Our Escalating Border War

[Ryan Ruck]

Border Patrol Fears Conflict With Mexican Military

Agent: 'It's like we're having a battle … that no one speaks of'

Border Patrol agents stationed along the nation's southwestern frontier increasingly are fearful of encountering armed and potentially hostile military units from Mexico.

Also, agents say, officers are hamstrung in their response, citing concerns the U.S. government is often too deferential to Mexican authorities.

"It's like we're having a battle on the border that no one speaks of," one agent told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin newspaper in Ontario, Calif.

"The Border Patrol lives in constant fear of pleasing the consulate general of Mexico," the agent continued. "It's one of the things that's most mystifying to line agents" because the U.S. is one of the most powerful countries in the world but appears to be more interested in accommodating Mexico City, the agent said.

Indeed, the confrontations have become so routine the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued written orders that agents carry with them regarding "what to do" if confronted by Mexican military units, many of which are in the employ of Mexico's powerful drug cartels.

According to the "Military Incursion" cards, "Mexican military are trained to escape, evade and counter-ambush if it will affect their escape." Therefore, the card says, Border Patrol agents should follow recommended procedures in case they encounter armed Mexican military units.

The paper said the cards also instruct agents to hide from Mexican military operating in their areas. Rather than engage in contact, agents are ordered to "Avoid it."

One Arizona agent described the units to the paper, saying they "are active Mexican military that have sold out to the cartels."

"We talk about cooperation with the Mexican government," the agent continued, "but most of them seem to be on the take. The [Bush] administration, the DHS, they are very hushed about this."

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., head of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, told WorldNetDaily in a 2002 interview he was concerned about a rising number of incursions occurring along the U.S. southwest border.

Noting that elements of the Mexican military were posing a threat to American agents and civilians along the border, he said, "We're no safer today than we were on Sept. 12," in reference to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Tancredo said he began making trips to the border because he became alarmed over increasing reports that border personnel were being shot at on a regular basis, as well as chased and targeted by "rogue elements" of the Mexican military. He said such units either were loyal to Mexican-based drug lords or operating outside the scope of their military mandate.

WND has reported that as early as November 2000, Mexican troops had fired on U.S. Border Patrol agents on American soil.

U.S. authorities also have known for some time that elements of Mexican military and law enforcement units have been corrupted by drug cartels.

"In actuality, law enforcement in Mexico is all too often part of the problem rather than part of the solution," Anthony Placido, the Drug Enforcement Administration's acting assistant administrator for intelligence, told a House panel earlier this year. "This is particularly true at the municipal and state levels of government."

[Ryan Ruck]

Mexican Military Crossed Into U.S. 216 Times Since '96

ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) - Members of the Mexican military have crossed into the United States more than 200 times during the past nine years, according to a newspaper report.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported that there have been 216 incursions by Mexican soldiers since 1996, citing a Department of Homeland Security document the paper obtained.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Kristi Clemens told the newspaper in a story published Sunday that the department is "determined to gain control of the border and will continue to collaborate with our partners on the border." She would not confirm the number of crossings.

A Mexican government spokesman denied that there had been any incursions by military personnel in recent years.

"I have no reports of them crossing into the United States," said Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican embassy in Washington, D.C.

(I think Baghdad Bob escaped to Mexico and changed his name!)

Laveaga said reported sightings of Mexican military could be either soldiers who were lost or smugglers who wore fake uniforms.

The document said that 58 of the crossings were around El Centro, in California's southeast corner and 17 were in San Diego County; 63 were in the Border Patrol's Tucson, Ariz., or Yuma, Ariz., sectors; and the balance were in Texas, with 33 of those in the El Paso sector.

[Ryan Ruck]

Mexican Military Incursions Reported

The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counterambush" if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday.

The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed.

It also cautions agents to keep "a low profile," to use "cover and concealment" in approaching the Mexican units, to employ "shadows and camouflage" to conceal themselves and to "stay as quiet as possible."

Border Patrol spokesman Salvador Zamora confirmed that a "military incursion" warning was given to Tucson agents, but said it was designed to inform them how to react to any sightings of military and foreign police in this country and how to properly document any incursion.

Mr. Zamora added that although incursions by the Mexican military do occur, they usually have taken place in areas of the border "not marked by monuments or signs." He said U.S. military units also have crossed mistakenly into Mexico.

But Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, denied that Mexican military personnel are crossing into the United States.

"I strongly deny any incursions by the Mexican military as inaccurate allegations," Mr. Laveaga said. "The Mexican military is a well-respected institution with strict rules on how to control Northern Mexico. It maintains a protocol of not going within a mile of the border, and those who would trespass would be severely punished."

Mr. Laveaga said some drug smugglers headed "both north and south" wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles, and might have "confused" U.S. authorities.

"Give me a break," said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. "Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents.

"Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation," said Mr. Bonner, whose organization represents all 10,000 of the nonsupervisory Border Patrol agents.

He also challenged reports that Mexican military units had crossed mistakenly into the United States, saying, "Every country's military has a [global positioning system] nowadays, including the Mexicans.

"If the border is so poorly marked, why don't the thousands of Border Patrol agents working 24/7 along it ever seem to get lost, and none of us have been issued a GPS," he said.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said yesterday that she had no information on the reported incursions.

A total of 216 incursions by suspected Mexican military units have been documented since 1996 -- 75 in California, 63 in Arizona and 78 in Texas, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.

