Posted on 10/05/2002 9:48:56 PM PDT by Selmo
Three U.S. Border Patrol agents have reported being shot at in separate incidents west of Tucson since Sept. 23.
Only once did an agent return fire, agency spokesman Ryan Scudder said. No agents were injured, and it was unclear whether anyone was struck by the agent's gunfire.
In the first incident, about 2 a.m. on Sept. 23, an agent was driving west along the border, about a mile east of San Miguel Gate, when he heard three shots fired from the Mexican side of the border, Scudder said. One round struck the left rear side of the agent's marked Chevrolet Tahoe.
The agent left the area and did not return fire, Scudder said. The agent did not see any people or vehicles in the area where the shots originated.
San Miguel Gate is a popular but informal border crossing on the Tohono O'odham Nation, about 30 miles south of Sells and 65 miles southwest of Tucson.
At about 4 p.m. on Sept. 26, an agent was driving south toward Serapo Gate, another informal crossing on the reservation, about 20 miles west of San Miguel Gate. Another vehicle going south passed the agent, and someone fired at the agent as that vehicle passed, Scudder said.
That agent returned fire, but it was unclear whether he struck the vehicle or anyone inside, said Scudder, who did not have a vehicle description.
About 3 a.m. Tuesday, an agent working on foot had just discovered a group of border crossers in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument when he heard a gunshot, Scudder said. The agent also said he heard a bullet ricochet off a rock.
Agents searched for eight hours but could not find evidence of the bullet or the shooter, Scudder said.
The three incidents were the latest in a series of gunfire attacks on agents in Southern Arizona this year. Tucson Sector agents reported being fired on at least seven times in the fiscal year that ended Monday, Scudder said.
In March, a drug smuggler fleeing back to Mexico fired repeatedly on agents near Naco.
In May, an agent working near Papago Farms, about 100 miles southwest of Tucson, reported being fired on by Mexican soldiers driving a Humvee.
In July, an agent working in the same area reported being chased and fired on by men in a pickup, and returning fire. No one is known to have been hit in any of these three incidents.
But in August, a man believed to be a drug smuggler shot and killed National Park Service Ranger Kris Eggle as he worked alongside Border Patrol agents in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. In that case, Eggle's killer, Panfilo Murillo Aguila, was then shot to death by Mexican officers on their side of the border.
Edward "Bud" Tuffly, the president of the agents union in Southern Arizona, said agents are wondering whether there will be a response to the shootings.
"If something is being done, they're not being told about it," Tuffly said. "That has a demoralizing effect on the agents."
Agreed. We are very short staffed and Bush appoints open border idiots to run the agency, which shows his true colors when it comes to securing the border.
Yes, that's pretty much the way I see it too.
Overall, the problem is that the rational Christian heritage of the coutry that stated that sex should occur between marriage and between a man and a woman has been sabotaged by evil forces.
Things that used to be taboo are now mainstream and what used to be mainstream is now "just another choice". Pathetic, in my opinion.
Regarding immigration, though, our government has the ability to put a stop to this or to significantly slow it. However, I'm not counting on it coming out of them. I figure that at the rate things are going, the country will really be in the crapper by the time I retire. That is, if Christ hasn't returned by then.
You speaketh the truth.
Yes, unfortunately that is the reality of today...and in many other periods of human history. Imagine if our Founding Fathers thought this way?
I am not as optimistic as you are. If the borders aren't an issue in this election, our elected representatives get a free pass. They can do whatever they want to open the borders, and by 2004 it'll be too late to do much about it. The good jobs will have been shipped overseas and the mediocre jobs here will be filled by cheap labor.
The war on Iraq thing is a diversion. If it weren't for that, people might be talking about our unsecure borders. And their declining net worth. And safety at home. And our loss of constitutional rights. Etc, etc, etc.
And those Predator aircraft equipped with missles....
Give that man a medal.
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