Posted on 01/24/2006 1:14:08 PM PST by Man50D
Texas law enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents engaged in an armed standoff with Mexican military personnel and drug smugglers just inside the United States along the Rio Grande yesterday afternoon.
According to a report in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., both Texas law enforcement and the FBI stated nearly 30 American agents were part of the incident. Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department told the paper Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.
Border Patrol agents called for backup after seeing that 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.
Doyal said Hudspeth County deputies and Texas Highway patrol officers arrived shortly afterward.
"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years," Doyal told the Bulletin. "When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."
Andrea Simmons, a spokeswoman with the FBI's El Paso office, confirmed the incident, saying, "Bad guys in three vehicles ended up on the border. People with Humvees, who appeared to be with the Mexican army, were involved with the three vehicles in getting them back across."
A Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen from El Paso was captured, and U.S. officers found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside.
The Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river, Doyal indicated.
Doyal emphasized Border Patrol agents and county deputies are not equipped for battle with military personnel.
"Our government has to do something," he told the Bulletin. "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."
Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security reported 216 incursions by Mexican soldiers during the past 10 years.
Um....this is surely a joke, right?
When it comes to securing our borders, we'd be as well off trusting the French < cough >!
It's been going on for years, but how much visibility has been given to it? I am not going to apologize for Bush, though I love our current POTUS, this is a real issue for him. He needs to address it or an otherwise astonishing presidency will be tainted.
IMHO, perhaps wishful thinking, the DHS along with other alphabet government orgs. assigned to dealing with border issues is building a case for some evasive border policy.
One reason Feds are dragging their feet.
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=829
Sounds like we really do need to give our border patrol access to quick on call airstrike capabilities.
… with unmanned automatic MG turrets that shoot and kill anything bigger than a Taco Bell chihuahua …
Chuck bump
Perhaps we could get individuals to put up wall to wall billboards across the border and have paintings made of the US Army, Air Force, etc in 3D...might atleast get them to stop and wonder...
Hey you can change your screen name now!
Congrats on electing Harper!
How many Texans have 50 cal. machine guns?
What's Bush's response? Amnesty.
A million thanks! There's some very happy Conservatives up here. I can't believe the turnaround from 2 years ago. There's still much work to be done as our new Gov't is only a minority in Parliament, however, this is a tremendous first step. I'm on cloud nine with my new leader. I'm so proud to call Mr. Harper my Prime Minister!
How about THIS method for border patrol???
Origionally, the video link below was posted by freeper Jeff Head on 12/01/2005, and if you haven't seen it, it is WELL worth watching to see how our troops on the "night shift" do bidness.
2003 footage of an AH-60 "cleaning up"....
http://lvlranch.com/images/iraqiinsurgents-takeout.wmv
Hopefully, he will start getting enough pressure from the conservative base that he will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to the issue.
I'd love to have seen one of our guys accidentally fire off a shot that would have sparked that international incident they're so warned against. Then there'd be no way in hell anyone could ignore it.
Congrats!
It's good news for all of us. We're very proud of our neighbors to the North.
Why not simply have rocket launchers on hand and blow them up once they shoot at people on our side? Especially if THEY ARE ON OUR SIDE that should be done IMO.
"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.
I know what would happen.
The mexican army, if attacked, would claim it was an accident that they crossed the border, that they were just doing training, burn the weed, and claimed they were fired on by the US first.
The MSM would eat it up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.