Attacks on Border Patrol agents in the past few years have been attributed to current or former Mexican military personnel. U.S. law-enforcement officials have long thought that current and former Mexican soldiers are being paid to protect drug shipments bound for the United States.

Several agents said the attacks have escalated in the past two years as U.S. security efforts on the border have increased -- including the July shooting of two agents in an ambush near Nogales, Ariz., by assailants in black commando-type clothing, who fired more than 50 rounds. Authorities said the gunmen used military-style cover-and-concealment tactics to escape back into Mexico. No one has been arrested.

Santa Cruz County, Ariz., Sheriff Tony Estrada said that at least four shooters were involved and that his deputies found commando clothing, food, water and other "sophisticated equipment" at the site.

Several former Mexican soldiers trained in the U.S. as anti-drug commandos are now part of a well-armed gang known as the "Zetas," which has been linked to hundreds of killings and kidnappings on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border in southeastern Texas.

Many of the gang members have been identified as ex-members of an elite, anti-drug paratroop and intelligence battalion called the Special Air Mobile Force Group, who deserted in 1991.

[Ryan Ruck]

Nothing to see here folks. Move along… Move along… Your bread and circuses will be served up shortly!

Chertoff Calls Reports Of Mexican Military Incursions Overblown

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday that reports of Mexican soldiers frequently crossing onto U.S. soil were overblown, calling many of those incursions innocent mistakes.

"I think to create the image that somehow there is a deliberate effort by the Mexican military to cross the border would be to traffic in scare tactics," Chertoff told reporters in Washington. "We have a good relationship with the Mexicans ( ) and I think treating this as an alarmist issue that suggests we're in danger of some significant overreaching is not accurate and not helpful."

Chertoff's remarks followed a newspaper report that the Mexican military had crossed into the United States 216 times since 1996. The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario published details Sunday of a Homeland Security Department report.

"I think we average about 20 a year, and a significant number of those are innocent things where ... police or military from Mexico may step across the border because they're not aware of exactly where the line is," Chertoff said.

(And of course, those shooting battles with those same crossers were what? Simple misunderstandings?? )

Chertoff added that some members of the Mexican army or police have abandoned their jobs and crossed into the United States to do "something illegal." Also, some criminals who have stepped across the border are dressed as soldiers but do not belong to the military, he said.

Rafael Laveaga, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, declined to comment on Chertoff's remarks. He stood by earlier remarks that the Mexican military has never deliberately stepped onto U.S. soil. He declined to say if there were any unintentional crossings.

The head of a labor union that represents about 10,500 U.S. Border Patrol agents dismissed Chertoff's remarks as "diplomatic response" to a long-running problem on U.S.-Mexico border.

"It really doesn't surprise me that he's playing the diplomat," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council. "This is a guy whose time on the border can be measured in hours, not years."

Bonner said Mexican soldiers - possibly some Army deserters - are providing protection for drug runners.

"It's all about the drugs," he said. "The lure of the riches of the cartel, they're too many for many of their solders to resist, whether they're corrupted on active duty or take up with other bands."

Homeland Security recorded an annual average of 21.6 Mexican military incursions since the 1996 fiscal year, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Incidents peaked at 40 in 2002 and dropped to nine in the 2005 fiscal year that ended in September.

The Border Patrol's El Centro sector, which covers southeastern California, recorded the most incursions since 1996 (58), followed by Tucson, Ariz., (39), El Paso, Texas (33) and McAllen, Texas, (28), according to the newspaper. Del Rio, Texas, recorded only three incidents, the fewest of the agency's nine sectors along the southwest border.

Peter Nunez, the U.S. attorney in San Diego from 1982 to 1988, said it was difficult to know if the reports are overblown without additional information.

"Who's reporting these things?" he said. "What are the details? Who's telling us that this happening? What are the circumstances?"

[Backstop]

Just is truly amazing.

No...not that they have photos of military vehicles lining up on the border.

What is truly amazing is that we have not stopped this.

Washington Times

Lawmaker hits incursions by Mexico military
By Jerry Seper


THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published January 19, 2006


An Arizona congressman yesterday demanded the State Department take "immediate diplomatic action" to stop Mexican military incursions into the United States, saying U.S. Border Patrol agents face a continuing threat of being killed by rogue soldiers protecting drug smugglers.

Two-term Republican Rep. Rick Renzi, in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said reports of Mexican military units providing armed escorts to drug and alien smuggling operations represent "narco-terrorism in its purest form."

"Our borders are under attack by sophisticated organizations that have no qualms about firing on our Border Patrol units," Mr. Renzi said. "As we get tougher and more committed, so do the organizations committed to smuggling death and terror across our borders."


A State Department official yesterday said the department is "in touch with the Mexican government when incidents occur," adding that "they are usually resolved at that time at the local level." The official did not know whether Mr. Renzi's letter had been received.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday told reporters at Defense Today magazine that Mexican military incursions average about 20 a year, but were declining.

He called concern over the issue "overblown" and "scare tactics."

Mr. Chertoff also said a significant number of the incursions were "innocent," noting that police and military units in Mexico pursuing criminals "may step across the border because they do not know exactly where the line is."


"Sometimes they may be people who are dressed in what appear to be military uniforms but they are just criminals, they are not military but they are wearing camouflage so someone may assume they are military," he said.

"We have good relations with our counterparts across the border, we do have instances where we have Mexican police or military who deserted and become involved with criminal activity but we also have bad cops in the United States, too. It happens," he said.


The U.S. Border Patrol recently warned agents in Arizona of military incursions by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counter-ambush" if detected. The warning follows increased sightings of what authorities describe as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border.

