Border Patrol Agent Shot

A Border Patrol agent from Fort Hancock was shot in the leg about 4:20 p.m. Saturday by someone on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande while agents were pursuing smugglers 27 miles southeast of the Ysleta Port of Entry, Border Patrol officials said.

The female agent, whose name was not released, was expected to be released Saturday night from Thomason Hospital, El Paso Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said.

The shooting took place after smugglers in a pickup "carrying at least 500 pounds of marijuana" were spotted, he said.

A pursuit began "and the smugglers drove their vehicle into the water and fled into Mexico on foot."

Even though the smugglers reached the safety of Mexico, Mosier said, "apparently a number of assailants were waiting on the Mexico side, and a sustained barrage of gunfire occurred."

The agent was struck by a bullet that penetrated the vehicle, he said. Agents returned fire.

This was thought to be the first shooting of an El Paso sector Border Patrol agent in about 13 years.

On Sept. 12, two El Paso FBI agents were severely beaten by train bandits during a sting operation in the Sunland Park-Anapra area.

So I made an error. Shoot me

An error? Let's check the thread...

I was just blowing off some steam and trying to keep this thread hot also...

What I meant to say was that there are millions of hard working honest Mexicans...

On a more serious note, no, I do not want to mine our own borders. It was just to encourage more discussion of this issue and make a point...

Oops, I forgot, this isn't about capitalism vs. socialism. This is about illegal immigration. Or is it????

It certainly isn't about honesty.

What most small-minded people, suc\h as yourself, have a tendency to do when faced with facts that fly in the face of the lies and distortions they are spewing, is to immediately start attacking the poster, rather than frontally address the issues raised.

I posted excerpts from historical studies written by US military figures, I linked you to those sites to allow you the opportunity to read them, and refute them if you could with your own sources. You didn't.

Instead, as most liberals have a tendency to do, you attack the source. That being me.

Your credibility is zero.

You make generalized statements which indicate that everyone in Mexico is corrupt, then you come back and say that everyone was corrupt, except those people whom you conducted business with, A.K.A. the "some of my best friends are black" defense.

I defended no one, your limited critical thinking ability may be telling you that I defend illegal aliens, but the majority of thinking indibviduals can clearly see that I am not, it's just that in your world, anyone not willing to demonize an entire nation, not willing to call all Mexicans lazy, or parasites, or any other name right out of Mein Kampf, is defending them.

I happen to think that we are a victim of the clowns in government who GIVE AWAY THE HOUSE. Mexican illegal are not stealing anything from the US taxpayer, how the hell can one steal welfare?

Open up those narrow slits you have for eyes, and try to kick start your brain. We are giving them welfare benefits, we are giving them work, we are creating this problem.

You have posted no facts, even when you did, you belittled your own sources. Why should I bother giving any weight to "facts" presented by an individual whom you don't even respect?

I see facts for facts, not some sort of twisted history that twenty years from now, would have me believe that Bill Clinton's bombing of an aspiring factory, was done to defend American interests over seas, and not to take attention away from his Monica problems. Well, just like Clinton did stuff that was wrong, other administrations have as well, and the vast majority of the prblems we are facing with illegal aliens, come as a result of the actions of Capitol Hill idiots.

"Continue your defense of the indefensible."

That's laughable, I've defended nothing. I have attacked your misinformation, destroyed your lies, and pointed out your distortions. You, on the other hand, are now busy lying about what I've said.

Bluster and gather up all your machismo, but no one here is believing for one minute that one idiot, such as yourself, would have the cojones to pull the trigger, except on an internet forum, where you don't even have the balls to use your own name.

I think I can safely assume that you would have all illegal immigrants immediately removed from the US if at all possible. A vast majority of these illegals are working, so these jobs would have to be filled, and we can't solve one problem without creating a bigger one.
Taking under consideration factors such as the decline in the worker-retiree ratio (needed to pay for social services for older Americans) due to the rapid retirement of the baby boomers, and the drop in the birth replacement levels for the US, where would you find workers to fill the immediate needs of employers?

Well, that's an interesting hypothetical.
If I had the power to immediately deport all Illegals and exercised it, I'd also use my super powers to immediately end welfare in the US and after lunch I'd gut the Mexican oligarchy and institute free market capitalism without cronyism and corruption down there. Then I'd take a nap, because later that evening, I'd be getting rid of Castro.
Now, back to reality...
I support incremental approaches to Illegals on a number of fronts, none of which would be tremendously jarring, that would encourage Illegals already here to leave on their own, and discourage more from coming. There would definitely be some deportations, especially of easy-to-locate day laborers (I'd streamline that process), but that alone won't solve the problem. Employer sanctions would be another tactic. I'd like to see more cooperation between the INS and the IRS where there is evidence of fraudulent SS numbers being used to gain employment. I'd like to see States and municipalities be given the discretion to deny services and entitlements to Illegals. I'd tighten up the much-abused political asylum and refugee systems. There would never be another Amnesty. The cumulative effect of these and other measures would, I think, be most beneficial.
Illegals aren't the solution to the Social Security Ponzi scheme, nor are legal immigrants or even a higher birthrate. Such schemes require a geometric growth rate in the population, which is unsustainable. Eventually it's going to implode, and the sooner, the better.
With the wage-eroding Illegals out of the blue collar job market (they aren't all fruit pickers and maids), many of the entry rungs of the economic ladder will become more attractive to America's own underclass. Opportunities for further welfare reform will open up.
If, after that, the domestic labor market is too tight, then once we've gotten a better grip on the problem Illegals, we may want to look into guest worker programs or perhaps, even, increased immigration level, to fill any resulting voids in the employee pool.
As for the unemployed tech-jocks: why are we giving out HB-1 visas given the current state of the high-tech industries?
Another thing, I'd like to see a simple solution to the problem of chain immigration through family reunification. Make family reunification immigrants count against our immigration caps. If our cap is at 1,000,000 and there are 200,000 new immigrants to be reunified with their families, current policy dictates that we'd end up with 1.2 million new immigrants. I'd keep it at the advertised million, leaving 800,000 slots for non-family reunification immigrants.

America's foreign policy towards mexico should be one of helping in their economic development. We should stop sending American industries to the ChiCom, and instead, incentivize American industrialists who would help develop the Mexican economy.

That's exactly right, and one of the key areas where I part ways with the Free Trade absolutists. I'd slap tariffs on China in a heartbeat, while negotiating with Mexico to allow and protect American investments and ownership of real estate.
Helping Mexico fix their backward, corrupt economy would solve many problems. They are blessed with a good climate, good agriculture and fisheries, huge mineral and petroleum resources, and abundant labor. There is no good reason why Mexico can't be one of the richest nations in the world.
I'm a bit baffled as to why tariffs are such a dirty word to so many. Clearly, they can be abused, but the Founding Fathers counted on tarrifs to help fund the govenrment. When sensibly applied, they can be beneficial.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.