Posted on 05/08/2002 12:07:30 PM PDT by 4America
Tuesday, May 07, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo refused to back down Monday from charges that Mexican officials may be illegally entering the U.S., saying that U.S. law enforcement agents told him they suspect the Mexicans are helping to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants across the border.
The Republican from Littleton made the new accusations after Mexico's ambassador to the United States rebuked Tancredo for a letter the lawmaker sent Mexican President Vicente Fox last week alleging Mexican army and law enforcement officials regularly stage "incursions" into the United States.
In a weekend letter to Tancredo, Mexican ambassador Juan Jose Bremer rejected that allegation but acknowledged that "supposedly unnoticed or accidental" crossings do occur along the U.S.-Mexico border. "Each and every case" is fully explained through diplomatic channels, Bremer wrote. He also chided Tancredo for "the unpolite and inadequate tone" of his letter to Fox and suggested he contact the U.S. State Department.
Tancredo's one-page letter leveled six pointed questions at the Mexican president, including one suggesting the incursions "are undertaken to protect the traffic of drugs across the border and into the U.S." Another asked: "For what purpose is the Mexican Army crossing the border without the permission of the United States at least twice a month?"
Tancredo said he learned of the incursions two weekends ago when he toured the 1.8-million-acre Coronado National Forest, which runs for 60 miles along the Mexican border in Arizona.
U.S. law enforcement officers who belong to a multi-agency "high-intensity area" drug enforcement team told him the forest is a conduit for million of dollars in illicit drugs and thousands of illegal immigrants.
The agents told him of nearly two dozen instances last year in which Mexican officials were discovered inside the U.S. and said they suspect the officials may be supporting the illicit trade, Tancredo said, but he cited no hard evidence of their involvement.
When Tancredo asked if the Mexican officials could have become lost in the forest, he said the agents burst into laughter.
Tancredo wrote Fox upon his return to Washington. His letter didn't mention his briefing by law officers but made it clear that he believed the crossings were not accidental.
Tancredo said Bremer's letter did not ease his concerns. "There is a connection to the drug trafficking, and I wanted to know what they're doing to stop it," said Tancredo, who has suggested sending U.S. troops to guard the U.S.-Mexico border.
Kim Thorsen, deputy director of law enforcement for the U.S. Forest Service, said smuggling of drugs and people is a major law enforcement problem in the Arizona forest. Border enforcement efforts, which are concentrated in major urban areas, have pushed smugglers "to the path of least resistance, and that is the public lands," she said.
Parts of the border in the forest have no fences, only cattle guards over rural roads, she said. Some of the smugglers have had traffic accidents with Forest Service and Border Patrol vehicles, and shots have been fired at Forest Service officers, Thorsen said.
Tancredo said he plans to raise the issue with Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, in hopes Hyde takes up the allegation with the Mexican government.
I've seen video of one incident in Lukeville. Customs Service video cameras captured a truck full of armed Mexican Military personnel drive into the US, at the port of entry, and confront the INS and Customs inspectors.
The Military was chasing a vehicle that had just entered the port.
The truck had four or five guys in the bed, with M-16s, and they were a good 50 yards inside the US, and they knew it.
I was off that day, but watched the video the next day.
Check my profile, if you have any questions feel free to ask.
MI
Check my profile, if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Thanks neighbor, I'm sure I'll take you up on that now and then.
Actually, that sounds like a good idea. Then we can say "we'll stop when you stop."
Better yet how about a bounty on any armed Mexican official caught on this side of the border. Say, $100,000 reward - dead or alive.
*I* would say,"I'm moving to Arizona!"
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