Posted on 01/05/2007 6:12:23 PM PST by Flavius
olunteers with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps are headed for the Arizona-Mexico border Friday to provide backup for National Guard troops in response to an incident near Sasabe in which the approach of armed men forced soldiers to retreat. About 11 p.m. Wednesday, soldiers with a National Guard Entry Identification Team - which provides additional eyes and ears for the U.S. Border Patrol and notifies them of suspicious activity - saw a group of armed individuals approaching them in the desert, said Mario Martinez, spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Border Patrol Office.
The individuals came within 100 yards of the National Guard post, so the troops moved to a safer location and notified Border Patrol agents, Martinez said. When agents responded minutes later, the armed individuals were gone but the agents tracked their footprints to the U.S.-Mexico border, Martinez said. The incident occurred in the west desert corridor between Nogales and Lukeville near Sasabe, which has been a busy area for marijuana seizures since last year. Still, the Border Patrol does not know who the individuals were; why they were armed; or why they were in the United States, Martinez said. There was no verbal or physical confrontation between them and the guard troops, he said. Chris Simcox, the founder and president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said the incident shows the federal government is ineffective when it comes to protecting the border. "The fact that National Guardsmen were forced to retreat from an armed incursion," Simcox said. "It's just absurd." The volunteer border watch organization wants to send the message that National Guard troops aren't making U.S. citizens any safer. "The National Guard needs to be unhandcuffed and they need to be able to deal with these aggressive international incidents," Simcox said. The troops need to be able to apprehend and detain illegal immigrants when they encounter them, he said. The volunteers will be armed so they can defend themselves and they won't retreat if confronted by dangerous border crossers, he said. Major Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona National Guard, said troops are armed and will defend themselves if their lives are in danger, but their role is to provide support for the Border Patrol. Martinez said the National Guard has been effective in its role. The troops provide vehicle maintenance and carry out administrative duties that previously kept agents away from their work on the border. The troops also spot illegal immigrants that otherwise would go unnoticed, Martinez said. The Border Patrol appreciates citizen involvement, but "the border is a dangerous place," Martinez said. "And we have Border Patrol agents trained specifically for that mission." Robin Hoover, the founder of Humane Borders and pastor of First Christian Church, said sending armed U.S. citizens to the border is "idiotic." "It's insane for non-trained personnel to go to the border," he said. "You're just begging for an international incident to happen." He also called into question how effective the National Guard troops were in their mission because they were unable to identify the armed individuals. He pointed out that both U.S. and Mexican military personnel inadvertently cross the border without realizing it and that could have happened in this situation. Martinez said it's important for people not to overreact to the recent incident and that the National Guard troops did exactly what they were expected to do. "We need to make sure that people know what happened out there is serious," Martinez said. "But we don't exaggerate it." Contact reporter Dale Quinn at 629-9412 or dquinn@azstarnet.com. 6 Comments on this story
Don't be sorry, AC!! I should have put a smiley on my post. Or maybe just "Hehe."
I APPRECIATE you thinking of me...HUGS...I want to stay informed on these developments.
KS, one of the great things about being a FReeper these 2-1/2 years... I have developed the habit of collecting "dots" and sometimes they seem to connect.
Now, I think it's a stretch when someone calls that a "conspiracy theory" .... weren't there several of these armed incursions last year already?
And I shudder to envision what the "wake-up call" would look like, should we continue ignoring the warnings that we're being given in this case.
And many times more are simply overstaying their visas...
They should have been armed then they wouldn't have had to run.
Who do you suggest? Romney? Guilliani? McCain? They are the ones being shoved at us by the Party. I don't think that any of them will secure the borders and the ones who would do so, (Tancredo, Hunter), don't have much hope of getting the Office.
No worries.
Carolyn
Good question. Shall we call our wonderful political representatives in Washington, D.C., and ask them? Or would we interrupt their preening and posturing for the cameras, and their so important political powerplays? Can't ask them to do their jobs, can we?
And in the meantime, we support that conclave of traitors, which is what they are. I am so disgusted, it's hard to even articulate what I'm feeling right now.
Carolyn
Major Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona National Guard, said troops are armed and will defend themselves if their lives are in danger, but their role is to provide support for the Border Patrol.
Does anyone have first-hand info that is different from this?
I can hear Osama laughing right now.
What are you complaining about? Americans are in retreat every day, all day, everywhere within America from the scourge of illegal aliens, foreign drug gangs and foreign street gangs. If Americans get hurt in the process, they go to the Emergency Room, where they have to compete with illegal aliens ahead of them in line!
The only difference here is, we've made the retreat "official" at the Mexican border. I won't grace it any more by calling it "our" border. It no longer belongs to America but to Mexico.
Truely a sad situation. My only hope is the belief that the majority of Americans are slow to anger and even slower to action, but they eventually get things right.
Hopefully they get mad soon and I only hope there isn't a huge turf fight in OUR country when things do come to a head.
IT does occasionally happen, and if a unit does indeed cross there is a procedure to follow to alert the neighbor that an accidental incursion had occured. So as to avoid any confusion.
I know this personally. I was in the Honor Guard Unit stationed on Fort Huachuca in 1997. We were given directions for a funeral detail of an American soldier, we knew we were close to the border but thought we were okay. We went to the site carried out our detail, and went home. A day later we realized after looking at maps that we had to have been on the Mexican side of the border, equipped with dress blue uniforms and M-16 loaded with blank ammunition. We reported our incursion, that was unpleasant.
I do not believe the government of Mexico has reported their incursions properly, they deny any incursion despite eyewitness reports.
There is no doubt in my mind that accidental incursions occur.
Actually,what I was referring to is the mention that it could have been the Mexican military. The first report on Jan. 4 that I read from the Department of Homeland Security mentioned that the Mexicans were wearing military uniforms. That article has been pulled and I can't find it anymore. However, I am not the only one who saw it as I will refer you to someone else who saw the post and has information from the HS website.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762636/posts?page=124#124
Carolyn
That will put a stop to this nonsense.
Martinez is lying or misinformed.
"„h On January 4, 2007, National Guardsmen assigned to the Tucson, Arizona Border Patrol Station under Operation Jumpstart observed four subjects wearing military style uniforms and ballistic vests, carrying AK-47 rifles approach their site, located approximately .76 miles north of the international boundary.
„h The national Guardsmen departed the site when the four subjects were within 100 yards of them. The subjects entered the site and searched the immediate area.
„h Nothing was disturbed or taken from the site and no shots were fired."
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