[corsair]

This article is not clear about who was doing the shooting. This business of the Mexican Army shooting across the border and shooting at Americans is way over the line. With three men hospitalized for gunshot wounds, who is paying their medical bills? Who is paying for the other medical treatment, shelter, food and other aid to the women and child?

[conway]

We are Corsair.

[beowolf]

Hey...maybe some Americans got tired of the INS not doing their job....sounds about right to me. I get tired of all of lame @ss stories about about the 'poor illegals' are dieing in the desert. It's simple to me...don't come over the border illegally.

Nah, that's too damn simple...and obvious, isn't it?

[mn12]

Perhaps the shooters are Americans who got tired of the government refusing to protect our borders (The INS wants to use hovercraft and pepperballs to deter illegals!), so they took matters into their own hands.

[marron]

It is not necessary to shoot anyone at the border. The pols could stop illegal immigration cold if they wanted to do it, without mistreating anyone.

All that is necessary is to prosecute the companies that employ them. Usually, the labor contractors are prosecuted, who simply close shop and re-open under a new name; the real employers are immune from prosecution.

[Sungirl]

Are they in a an American Hospital? Who pays for THAT now?

[deport]

Who's paying? Well if they are hospitalized in California then I'd say at the minimum the taxpayers of the County and City where they are at are paying. Maybe all of us with Fed dollars also.

Another article.

Eight Migrants Shot Near Mexico-U.S. Border
Sat Jun 15, 4:45 PM ET

By Deborah Tedford

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Gunfire eruped when a caravan of vehicles carrying Latin American immigrants tried to cross from Mexico into the United States and eight people were wounded, a Mexican official said Saturday.

Miguel Monterrubio, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said Mexican officials were investigating reports that the Mexican army was involved in the shooting, which happened in Mexico near the Baja California-California border very early on Friday morning.

"The preliminary report showed that one of the vehicles in Mexican territory challenged a Mexican army patrol," Monterrubio said.

A spokeswoman at the Defense Ministry in Mexico City said the army had no comment.

Investigators were at the scene on Saturday looking for evidence and talking to witnesses, including some people who may have been part of a caravan carrying illegal immigrants, Monterrubio said.

Thousands of Mexicans and immigrants from other countries attempt to cross the long border between Mexico and the United States every year in search of jobs and a better life.

U.S. Border Patrol officials discovered a bullet-pierced Chevrolet Suburban and 23 occupants in the desert, about 75 yards north of the border near Calexico, California.

The migrants included 17 people from El Salvador ( news - web sites), one from Ecuador and five from Mexico. Several women and at least one child were among the group, but they were not injured.

Some of the group that was riding in the Suburban may have fled back into Mexico when the vehicle stopped.

Most of the injured were taken to hospitals in California's Imperial County, but two of the most seriously injured were airlifted to a hospital in San Diego, Calif., U.S. officials said.

A Mexican newspaper reported that the U.S. Border Patrol had chased two vehicles carrying undocumented migrants back into Mexico after the vehicles were spotted in California.

As the vehicles crossed back into Mexico, a Mexican army unit ordered the vehicles -- one of which bore California license plates -- to stop.

At that point, the occupants allegedly shot at the soldiers, who returned fire.

The incident is the most recent shooting involving the Mexican soldiers.

Earlier this year, a soldier fired into a line of cars waiting to cross the border at the busy Otay Mesa border crossing, near Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego. Several people were injured in that incident.

[brat]

The shooters were probably Mexican military. They probably thought it was a rival drug smuggling ring. And the California tax payer is picking up the tab.