see a way to intercede and absorb or control the above mentioned bullet points, will not take action...It gives them nothing of those things...)

Later,
Steve

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Time to start shooting back?