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Border Patrol encounters Mexican soldiers: Heavily armed foreign troopers on U.S. turf near Tecate
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Saturday, March 16, 2002 | By Jon Dougherty

Posted on 03/16/2002 2:15:46 AM PST by JohnHuang2

A U.S. Border Patrol officer has encountered four heavily armed Mexican army soldiers on the U.S. side of the border near San Diego.

The soldiers, armed with three submachine guns and one M-16 rifle, crossed the border near Tecate, Mexico, while on a counter-drug mission, Border Patrol spokesman James Jacques said. They were all dressed in camouflage fatigues, said officials.

A Border Patrol agent, who was not identified in the SanDeigoChannel.com report, said he was following footsteps left by the Mexican patrol. When he encountered them, one of the Mexican soldiers had his sidearm unholstered.

The agent then unholstered his sidearm and identified himself. He told superiors the Mexican troopers then realized they were inside the U.S. and cooperated with the Border Patrol agent, who took them to a nearby Border Patrol station.

Their identities were verified by the Mexican consulate and other U.S. officials before they were returned to Mexico via the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The report did not say whether their weapons were confiscated.

"This could easily have escalated into a real tragedy," Jacques told reporters. "Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed."

The Border Patrol's Washington, D.C., headquarters did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

The March 10 incident signals a growing trend of Mexican military forces crossing into the United States.

In March 2000, WorldNetDaily reported that a group of Mexican soldiers fired on Border Patrol officers.

On March 14, 2000, "two Mexican army Humvees carrying about 16 armed soldiers drove across the international boundary and into the United States near Santa Teresa, New Mexico," said a statement issued at the time by the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing about 8,300 "non-supervisory" Border Patrol personnel.

There the vehicles pursued a Border Patrol vehicle, which was "outfitted with decals and emergency lights (that were activated for much of the pursuit) over a mile into the United States," the union said.

The lead Mexican army vehicle, said the council, contained nine soldiers "armed with seven automatic assault rifles, one submachine gun and two .45 caliber pistols," and was eventually apprehended by other Border Patrol units.

The second Mexican army Humvee, however, "pursued a Border Patrol agent on horseback and fired a shot at him. The soldiers then disembarked their vehicle, fired upon one more Border Patrol agent and chased another agent before fleeing [back] to Mexico in their vehicle."

Then, in November, two border patrolmen who had just disembarked from a "clearly marked Border Patrol helicopter" immediately came under fire from a 10-man unit of what appeared to be soldiers with the Mexican army, according to L. Keith Weeks, vice president of the National Border Patrol Union Local 1613 in San Diego, Calif.

The second incident reportedly occurred Oct. 24 in Copper Canyon, about eight miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

About eight shots were fired, Weeks said. "Once other Border Patrol agents neared the scene, the soldiers retreated to Mexico and drove off in a minivan," he added.

News of the incursion comes as President Bush earlier this week convinced the House leadership to attach an amnesty bill to a series of other non-controversial bills that usually don't require much debate. The measure was passed.

Critics of Bush's bill say the granting of amnesty to millions of illegals rewards illegal behavior, worsens domestic security and demoralizes the Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies charged with enforcing immigration laws.

On Wednesday, Bush signed into law the "Family Sponsor Immigration Act of 2002," which, the White House said, "allows an alternative family member to sign the necessary affidavit of support for an alien in the event of the death of the relative who initially filed a petition for permanent resident status for the alien."


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To: Twodees
Guess you'll never learn, huh?

Guess you'll never win, huh?
You can, however, sign up for the fifth time.
You've already blown this handle.

DD, indeed.

201 posted on 03/17/2002 8:52:17 AM PST by PRND21
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To: Tuor
Check here: A Mexican with bomb materials and computer disks for making false Identification ---caught walking right over the bridge. Most aren't sneaking in, they come over the international bridges.

The El Paso FBI is investigating an 18-year-old Juárez man who was detained Thursday night at the Paso del Norte Bridge with a detonator device for possible "attempted bombing and explosive law violations," FBI Special Agent Al Cruz said Friday.