While the Mexican government has vigorously denied that its military is crossing into the U.S., Mr. Renzi said that during a tour of the Arizona border last month in a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) helicopter, the pilot showed him military-style humvees lining up at dusk just south of the border to move drugs into the U.S.


He said the preparations occur nightly, noting that 50 percent of the drugs coming into this country pass though the Arizona desert.

"The Border Patrol knows they're coming but they are outmanned and outgunned," he said. "We need military technology to combat these military operations."


Mr. Renzi also said states such as Arizona should be able to supplement federal border enforcement with federally financed state border guard units. He said states can react quickly to new border threats, and that the federal government is unable to graduate enough new agents.

"Border states are tired of waiting for a secure border," he said.

The Border Patrol warning asked the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed, but warned them to keep "a low profile," use "cover and concealment" in approaching the units, and to "stay as quiet as possible."


Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, denied this week that the Mexican military was crossing into the United States. He said the use by some drug smugglers of green uniforms and military-style vehicles had "confused" U.S. authorities.

Mr. Laveaga said Mexican military units have strict protocols to prevent them from crossing the border.


But T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents all 10,000 of the agency's non-supervisory personnel, said it was "common knowledge" along the border that some Mexican military units, federal and state police, and former Mexican soldiers are paid by drug cartels to protect shipments of cocaine, marijuana and heroin into the United States.

A total of 216 incursions by suspected Mexican military units have been documented since 1996 -- 75 in California, 63 in Arizona and 78 in Texas, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.


Mr. Renzi said radar-equipped aerostat balloons now on the border have forced airplanes that previously brought drugs into the United States to "land short," about 120 miles south of the border where the drugs are transferred to vehicles to be driven across the border.

He said the balloons could be mounted with sensors to detect the approach of drug smugglers and "the muscle that protects them."

He is the author of a $50 million border intelligence pilot program known as "Red Zone Defense," which was included in the Department of Homeland Security's appropriation bill. It would coordinate the sharing of intelligence on border security information in Cochise County, Ariz., an area of the border that has become the nation's most popular drug and alien smuggling corridor.


Mr. Renzi said the two-year program would use airships, aerostats and unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance that could pinpoint the exact location of drug smugglers on the border. He said that would give Border Patrol agents increased security.

The program, although funded, has not been implemented.

[American Patriot]

http://communities.anomalies.net/cgi...;f=57;t=000006

That's the original thread on Anomalies.

posted 13 June, 2001 06:41

A few months ago, I came across some interesting, and strange news.

The news articles (there were three or four of them at the time) explained how there were incidents of border patrol clashing with Mexican military. Over the course of several days I managed to verify this wish some people I personally know that work with the border patrol. Yes, indeed, these incidents occur, usually without much fanfare, or news coverage.

Some of these incidents are "different" though, and that is what I picked up on.

In February or so, I found out about a very specific kind of incident that occurred in Texas, and it was alleged the Mexican military members were actually either North Koreans or Chinese in Mexican Army uniforms. This being said, I looked for proof, but never could get in touch with those directly involved in the incident. In fact, at one point I was told "Drop it. This is a non-incident" by one man at an office in South Texas (I won't say where, or who at this point, as that isn't really important to this story).

What is important was the rest of the information, though seemingly unrelated, smacks of standard infiltration, and reconnisance.

What we did discover including a very specific incident (which I am still looking for the exact news article and will post it when I finish it) that occured in October 2000. Several border patrol agents were fired upon by these guys. These guys returned to Mexico without anyone being caught.

A few days later, a good distance away, in San Deigo, several illegal aliens told police authories of "Chinese and Cuba troops somewhere near Mexicalli". Hmmm... I kept searching.

In my searching I sent out letters to several people and posted notes on the internet regarding these eye witness accounts. At one point a man all the way up in Oregon, wrote to me and told me how some illegal aliens who were migrant farm workers told him about the "Cuban and Chinese troops". They thought they were Chinese but could have been Korean. He had first hand knowledge of the illegals, spoke to them regularly and knew some other interesting details.

One of the details included the fact that these "illegals" were taking their pay checks and spending large portions of them on camoflage uniforms at local surplus stores. He personally had taken one guy over to the post office to mail off several of these uniforms to somewhere near Mexicalli, Mexico. He didn't have the address with him, but knew that was where the man was from.

A couple days later, I received a very similar letter from a man up near San Francisco, with almost exactly the same story. Neither one of these two individuals knew each other, nor were they connected in anyway through the email lists I use and run. Both were independant stories that I can say "verify" one another, being they were unrelated people, from different places and separated by several hundred miles.

I began talking to some military buddies, who are tacticians. I asked, "If you were a foreign government, hostile to the US, how would you invade if you weren't going to use nukes".

Three different guys, came up with similar answers. I had already gone through this scenario myself to the extent that I expected it to be a ground force, hitting many locations. Small groups of men, can hit military bases and ports, as well as ports of entry and basically capture them. Doesn't have to be a LARGE force, but many small forces. Perhaps ten to two hundred strong.

The three different scenarios (which I won't go into in detail here now) were surprisingly similar. Essentially, the same as what I had come up with. Hit Brownsville, San Deigo (both port cities), hit El Paso, and several other places along there. Drive northward to places like Holloman AFB, Colorado Springs (Fort Carson, Cheynne Mtn/Norad, Peterson AFB, Academy and Schriever AFB... the home of NMD). There were other places. The truth is, it isn't difficult to take a military base. It will be DAMNED difficult to hold it. But taking one with a small force would be easy.

