Posted on 01/24/2006 11:16:03 AM PST by dennisw
SIERRA BLANCA, Texas Men dressed as Mexican Army soldiers, apparent drug suspects and Texas law enforcement officers faced off on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, an FBI spokeswoman said Tuesday. Andrea Simmons, an agency spokeswoman in El Paso, told The Associated Press that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased three SUVs, believing they were carrying drugs, to the banks of the Rio Grande during Monday's incident.
Men dressed in Mexican military uniforms or camouflage were on the U.S. side of the border in Texas, she said.
Simmons said the FBI was not involved and referred requests for further details to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported Tuesday that the incident included an armed standoff involving the Mexican military, suspected drug smugglers and nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officers. It said Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.
The incident follows a story in the Bulletin on Jan. 15 that said the Mexican military had crossed into the United States more than 200 times since 1996.
Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department told the newspaper that Border Patrol agents called for backup and were joined by Hudspeth County deputies and DPS troopers. Mexican army personnel had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border, the newspaper said.
Doyal said deputies captured a Cadillac Escalade that had been reported stolen from El Paso, and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside. He said Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river.
The site is near Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso, it 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."
After the newspaper reported on Mexican military crossings, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the report was overblown and most of the incursions were just mistakes.
In eastern California, Arizona and New Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico border is largely unmarked. But in Texas, the Rio Grande separates the two countries and even when dry, is a riverbed about 200 feet wide.
In November, Doyal said Border Patrol agents in the border town of Fort Hancock called for help after confronting more than six men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The men allegedly were trying to bring more than three tons of marijuana across the Rio Grande, Doyal told the newspaper.
Doyal said such incidents are common at Neely's Crossing.
Pictures ?
Oh oh, armed Mexican women and children are invading, the ATF should be right on it.
"Book'em Danno".
It would appear that we need a Military border enforcement arm, similar to the Coast Guard, on the southern border.
they should put up a building, grab the next bunch that comes over and make them dance with underpants on their heads. HA! (actually that would probably kill a Macho Mexican...) lol
fyi
Rush made a pass at this today as well.
UAV with a mounted .50 cal would go a LONG way to stop this kind of crap.
bump
Chertoff is overblown.
As posted elsewhere on the interweb,
"A Predator UAV over our boarders would only mean that it would take the wetbacks pictures, so that their drivers licenses would be waiting for them after they crossed."
Try Hellfires.... They are not misnamed.
Our guys with scoped rifles, with the crosshairs on the machine gunners. Take them out first and then finish taking out the trash.
It is past time that we defend our soil against alien invaders who intend to do us damage.
LOL
Yeah and the .50 cal would be used to shoot their licenses to them before they even could walk on a US road.
Personally, I prefer MOABs. But Hellfires will work against small targets, especially on this side of the border.
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
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