Posted on 10/17/2007 3:49:51 AM PDT by Bulldawg Fan
Mexican soldiers and civilian smugglers had an armed standoff with nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officials on the Rio Grande in Texas Monday afternoon, according to Texas police and the FBI.
Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States, said Chief Deputy Mike Doyal, of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department.
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 -- when Border Patrol agents called for backup. Hudspeth County deputies and Texas Highway patrol officers arrived shortly afterward, Doyal 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."
An FBI spokeswoman confirmed the incident happened at 2:15 p.m. Pacific Time.
"Bad guys in three vehicles ended up on the border," said Andrea Simmons, a spokeswoman with the FBI's El Paso office. "People with Humvees, who appeared to be with the Mexican Army, were involved with the three vehicles in getting them back across."
Simmons said the FBI was not involved and referred inquiries to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE did not return calls seeking comment.
Doyal said deputies captured one vehicle in the incident, a Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen from El Paso, and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside. The Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river, he said.
Doyal's deputies faced a similar incident on Nov. 17, when agents from the Fort Hancock border patrol station in Texas called the sheriff's department for backup after confronting more than six fully armed men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The men -- who were carrying machine guns and driving military vehicles -- were trying to bring more than three tons of marijuana across the Rio Grande, Doyal said.
Doyal said such incidents are common at Neely's Crossing, which is near Fort Hancock, Texas, and across from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
"It happens quite often here," he said.
Deputies and border patrol agents are not equipped for combat, he added.
"Our government has to do something," he said. "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."
Citing a Jan. 15 story in the Daily Bulletin, Reps. David Dreier, R-Glendora, and Duncan Hunter, R-San Diego, last week asked the House Judiciary Committee, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the House Homeland Security Committee and the House International Relations Committee to investigate the incursions. The story focused on a Department of Homeland Security document reporting 216 incursions by Mexican soldiers during the past 10 years and a map with the seal of the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, both of which were given to the newspaper.
Requests by Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee, and Hunter were made in jointly signed letters.
On Wednesday, Chertoff played down the reports of border incursions by the Mexican military. He suggested many of the incursions could have been mistakes, blaming bad navigation by military personnel or attributing the incursions to criminals dressed in military garb.
Mexican officials last week denied any incursions made by their military.
But border agents interviewed over the past year have discussed confrontations those they believe to be Mexican military personnel.
"We're sitting ducks," said a border agent speaking on condition of anonymity. "The government has our hands tied."
- Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8552.
- Kenneth Todd Ruiz can be reached by e-mail at todd.ruiz@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8555.
"Mexican Army troops had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border..."
"On Wednesday, Chertoff played down the reports of border incursions by the Mexican military. He suggested many of the incursions could have been mistakes, blaming bad navigation by military personnel or attributing the incursions to criminals dressed in military garb." Translation: Anything to protect the Mexicans while our own Border Patrol agents rot in jail.
This is another fine example of your President and federal government not only refusing to protect the border but deliberately allowing through their own inaction, a military invasion of this country. Call your DC Senators and Reps and demand action...DEMAND an end to this.
Mehhhhiccccan army doing work that the lazy U.S. Army won’t do, eh?
He suggested many of the incursions could have been mistakes, blaming bad navigation by military personnel
How difficult is it to remember to stay on the SOUTH side of the Rio Grande?
There is a very effective way to engage humvees with machine guns...just ask those dead al qaeda folks in Iraq...plant yourself hundreds of IEDs in random places along the border and wait for them to try it again...when a Mexican army vehicle comes across again, hit the detonator...explosively form your IED for more fun...
“This is another fine example of your President and federal government not only refusing to protect the border but deliberately allowing through their own inaction, a military invasion of this country. Call your DC Senators and Reps and demand action...DEMAND an end to this.”
You have to wonder who is getting kickbacks here. Leaving the front door open for 80% of the drugs heading for the US. If the War on Drugs was one they with to win, they would have fenced this border decades ago.
This is alarming news. I hope someone has informed the President of the United States about this invasion.
BUMP-TO-THE-TOP!
This article makes no mention of any democrat U S Congressperson condemning the actions of the Mexican military. (and we all must wonder why)
It’s a quagmire!
Armed insurgents?
Civil war.
Contact your senators and representatives and ask for a response. This SHOULD be national news.
“On Wednesday, Chertoff played down the reports of border incursions by the Mexican military. He suggested many of the incursions could have been mistakes, blaming bad navigation by military personnel or attributing the incursions to criminals dressed in military garb.”
Well...we can fix that pesky navigation issue with a big, tall fence. And that military garb? Mama said if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...chances are pretty good that it’s a duck. And, that is just what they should do...DUCK! Open season.
Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.
Here’s a good one.
Here......whatever
Is this a new incident, or a rehash of one from a year ago?
“He suggested many of the incursions could have been mistakes...”
Even calling Chertoff clueless is a waste of bandwidth...I wonder what the commander of the nearest US Army fort has to say about this...when a collection of local American citizens come petitioning him to do his job....
I think that is one of the dumbest statements I ever heard out of the mouth of a grown up man. Either that or he has secret information that the Mexican Army has a bunch of Morons, who can't even recognize a river when they stumble on it. And the Rio Grande has been there long enough for them to know it's there, and should at least been given a hint that it is a no-no to go acrossit hauling tons of maryjane..
***sheeeeeesh***
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