The border patrol and customs has put out the word that there are now bounties on their heads along the border. Probably this is related.

In March of this year, yet another story hit the news. I'll post it in the next message and promise to locate (if I can) the original stories that set me on this path.

--------------------
Rick Donaldson

It's better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for who you are not.

Illegitimus non carborundum.

[Brian Baldwin]

Backstop,

I know your frustration. I'm begining to think that it will take large groups of civilians to finally put an end to this kind of thing. The government doesn't seem interested in doing anything.

Brian

[Ryan Ruck]

They are getting more and more brazen…

Texas Border Standoff With Mexican Military

Texas law enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents engaged in an armed standoff with Mexican military personnel and drug smugglers just inside the United States along the Rio Grande yesterday afternoon.

According to a report in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., both Texas law enforcement and the FBI stated nearly 30 American agents were part of the incident. Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department told the paper Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.

Border Patrol agents called for backup after seeing that Mexican Army troops had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border – near Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso.

Doyal said Hudspeth County deputies and Texas Highway patrol officers arrived shortly afterward.

"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years," Doyal told the Bulletin. "When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."

(Ohhh!! Ohhh!!! Me!!! ME!!!)

Andrea Simmons, a spokeswoman with the FBI's El Paso office, confirmed the incident, saying, "Bad guys in three vehicles ended up on the border. People with Humvees, who appeared to be with the Mexican army, were involved with the three vehicles in getting them back across."

A Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen from El Paso was captured, and U.S. officers found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside.

The Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river, Doyal indicated.

Doyal emphasized Border Patrol agents and county deputies are not equipped for battle with military personnel.

"Our government has to do something," he told the Bulletin. "It's not the immigrants coming over for jobs we're worried about. It's the smugglers, Mexican military and the national threat to our borders that we're worried about."

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security reported 216 incursions by Mexican soldiers during the past 10 years.

Also see other related articles:

• Border Face-Off Involved Men in Mexican Army Uniforms
• Texas Officers Involved in Standoff at Border: Involved Men in Mexican Army Uniforms
• Standoff In Texas Involved Men in Mexican Army Uniforms
• Police Face Mexican Military, Smugglers
• Men in Apparent Mexican Army Uniforms Confront Texas Lawmen

Sounds like it's time for an armed road trip down to the border! I'm betting that such an adventure could be quite fruitful. In fact, I'd bet we could come home with a few used Humvees and heavy machine guns...

[Brian Baldwin]

With it being confirmed this time, I wouldn't think the government would have any choice but to send troops to the border. It should have been done right then. With all the silence on the government's front I guess its going to be up to the rest of us to handle this.

Brian

[American Patriot]

This has been going on quite awhile, folks. See my thread on "Ground invasion of the US" over on Anomalies if you don't believe it.

So, now what?

Rick

[Backstop]

So, now what?

Rick

Absolutely nuthin'.

Rick is correct; this has been going on for a while.

Like I've said before: known terrorists have been caught at the borders, and our government did not close the borders.

Think a few Mexican military/drug runners are gonna make them close it?

I don't think so.

[Backstop]

This article appeared today on the front page of the San Antonio Express-News.

I think Derbez is sampling some of the product.

SanAntonio Express News

Mexican official hints GIs behind border incident

Web Posted: 01/27/2006 12:00 AM CST

Dane Schiller

Express-News Mexico City Bureau
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — The battle against drug traffickers raged into an ugly war of words Thursday, with this country's foreign minister suggesting U.S. troops might have dressed as Mexican soldiers in a botched mission to smuggle marijuana across the border.

A U.S. official dismissed as baseless the claim by Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez.

"Those comments do not merit a response," the official said.

The flap came a day after U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza demanded Mexico explain a bizarre incident Monday in which officers east of El Paso reported chasing sport utility vehicles that bolted for Mexico and were protected by a military-style Humvee waiting on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande.

One SUV was abandoned after it got a flat and police found nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana in it. Two other vehicles followed the Humvee across a shallow stretch of the river, according to Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies, who photographed the vehicles.

One SUV got stuck as it attempted to climb the Mexican bank of the river and its cargo was rescued by men dressed in civilian clothes as the Humvee's crew, in military-style uniforms, stood guard and pointed guns at the officers on the U.S. side.

Garza said he sent a diplomatic note to the Mexican government over not just the chase, but a rash of border violence, including 20 murders in this city so far this year, and four incidents in which U.S. Border Patrol agents have come under fire.

"I am urging the Mexican government to take this elevated violence seriously," Garza said in a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. "In the past, there has been a tendency to focus on public relations instead of public security."

Garza's renewed attack was similar to a stand he took a year ago when he publicly complained that drug-cartel turf wars posed a threat to U.S. tourists visiting the region.

The violence is blamed on a fight between drug cartels for control of smuggling routes through the Laredo corridor — a gateway to the United States.

U.S. officials described the Monday incident as an anomaly.

"Any Mexican military incursions are typically accidental, and take place in remote areas where the border is not generally apparent. They are routinely resolved as they arise in discussion with Mexican authorities at the local level," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a press officer with the Defense Department.

Speaking at a Thursday news conference, Derbez was adamant the Mexican military was not involved in the incident, and he accused Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies of racism.

"Members of the American Army have helped people who were processing and transporting drugs," Derbez said, adding that the people also could have been U.S. criminals posing as Mexican military.

