Posted on 01/24/2006 6:24:51 AM PST by jackbenimble
Armed standoff along U.S. border By Sara A. Carter and Kenneth Todd Ruiz, Staff Writers
Mexican soldiers and civilian smugglers had an armed standoff with nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officials on the Rio Grande in Texas on Monday afternoon, according to Texas police and the FBI. Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States, said Chief Deputy Mike Doyal, of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department.
Mexican Army troops had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border -- near Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso -- when Border Patrol agents called for backup. Hudspeth County deputies and Texas Highway patrol officers arrived shortly afterward, Doyal said.
"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years," Doyal said. "When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."
An FBI spokeswoman confirmed the incident happened at 2:15 p.m. Pacific Time.
"Bad guys in three vehicles ended up on the border," said Andrea Simmons, a spokeswoman with the FBI's El Paso office. "People with Humvees, who appeared to be with the Mexican Army, were involved with the three vehicles in getting them back across."
Simmons said the FBI was not involved and referred inquiries to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE did not return calls seeking comment.
Doyal said deputies captured one vehicle in the incident, a Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen from El Paso, and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside. The Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river, he said.
Doyal's deputies faced a similar incident on Nov. 17, when agents from the Fort Hancock border patrol station in Texas called the sheriff's department for backup after confronting more than six fully armed men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The men -- who were carrying machine guns and driving military vehicles -- were trying to bring more than three tons of marijuana across the Rio Grande, Doyal said.
Doyal said such incidents are common at Neely's Crossing, which is near Fort Hancock, Texas, and across from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
"It happens quite often here," he said.
Deputies and border patrol agents are not equipped for combat, he added.
"Our government has to do something," he said. "It's not the immigrants coming over for jobs we're worried about. It's the smugglers, Mexican military and the national threat to our borders that we're worried about."
Citing a Jan. 15 story in the Daily Bulletin, Reps. David Dreier, R-Glendora, and Duncan Hunter, R-San Diego, last week asked the House Judiciary Committee, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the House Homeland Security Committee and the House International Relations Committee to investigate the incursions. The story focused on a Department of Homeland Security document reporting 216 incursions by Mexican soldiers during the past 10 years and a map with the seal of the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, both of which were given to the newspaper.
Requests by Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee, and Hunter were made in jointly signed letters.
On Wednesday, Chertoff played down the reports of border incursions by the Mexican military. He suggested many of the incursions could have been mistakes, blaming bad navigation by military personnel or attributing the incursions to criminals dressed in military garb.
Mexican officials last week denied any incursions made by their military.
But border agents interviewed over the past year have discussed confrontations those they believe to be Mexican military personnel.
"We're sitting ducks," said a border agent speaking on condition of anonymity. "The government has our hands tied."
Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8552.
Kenneth Todd Ruiz can be reached by e-mail at todd.ruiz@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8555.
Chertoff is just George W. Bush's willing stooge.
Why does Chertoff remind me so much of Baghdad Bob.
"There are no Mexican military men crossing the border"
"Everything is under control"
Either foreign aid or their army bought them.
"Why does Chertoff remind me so much of Baghdad Bob."
T'hat's a hoot. Thanks for this mornings laugh. You're right on the money.
I have a feeling that both O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs will be all over this one tonight.
"Why does Chertoff remind me so much of Baghdad Bob."
That's a hoot. Thanks for this mornings' laugh. You're right on the money.
Because we provide with hundreds of millions of dollars in millitary aid.
If I remember correctly the national guard falls under the governors command and this looks like a blatant incursion onto our texas soil by a foreign aggressor violating our soverignty and laws. The pharmacist needs to cowboy up and send some of texas's finest to the border.
Michael Chertoff: Move along folks, nothing to see here.
Everybody knows that the best grass comes from inside the borders of the US!!! It does not seem right that this is going on under GW's "unknowing" eyes.
Sen Cornyn just introduced a bill that will have us paying for practically everything in Mexico, from roads to schools, and everything else.
Nothing is going to happen at the border, except the invasion and the crime wave will continue unchecked.
Rush has had his wings clipped too.
Hannity expresses outrage but can't bring himself to state the most obvious, that it's orders from the very top.
"That's a hoot".
You got that right! LMAO!
I think one reason our politicians are not listening to us on open borders is that they realize America as we have known it is already dead and gone. They are all waiting for 2010 when America becomes one nation with Canada and Mexico.
Our votes won't mean anything then, and that is exactly how the Republican party wants it. One reason the Bush family and the Clintons are good friends is that they are on the same page when it comes to destroying the sovereignty of America through open borders. The politicians who are on top then, will stay on top becoming dictators for life.
So this great nation that has been free for over 200 years will descend into a politically corrupt hell of tyranny, never to rise again.
"Doyal said deputies captured one vehicle in the incident, a Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen from El Paso, and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside."
How do you get 1,500 pounds of pot in a Cadillac? Then again, when I was in high school, we'd get 8 kids in VW bug.
If I were in charge they would be calling the military. But given that they report to a President who does not care to defend our borders perhaps the could call the media.
Mexican Incursion Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Is that part of the Cornyn/Kyl Guestworker Sham or is that something else?
The media who supports the invasion, or the media who's had it's wings clipped and is afraid to talk?
Part of the damned Community plan.
It's called the North American Infrastructure Fund, or something.
Google Cornyn North American Infrastructure and you'll get it.
Last I looked it wasn't going anywhere, but the Patriot Act sat on the shelf for years before they found the right time to dust it off and ram it through, largely unread.
How about the media that never misses an opportunity to embarrass the President. It is about time they did something useful.
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