Posted on 01/27/2006 5:10:46 AM PST by Borax Queen
NOGALES, Ariz. -- Incursions of what appear to be Mexican military personnel on the American side of the border have been commonplace for years and have actually decreased since 2002, the U.S. Border Patrol chief said Thursday.
Responding to reports this week that heavily armed drug smugglers wearing Mexican military gear confronted Texas and federal law enforcement before retreating across the Rio Grande, Chief David Aguilar said American officials will continue to work with the Mexican government to find a solution.
"I feel confident that it will get the attention that's needed," said Aguilar.
Aguilar said reports of incursions on the U.S. side of the border have decreased by 55 percent since 2002. Since that time, he said, there have been 105 such instances, though it's unclear whether the reports involve members of the Mexican military or criminals. The Mexican government has denied being involved in the incursions.
The Border Patrol has identified individuals dressed in what appears to be Mexican military gear as "potentially being involved with illegal alien or narcotics trafficking," Aguilar said, but stressed that's as much as he knows.
"The incursions of Mexican entities is something that we have been dealing with for years. These things happen. We have detained Mexican government-entity representatives, military police, things of that nature right here in Tucson while I was here," said Aguilar, who served as chief of the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector before he was named agency chief in July 2004.
"I have to tell you that we have had instances where we have incurred accidentally onto their side of the border also. There are also situations we can speak to that there has been an attempt on the part of criminals to basically shroud themselves as representatives of the Mexican government and in some cases representatives of the American government a very complex situation to deal with."
Aguilar told reporters that he's been in the Western part of the United States this week to talk about increased violence against Border Patrol agents. Last year, the Border Patrol recorded 778 assaults on officers, up from 396 the previous year.
Some recent incidents Aguilar cited included:
-A report from El Paso that a Border Patrol agent was struck in the head with a large rock and required 25 stitches.
-Two agents were shot last year near Nogales and seriously wounded.
-And in Laredo, Texas, this week there were two incidents where shots were fired at agents, but the agents were not injured.
According to Aguilar, since September 2004 the Border Patrol has apprehended at least 160,000 illegal immigrants with prior criminal convictions at least 400 of them for homicide.
"These are people illegally crossing into this country, trying to make their way back into this country after having been criminally convicted, served time, sent back to their country of origin," Aguilar said.
"We recognize that danger comes with the job that we do. . . . But one of my intents here is to ensure that the American public recognizes the outstanding work that our officers do and that this violence we deal with is serious, we take it very seriously and when serious things happen in response to this violence, it needs to be placed in context."
Incursion Ping.
Just a thought...
L
There is a way... have a rapid response team consisting of Border Patrol Special Ops types and of a couple of these babies sitting at the ready to surround the perps next time it happens.
Of course, that would create an even more embarrassing international incident, wouldn't it?
ping
No; we need a guest worker program that lets them in for 6 to indefinite length of years, and lets them become citizens.//sarcasm
This could lead, hopefully, to the US finally arming the borders properly.
I can't imagine why we'd "work to stop the incursions"...we should just be STOPPING THEM with extreme prejudice.
repeated incursions, ACT OF WAR...
**
That is the last thing that either government wants to do. It would impede the flow of cheap illegal labor and we can't have that.
OOH! I know how we can stop intrusions, since our government refuses to take the simple solution of building a wall...
Make the entire border area a live-fire exercise field for our bombers! Let's start making large-scale bombing runs, over that entire area.
If we fry a couple different people who should never have been there in the first place, all the BETTER!
"...since September 2004 the Border Patrol has apprehended at least 160,000 illegal immigrants with prior criminal convictions at least 400 of them for homicide."
This article makes an important point for people who think the only way Mexicans can come to this country to work is to illegally cross the border. The reason many cross illegally is they don't qualify for a legal work permit, many due to a criminal record.
NOGALES, Ariz. -- Incursions of what appear to be Mexican military personnel on the American side of the border have been commonplace for years and have actually decreased since 2002, the U.S. Border Patrol chief said Thursday.
Yup!
The latest spin is now "Well, we used to get invaded all the time, but they have gone down SINCE JORGE ARBUSTO'S election!"
Nothing like getting your talking points form High Places!
Ping!
Well, last year's motto was "We're trying to gain operational control of the border."
This year it's "We're working to stop the incursions."
The Bush/Fox administration has absolutely NO intention of stopping these "incursions"...
lol, all out war next? Just Because they were lax in enforcement to begin with and the Mexicans, etc, are opportunists???
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
Of course the White House and Chertoff will do everything possible to cover this up, minimize the threat to national security, and paint those who object as troublemakers and "vigilantes".
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.