"And just as that has happened — arrest them and charge them — it is very probable that something like that could have happened," he continued, "that in reality they were members of groups disguised as Mexican soldiers with Humvees and looked like Mexicans."

U.S. officials said they were working with the Mexican government to conduct an investigation and resolve the Monday incident.

"It would be inappropriate to draw any conclusions until a full investigation is concluded," said Eric Watnik, deputy spokesman at the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Derbez didn't provide evidence to back up his claims, but members of the U.S. military have been charged with drug trafficking.

Three U.S. soldiers recently pleaded guilty to smuggling cocaine while based in Colombia and another was convicted Thursday at a military trial at Fort Bliss.

[Ryan Ruck]

Another Armed Incursion On U.S.-Mexico Border

'It is disgraceful that American citizens live under the threat of a foreign army'

An American law enforcement officer and news crew in Texas have witnessed another armed incursion into the United States by men dressed in Mexican army attire, the second such incident in just two weeks.

As before, several men dressed in Mexican military garb appeared to violate the international boundary, in Hudspeth County, Texas, some 50 miles east of El Paso, local affiliate KFOX-TV reported today. There, the U.S.-Mexico border is separated only by a shallow stretch of Rio Grande River.

The incursion was witnessed by a KFOX news crew and Hudspeth County deputy, photos of which are posted on the affiliate's website.

The deputy and news crew were on the scene Tuesday night to film a segment about last week's incursion, when the law officer noticed more "soldiers" emerge from a clearing on the U.S. side of the border.

As the deputy and news crew watched, three soldiers emerged into the clearing before one hurried back into the concealment of brush, KFOX reported. But the deputy pointed out other, larger groups of soldiers engaged in a flanking action against him and the news crew, most probably, the deputy believes, in an attempt to figure out what they were doing.

"They are doing the classic thing, flanking around each side of us and actually coming up into the U.S. and trying to figure out what we are doing; they are looking at us very heavily," said the deputy, who was not identified in the report.

At that point KFOX reporter Ben Swann asked, "So I guess it's time to go?" and the deputy answered, "Yeah, it would definitely be time to get out of here." (Americans having to retreat from enemy soldiers in their own country! )

The deputy chose to vacate the area because he was vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the report said.

Mexican officials have said their military is forbidden from traveling within three miles of the border, though U.S. border residents have repeatedly spotted mobile patrols of Mexican military units traversing roads that run directly parallel to the international boundary. Because of the stated policy, however, Mexico says the armed men crossing into the U.S. are paramilitary forces loyal to drug-smuggling cartels.

In last week's incident, Texas law enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents engaged in an armed standoff with Mexican military personnel and drug smugglers just inside the United States along the Rio Grande. The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported that both Texas law enforcement and the FBI stated nearly 30 American agents were part of the incident.

Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department told the paper Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.

Border Patrol agents called for backup after seeing that Mexican Army troops had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border – near Neely's Crossing.

The deputy involved in this week's incident said he identified what appeared to be a military vehicle partially concealed in brush near the Mexican "soldiers."

"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years," Doyal told the Bulletin. "When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."

Andrea Simmons, a spokeswoman with the FBI's El Paso office, confirmed the earlier incident, saying, "Bad guys in three vehicles ended up on the border. People with Humvees, who appeared to be with the Mexican army, were involved with the three vehicles in getting them back across."

Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a border watch group that assists authorities in securing the border, said with the latest incident "the government of Mexico once again has demonstrated their contempt for the United States."

"It is disgraceful that American citizens, including law enforcement, live under the threat of a foreign army that enters our country at will," he added. "It took the murder of 3,000 Americans on American soil for the government to take international terrorism seriously. With the Mexican army, drug smugglers, human traffickers and terrorists able to cross our borders with impunity, it seems that only the mass murder of Americans living on our border will cause the government to take decisive action to secure our borders."

In comments to KFOX, the deputy involved in this week's incident said, "If it's going to take a bunch of us getting killed down here on the river to show everybody that this is a problem, then its going to happen, one of these days it will happen."

[Sean Osborne]

Expect large-scale armed military and paramilitary attacks and incursions on the southern US border. Furthermore, expect such insurgent groups as MS-13 and others to attempt the seizure and control of areas within this and other regions of CONUS in the near term. US Border Patrol IS NOT prepared for this. If a US Army or Marine division were stationed on the US-Mexican border they would be prepared for this.

By the way, I am not kidding, this is no joke.

Update with more info very soon.

[Sean Osborne]

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Border Attacks Planned: Safety Alert Issued

On 20 January 2005, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin that stated that coordinated attacks along the Mexican border are being planned by a number of various drug cartels and the Salvadoran gang Mara Savatrucha (a/k/a or MS-13). This bulletin should cause alarm as it details the ultimate goal by the combination of forces to gain “control over areas, cities and regions within the and U.S." The plan outlines the groups strategy, which is to preposition well-armed members along the U.S. and Mexican border and launch a coordinated strike “against all law enforcement, including and especially the United States Border Patrol.”

At the present time, intelligence officials have confirmed an increased presence of MS-13 and related gang officials in Mexican towns along the U.S. border. This increased presence was verified through electronic surveillance and the arrest and interrogation of several members of MS-13 who were recently caught inside the U.S.

A copy of this memorandum was obtained this week. Upon receiving this official DHS bulletin, we contacted an active agent working at one of the southern most border stations.

