Posted on 03/02/2006 9:50:15 PM PST by Travis McGee
WASHINGTON -- State and federal law enforcement officers appeared before senators Wednesday to paint a horrific picture of life on the Southwest border, telling of violent assaults, running gunbattles, brazen cross-border incursions and threatened contract killings of U.S. officers.
The hearing, co-chaired by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., prompted calls for a border crackdown to combat what Kyl described as "bad, nasty, dangerous people."
U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar showed slides of battered agents, telling senators that his officers increasingly fall victim to attacks by assailants firing weapons, hurling rocks or pursuing the agents with vehicles. One current weapon of choice, he said, is a "Molotov rock" -- a rock wrapped in fabric then set ablaze.
Val Verde County Sheriff A. D'Wayne Jernigan, head of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said in written testimony that authorities have received information that Mexican drug rings plan to kill as many U.S. police officers as possible in an attempt to intimidate U.S. authorities.
"The drug trafficking organizations have the money, equipment and stamina to carry out their threats," Jernigan said. "They are determined to protect their illicit trade."
The Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to begin preparing a comprehensive immigration measure to present to the full Senate, possibly by the end of the month. Cornyn and Kyl are co-sponsoring one of the major bills to be considered by the committee. The joint hearing by Cornyn's and Kyl's two subcommittees was prompted by a Jan. 23 incursion into Hudspeth County by uniformed and heavily armed gunmen. The incident fanned allegations that rogue Mexican military units are serving as escorts for drug smugglers, assertions vehemently denied by the Mexican government.
Marcy Forman, investigations director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told senators that her department is still investigating and has not determined whether the Mexican military was involved. But Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, who attended the hearing but did not testify, said in an interview that he remains convinced that Mexican military personnel participated in the standoff.
West's deputies chased three vehicles to the border, confronting a Humvee with a machine gun and men in uniforms. "There is no doubt it was Mexican military," said West, a lifelong resident of the border area. "I've seen them all my life." Aguilar said the Border Patrol has documented 144 incursions by Mexican government officials since 1991, but he said most appeared to be accidental. U.S. authorities have been working with Mexican officials to prevent unauthorized incursions and have reduced the rate by 50 percent over the past five years, he said. But T.J. Bonner, a San Diego agent who heads the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' national union, said that front-line agents increasingly confront Mexican military and that he was "incredulous" that the Mexican government denied the allegations. He cited four instances since 2000 in which agents have been fired on.
Aguilar acknowledged that criminal organizations use military-style uniforms, equipment and weapons but said his agency "does not have proof" that any of the recent incidents involved Mexican government personnel. Other law enforcement officers portrayed sections of the Southwest border as virtual war zones, where outnumbered officers almost routinely engage in confrontations with smugglers fighting to protect lucrative operations trafficking in humans and drugs. "Today, the expected response to an attempted interdiction is to fight," said Sheriff Larry Dyer of Cochise County in Arizona. "High-speed chases on congested public highways and through populated residential areas are common."
Lavoyger Durham, manager of the El Tule Ranch in South Texas, about 75 miles north of the border, said between 200 and 300 immigrants move across his ranch property each night.
Many are job-seekers heading north but others are gang members and smugglers, who increasingly shoot at ranchers and ranch hands.
Other residents and ranch workers have been beaten and held hostage, he said.
"The stories are endless and are only getting worse," he said.
Ok, small point, but Pancho Villa was theatening our southern border much like these people are.
It sent the right message at the time and largely stopped the problem for the time being since they knew we meant business.
Now, we are a joke, a very pathetic sad joke. Fox's chamber maid GWB is doing his bidding all while we get to pay the tab.
Patton is by far my favorite historical figure.
In fact, many said he got 5th in the Olympics because he may have shot two bullets through the same hole. Because they could not verify it, they had to give him fifth.
Secretary of War Baker praised the efforts of Pershing and his men by stating that "its objective, of course was the capture of Villa, if that could be accomplished, but its real purpose was a display of the power of the United States into a country disturbed beyond control of the constituted authorities of the Republic of Mexico as a means of controlling lawless aggregations of bandits and preventing attacks by them across the international frontier. This purpose is fully and finally accomplished."
Good reporting and a good read.
I would caution readers, though, not to too easily form a generic image of the Hispanic 'illegal alien'.
There is as much cultural difference from Mexicali to McAllen as from Miami to Maine.
Identifying any Hispanic alien with a particular stereotype is as foolish as associating a Roanoke good 'ol boy with a Bostonian street peddler.
Bump for future reference.
The entire country has been envaded, but with so many people making money on the it is hard to get anyone moved by it all.
Come through the legal entry points and you are welcome. One and all.
Cross elsewhere and you should consider yourself buzzard bait.
It is fear of the lawsuit that is paralyzing the BP. Illegals file lawsuits by the stacks, so BP tells their officers to be nice to the illegals. BP is expected to let illegals throw rocks at them, and even shoot at them. They are supposedly allowed to protect themselves, but there are two on trial for criminal charges in El Paso right now for shooting at an illegal.
Ranchers and BP are becoming hesitant to do anything against the illegals. Since the property in Arizona was lost to the illegals from El Salvidor after they claimed the US citizen property owner assulted them (the citizen was acquited of those charges) it certainly has every property owner concerned about interferring with illegals.
Wonder how many East German Border Guards got sued?
Nice poem, is there a song that goes with that?
LOL.....I think.
; )
Hey, if that's what it takes...
Except maybe sending Fox more of our money.
There's no good argument against that.
Yeah, you are some kind of nut. That's a fact!
That's the truth too.
Be careful. He's a back country Texan too. I know he thinks racist has something to do with racing cars or bikes.
... I know he thinks racist has something to do with racing cars or bikes....
Well, don't it?
hahaha.
It's not Busch or NASCAR racin, it's dirt track racin.
One of my favorites.
At that, they were lucky. It could have been worse. MUCH worse.
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