"The suspect is a Mexican citizen in the custody of the INS on violations of U.S. immigration laws," Cruz said. "What the FBI is investigating is a bomb case."

Roberto J. Moreno, the suspect, allegedly also possessed the means to create false documents, officials said.

"The detonator was homemade, but the only thing it was missing to make it a bomb was explosive material," El Paso police Sgt. Al Velarde said.

Moreno was in custody Friday at the El Paso County Jail under $2,000 bond. Authorities did not provide any details about his background or what he planned to do with the device.

Although Moreno was stopped at 7:30 p.m., officials did not close the Paso del Norte Bridge until 9:30 p.m. -- two hours after the detonator was intercepted. They reopened it about two hours later.

"We are reviewing why the bridge wasn't closed sooner," Velarde said. "It was the El Paso Police Department that made the call to close the bridge as a safety precaution."

Detonator Led to Bridge Shutdown(Saturday archives)

For some reason you'll hear about Americans shutting down airports by running up down escalators but you aren't going to hear much about this kind of thing. This happened this last Friday.

202 posted on 03/17/2002 9:19:41 AM PST by FITZ
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To: Dane
trying to live the American dream.

If illegals care one iota about America, they would have found it worthwhile to apply for legal immigration before they came. If you made a requirement that they had to at least speak the language of this country and know at least the minimum about the US Constitution, they'd squeal so loud about that being unfair.

203 posted on 03/17/2002 9:29:08 AM PST by FITZ
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To: Abundy
(snip)

On Mar. 14, shortly after 10 p.m. local time, "two Mexican army Humvees carrying about 16 armed soldiers drove across the international boundary and into the United States near Santa Teresa, New Mexico." There the vehicles pursued a Border Patrol vehicle, which was "outfitted with decals and emergency lights (that were activated for much of the pursuit) over a mile into the United States."

The lead Mexican army vehicle, the Border Patrol council said, contained nine soldiers "armed with seven automatic assault rifles, one submachine gun, and two .45 caliber pistols," and was eventually apprehended by other Border Patrol units. The second Humvee, however, "pursued a Border Patrol agent on horseback and fired a shot at him. The soldiers then disembarked their vehicle, fired upon one more Border Patrol agent and chased another agent before fleeing [back] to Mexico in their vehicle."

U.S. Border Patrol agent Union officials said the members of the lead Mexican army vehicle were debriefed and eventually allowed to return to Mexico with their arms and vehicle.

Though the incident "is the most serious to date," the council said, "it is but one of hundreds of incursions that have been reported over the past several years," and it has led union officials to call on Congress and the Clinton administration to deal with it.

(snip) "That was no accident," Joseph Dassaro, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, told reporters in El Paso, Texas. "The Mexican military was well into U.S. territory for way over a mile and chased and fired at agents."

As confirmed by Border Patrol officials, the Juarez cartel, one of Mexico's biggest drug gangs, has indeed placed a bounty of $200,000 on U.S. lawmen.

#########

A foreign military unit comes into the U.S. and fires on government officials. This is an act of war by any standard. We should have responded with overwhelming force the very next day.

No nation can let a foreign military come into the country and shoot at citizens. This just shows how far our society has degenerated, that we allow this and the people are not up in arms about it.

204 posted on 03/17/2002 10:13:32 AM PST by SUSSA
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To: Dane
And it amazes me that you see a "conspiracy" everywhere. They caught the guy.

Conspiracy?? What in hell are you talking about? What you should be concerned about, given the porosity of our southern borders, is the question:"Who didn't they catch?"

205 posted on 03/17/2002 10:15:35 AM PST by a merkin
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To: PRND21
What are you trying to say exactly? I'll give you the last word here, boy. You're obviously afflicted with a grave mental disorder and can't be held responsible for your online babblings.
206 posted on 03/18/2002 12:29:39 AM PST by Twodees
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To: SUSSA
I agree completely. This was an act of war and deserved a very violent response. If we're to allow the gun thugs of a third world oligarchy to cross our borders at will and fire on our federal employees, we might as well just hand the border states back over to them. I think that's what Tio Jorge has in mind.
207 posted on 03/18/2002 4:41:01 AM PST by Twodees
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