“I can tell you that we have received nothing from DHS about this,” stated the border patrol officer. I can believe it, [referring to the existence of the bulletin] but we have not gotten any notice.” As for MS-13 members, we know that they have been increasing their activities just across the border. If [an attack] does happen, and if it’s as well planned as you’re telling me, we will definitely be outgunned.” I’m mad as hell,” added this officer.

There is an open-source reference to the officer advisory issued by the DHS in The Daily Bulletin, a newspaper in Ontario, California. The article also published the date of the DHS advisory as January 20^th, and included comments from DHS and law enforcement officials. The following are excerpts from The Daily Bulletin:

Mike Friel, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, would not comment specifically on the alert. Through investment, technology and infrastructure, Friel said, Homeland Security is "determined to gain control of the border." Law enforcement officials along the border said they had not received the alert.

"That is something that I was not aware of, but information like this should be given to us immediately," he said. Gonzalez said it's another example of poor communication between law enforcement agencies. "Since September 11, we heard there was going to be a sharing of information, but today we still haven't received anything," he said. "All the information of threat levels, I get through the media

In Arizona's Santa Cruz County, Sheriff Tony Estrada said he was alarmed by the documented threat. "That message seems to be the strongest type of indicator that they are seriously planning to use force," he said. Estrada added that it shows how frustrated the smugglers have become, but said the plot is a "bad idea" that wouldn't work. "It would be real dumb move," he said. "If that should happen, and if any of our agents are threatened or injured or killed, it's going to create a lot of unity and cooperation."

According to a secretary in the office of Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger, Vinger said he had no information about the potential threat.

Andrea Simmons of the FBI office in El Paso, Texas said she is familiar with such threats, but said her office is not investigating any such attacks. "We haven't had any specific threats regarding that or any information for us to be able to follow up on," she said.

Sgt. Benjamin Reyna of the Bisbee Police Department in Arizona said he's seen much more violence in the past several years. "It's on the increase," he said. "They have a lot less fear of law enforcement now." Reyna said cartel enforcers, smugglers and people suspected of being current and former Mexican military are taking shots at law enforcement officers.

Over the last 60 days a significant number of reports directly from border patrol agents (and their concerned families) of altercations between border agents and gang members that have gone completly unreported by the media. It is noted that the gang members are not just Mexican or Latin-American, but appear to be from a variety of countries, including Arab and Asian countries. Also, there have been numerous instances over the past several weeks of discarded items that have been found along the border, including empty boxes of ammunition with Arabic writing. Although these “finds” are not new, the reported incidents are indeed on the rise.

A summary of reports clearly indicate the following:

1. The incidents of actual “gun battles” between illegal aliens and border patrol agents have risen sharply over the last few months;

2. The communication within the federal agencies under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security lacks coordination and will cost lives if not immediately addressed;

3. Federal law enforcement officials are prepared only to act after the fact, based largely on their training of reaction rather than prevention.

[Ryan Ruck]

Here's a follow-up on this most recent incident with pictures.

New Border Incursion In Hudspeth County

For the second time in two weeks, American law enforcement officers say men carrying high powered automatic weapons and who appeared to be Mexican soldiers violated the international boundary and crossed into the United States in Hudspeth County, East of El Paso. In the past the Mexican Consulate in El Paso had stated that their Government policy is that no armed Mexican soldiers are allowed closer than three miles to the U.S. border.

The latest incident happened just before sunset on Tuesday night, as a KFOX crew was on the scene. As a Hudspeth County sheriff's deputy was describing what happened during a reported incursion last week - suddenly one 'soldier' emerged from the brush on the Mexican side of the border and darted back under cover. Moments later though, two other men who appeared to be soldiers marched across a clearing, in plan view. Shortly after that, the Deputy spotted soldiers who were well hidden and out of camera range crossing into the United States - attempting to flank the Deputy and the news crew.

According to the Deputy "They are doing the classic thing, flanking around each side of us and actually coming up into the U.S. and trying to figure out what we are doing, they are looking at us very heavily."

Reporter Ben Swann replied, "So I guess it's time to go." The Deputy responded "Yeah, it would definitely be time to get out of here."

Just a week ago a caravan of three vehicles were spotted on I-10 by Hudspeth Deputies and chased to the same area of the border. One vehicle was captured, a second made it across the Rio Grande safely and a third vehicle became stuck in the river. As deputies converged on the scene, they say a Humvee approached from the Mexican side, and heavily armed men in military clothing crossed into the United States to rescue the smugglers. The vehicle was burned on the Mexican side of the river bank.

After this latest incident on Tuesday night, the U.S. Border Patrol reports that they were contacted by Mexican authorities who admitted the men were Mexican soldiers. Border Patrol Assistant Chief Robert Boatright told KFOX "Mexican officials got in touch with our Mexican liaison unit to advise us that they had requested the assistance of the Mexican military and that they were down in Hudspeth County." But he tells us this contact only occurred after the Mexican soldiers had been spotted by the Sheriff's Deputy.

Wednesday afternoon, the Mexican Consulate released a statement saying the heavily armed men were not Mexican Soldiers, but were State Police, investigating last week's smuggling incident. Consulate officials say the men will be in the area for the next several days.

Local law officers say as word of the latest incident spread on Wednesday morning, they were told that Texas Governor Rick Perry was releasing nearly $4 million dollars in additional funding for Operation Linebacker, to assist in their efforts to secure the border. Meanwhile, a delegation of local law enforcement officers will be discussing their concerns with members of Congress and the Department of Homeland Security - first in Houston this week, then in Washington, D.C. next week.

But in the meantime, this latest incident only heightens concern among law officers, and those who live along the U.S. side of the border. The Deputy involved in Tuesday's incident told KFOX, "If it's going to take a bunch of us getting killed down here on the river to show everybody that this is a problem, then its going to happen, one of these days it will happen."

And some pictures with their accompanying captions:


Law officers in the area have reported that heavily armed men dressed in military uniforms have been crossing from Mexico into the U.S. As an officer is explaining the potential danger, two men dressed as soldiers suddenly begin to emerge from brush on the Mexican side to the left of the photograph. A third soldier had appeared, spotted the camera, and vanished from view to the right.


The two men enter the clearing. They are carrying automatic weapons.


A closer look at the soldiers. The soldier in front seems to look in the direction of the camera. In the dark spot behind them it appears that a vehicle may be hidden by the brush. In a border incident in the same spot last week, a Humvee and heavily armed men who appeared to be soldiers, reportedly came to the rescue of drug smugglers who were being chased back across the border into Mexico.


The soldiers walk back into cover. Shortly afterward the U.S. law officer on the scene spots similarly dressed soldiers who have crossed into the U.S. – out of camera range. Heavily outgunned and with the threat building, the news crew and the officer retreat from the immediate area.

[Ryan Ruck]

Texas Sheriff Says Mexican Army Has Threatened His Deputies And Their Families

EL PASO, TX. - According to law enforcement officials directly involved in the border incursion two weeks ago, the cross-border confrontations are "getting personal."

The confrontation started ten days ago with drug smugglers trying to bring illegal drugs across the border in SUV's east of El Paso. Mexican authorities have now removed the SUV that got stuck in the Rio Grande and was torched by men in military uniforms on January 23rd.

While there are few signs remaining of last week's standoff, matters are anything but calm in Hudspeth County. According to law enforcement officials, things are escalating on the border in Hudspeth County.

During a ride-along Thursday with the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department, one deputy, who has been with the department since the 1960's, told ABC-7 that this is the most tense matters have ever been along this area of the border.

In the past few days, Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department deputies and their families have received threats to stay off the Rio Grande. Sheriff Arvin West told ABC-7 Thursday morning, before departing for Houston that the Mexican military is behind all of this.

Sheriff West said, "There is no doubt in my mind -- from the first time going back to a couple of years ago and every time in between --- it's the Mexican military. In a nutshell, everybody's been trying to tell everybody that they were here...they've been here ...[and] they come here quite often, regularly."

Now Sheriff West is having to deal with threats being made against his deputies and their families. One Sheriff's Deputy, who refused to appear on camera out of fear, described the situation today in Hudspeth County as "very dangerous." and now, he said, "it's getting personal."

The deputy added that "he is very leery of a firefight erupting on the border just east of El Paso."

[Ryan Ruck]

Border Incursions Rattling Arizonans

Incident near Arivaca involved copter

ARIVACA R.D. Ayers remembers hearing the heavy whirl and chop of helicopter blades cutting through the sky above the Tres Bellotas Ranch, a sprawling swath of oak trees and barberry brush right on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Even from inside the ranch house, Ayers could tell it must be a big helicopter. He headed outside, thinking it might be U.S. customs, maybe a drug bust.

Instead, Ayers walked right into a group of armed, masked men speaking Spanish and dressed like agents from the Federal Investigative Agency, Mexico's FBI.

The encounter on U.S. soil would be investigated by the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol and Mexican authorities, one of the latest in a long list of suspected incursions from Mexico into U.S. border states.

After long downplaying the number of incursions along the Southwestern border, top Border Patrol officials now acknowledge such incidents are all too common. Over the past decade, the Department of Homeland Security has reported 231 incursions along the border, including 63 in Arizona. Homeland Security defines an incursion as an unauthorized crossing by Mexican military or police, or suspected drug or people smugglers dressed in uniforms.

Incursions gained international attention after the Sheriff's Office in Hudspeth County, Texas, reported on Jan. 23 that men dressed as members of the Mexican military provided cover for drug runners near the Rio Grande.

At a news conference Jan. 26, Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said that although the number has decreased in recent years, incursions are "a tremendous problem that needs to be addressed."

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl called for an investigation into the Texas incident and others along the border, asking Homeland Security how it handles incursions. Kyl intends to hold hearings on incursions starting March 1 with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The growing controversy led to angry denials from officials at the top levels of the Mexican government and strained relations between Washington and Mexico City.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza said the Texas incident is part of increased drug violence along the border that "highlights the inability of the Mexican government to police its own communities south of the border."

Mexico, meanwhile, says drug smugglers often wear military fatigues to disguise themselves.

On The Border

Ayers lives in Arivaca, a small southern Arizona town about 11 miles north of the Arizona-Mexico border. A former EMT, Ayers, 49, is now a backhoe operator who dabbles in the local community theater. He says that after his encounter, the FBI and Border Patrol conducted a brief interview, but that he has heard nothing else about his story.

Ayers gives this account: On the morning of April 22, he rode his ATV down from Arivaca to the Tres Bellotas Ranch. The ranch is owned by the local veterinarian, Lyle Robinson, who was taking care of Ayers' dog.

The veterinarian had to head into town for a few hours for a clinic but left Ayers there.

At 11:30 a.m., Ayers heard the helicopter. From his days as an EMT, he thought it sounded like a pretty big helicopter, unusual out this way. He headed out to see. Outside, he looked up and saw a big black Huey helicopter circle and touch down. He also saw a Tucson Fuel Co. truck had just arrived to fill up the Robinsons' tanks.

"That helicopter, I mean, it didn't even look like it was 40 feet over that truck," he said.

Ayers, who speaks limited Spanish, said he stood between the truck and the helicopter.

"When I approached them, I saw on their sleeves it said, 'Mexico.' There were five of them. They were fully clad, with masks over their faces. They had helmets on and body armor and were all carrying rifles," he said. "I told them they were in the United States and they had no business here and to go back home."

Ayers said the men held him at gunpoint as the leader kept asking about the truck and finally ordered everyone back into the helicopter and flew away.

Ayers said the men's uniforms said "AFI" on the back in big letters, but he thought they could also be drug smugglers.

"I think they were interested in the tanker," he said. "I believe they were going to take the truck across the border, dump the fuel. Shoot, you could put 20,000 pounds of marijuana in there or 20,000 pounds of cocaine."

The Federal Investigative Agency, or AFI, was created by President Vicente Fox's government to investigate drug smuggling and other federal crimes. During raids, AFI agents usually wear paramilitary uniforms, carry heavy weapons and wear masks so that drug traffickers cannot identify them.

The agency has five Huey helicopters based in Sonora state, according to a 2005 U.S. State Department report. All were donated by the U.S. government.

It is unclear what the agents may have been doing along the border on April 22, but news releases from the Mexican Justice Department show AFI was involved in raids in nearby Nogales, Sonora that week.

After the men in the helicopter took off, Ayers tried to call for help with his cellphone but could not get a signal. The Tres Bellotas Ranch has no telephone lines. The tanker driver was able to call authorities from a nearby ranch. Ayers said he waited several hours and then, when no one came, he headed home.

When Ayers got home, there was a message on his machine from an FBI agent. He asked Ayers to call back. When Ayers did, the agent took a report on what he saw at Tres Bellotas.

The Investigation

Gus Soto, a Border Patrol Agent and spokesman, confirmed there was an investigation into the suspected incursion but said there were "conflicting reports" about what happened from the witnesses.

The tanker driver, contacted by The Republic, declined to be interviewed for this story. The FBI declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the Mexican Justice Department said officials there had no record of the border crossing and could not comment on Ayers' report.

At the Jan. 26 news conference in Nogales, Aguilar said incursions are a "very, very high concern to us; there is no question in our minds that we have a problem."

Although federal agents stressed that they take each report seriously, they were careful to say that some seemed to be unintentional. Aguilar said the incursions have gone both ways, confirming reports that Border Patrol agents had strayed into Mexico.

Back in Arivaca, Ayers is still waiting to hear from the Border Patrol or the FBI agent who interviewed him..

"I'm really shocked that our government would even allow something like this and be so passé about it," Ayers said. "I mean, these guys had loaded weapons, cocked (and) aimed at me on this side of the border.

"My biggest concern in all this, to tell the truth . . . is that our president says we're in the middle of a terrorist war. And our government says they've got some kind of control on (the border). These people can come across so easy it's pathetic."

[Ryan Ruck]

Mexican Incursion Confirmed

The U.S. Border Patrol has confirmed that a Mexican government helicopter crossed into the United States Tuesday evening.

The unmarked helicopter crossed into the U.S. near San Luis, Ariz., at 6:30 p.m. and traveled along the Colorado River for approximately a half a mile before returning to Mexico, according to a Customs and Border Protection release.

"After proper coordination and verifications with the government of Mexico, they confirmed that the helicopter belonged to the Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR) and had mistakenly and unintentionally ( ) crossed into U.S. airspace," the release said.

PGR is the federal police force that investigates federal offenses, predominantly drug trafficking and organized crime.

Local border watcher Flash Sharrar, who saw the helicopter while on patrol near County 12th Street, remained steadfast that the helicopter was carrying Mexican soldiers, not federal agents. "That was Mexican military," he said. "You could see the uniforms."

Sharrar, the co-founder of the Yuma Patriots, said the chopper traveled much farther than a half-mile while it was in the United States. He said it was circling in U.S. airspace for as long as 20 minutes.

Yuma sector Border Patrol spokesman Michael Gramley said this was the first incursion by a Mexican helicopter that he could recall in the Yuma sector. Gramley did not have any information beyond that which was provided in the report.

"I think it's happened more often than we really know," Sharrar said.

Sharrar said if the Patriots had not witnessed the incursion, the Border Patrol would have denied that it happened.

Gramley said that would not be the case. "We would surely not attempt to cover up an incident of this type," he said. ( )

Tuesday evening, Gramley said agents in the field had seen the helicopter. However, at the time, they believed that it had not crossed the border. Later, CBP's Air Marine Operations Center was notified and radar confirmed the helicopter had flown into the United States.

Last month, the Inland Valley (Calif.) Daily Bulletin reported that there had been 216 incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers since 1996, citing a Department of Homeland Security document the newspaper obtained. The story said the Mexican military had crossed over in the Yuma area 24 times during that period.

CBP said the agency and Mexico take such incidents seriously and are working to ensure they do not occur in the future.

Sharrar said he was "still in awe" that the incursion had happened. When asked if he felt vindicated, Sharrar said instead he felt "violated."

"Let's say it was a terrorist dropping something into our country," he said. "That's a big concern. I feel violated as a citizen and as a patroller."

[Brian Baldwin]

And the time honored tradition of "Do Nothing" continues. It'll finally be armed conflict between the civilians and Mexican military all along the border that finally awakens these fools.