Our Escalating Border War

[American Patriot]

Well... that isn't good. No matter what you call it.

[Beetle]

I see this as a act of war!!

[Ryan Ruck]

Border Patrol Agent Held at Gunpoint by Mexican Military

9-4-08 Watch a video prepared by Local 2544 steward Jared Nuttall here. (coming soon)

9-2-08 Read an article on this issue in the Washington Times. Click here.

8-23-08 Local 2544 President asks President Bush to take a stand against Mexican military incursions. Click here.

8-8-08 Local 2544 President appears on Lou Dobbs Tonight. Click here.

8-7-08 A follow-up story in the Washington Times is linked here. Just as we predicted, the United States and Mexican governments are writing this off as a simple "misunderstanding". We assume they still believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy too.

8-6-08 Read an article in the Washington Times here. Read an AP article here. This incident was also featured on Lou Dobbs Tonight yesterday.

8-3-08 A Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint by the Mexican military last night south of Ajo. Mexican military personnel crossed over the border and pointed rifles at him. Backup units arrived from the Ajo Border Patrol station, and the Mexican military personnel eventually returned to Mexico. Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has been going on for years. They are never held accountable, and the United States government will undoubtedly brush this off as another case of "Oh well, they didn't know they were in the United States." A few years ago the Mexican military went a step further and put a .50 calibre rifle round through the rear window of a Border Patrol agent's patrol vehicle south of Ajo. Nothing was ever done. Nobody was ever held accountable. Particularly galling is the fact that the Mexican military often pulls these stunts in Humvees donated to them by the American taxpayers.

We will withhold further comment on this incident until we see how our leaders handle it. We don't have much confidence in most of them. It is fortunate that this incident didn't end in a very ugly gunfight.

[Ryan Ruck]

Mexican Soldiers Crossed Clear Line

Pointed rifles at border agent

The nation's border czar has concluded that Mexican soldiers who held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint in August did so after bypassing a barbed-wire fence and other clearly visible barriers to cross into the United States, contradicting claims by the State Department and the Mexican government that the soldiers were simply lost.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner W. Ralph Basham, in a private letter to the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544 in Tucson, Ariz., described the Aug. 3 border incident as a "potential lethal encounter involving four Mexican armed military soldiers north of the international boundary."

"There is a barbed-wire fence and new tactical infrastructure within sight that marks the borderline where the incident took place," Mr. Basham said. "Our uniformed agent, in a marked Border Patrol vehicle, identified himself in both English and Spanish."

Mr. Basham, who oversees the Border Patrol, said that while most incursions into the United States by Mexican military or law enforcement authorities take place in remote areas where the international border is poorly marked, "that was not the case in this particular incident."

He also described the tactics used against the agent, including the pointing of automatic rifles at him, as "unacceptable," adding that the incident had been "thoroughly documented by the Department of Homeland Security." He said the matter has since been sent to the State Department "with a request for diplomatic action."

At the time of the incident, the State Department described the incursion as a misunderstanding, saying the Mexican soldiers did not know where they were and needed to make certain that the detained agent was who he said he was. It was the same general statement the department had made in dozens of other suspected incursions by members of the Mexican military.

During a press briefing in Washington, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said U.S. officials were aware of the incident and had brought it to the attention of the Mexican government, but that the encounter "stemmed from a momentary misunderstanding as to the exact location of the Mexican-U.S. border."

Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling at the time also noted that the incident, which took place on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, occurred in an area where there were "no markers, at least not easily found." He said, "There's no line painted in the sand or anything like that."

Ricardo Alday, a spokesman at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, also said at the time that Mexico and the U.S. were engaged in "an all-out struggle to deter criminal organizations from operating on both sides of our common border."

"Law enforcement operations have led, from time to time, to innocent incursions by both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement personnel and military units into the territory of both nations, and in particular along non-demarcated areas of our border," he said.

The unidentified Border Patrol agent was detained at gunpoint for several minutes by members of the Mexican military who crossed the border into Arizona about 85 miles southwest of Tucson. The soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist.

It was not clear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers.

Local 2544 President Edward "Bud" Tuffly II said the four Mexican military soldiers crossed into the United States after passing a barbed-wire fence and vehicle barriers that Homeland Security had erected in the area. He also said the agent was in full uniform and was driving a fully marked Border Patrol vehicle, complete with red and blue lights, large green stripes down the side and the large words "Border Patrol" on the sides and the rear of the vehicle.

Basham

"A reasonable person would conclude that the soldiers knew exactly at whom they were pointing their rifles," Mr. Tuffly said. "Had the agent panicked and fired a shot or attempted to flee in his vehicle, there is little doubt the Mexican soldiers would have opened fire."

Mr. Tuffly, a veteran Border Patrol agent, called the State Department's description of the incident "unfortunate," noting that during past incursions, the Mexican government denied it had soldiers in the area or blamed impostors, even when military Humvees were involved.

"Time after time they have gotten away with these incursions and time after time our government has not taken a forceful stand against them," he said.

Mr. Basham's letter was sent Sept. 25 to Mr. Tuffly in response to an Aug. 23 letter by the Local 2544 president to President Bush asking that he put an end to Mexican military incursions that have put Border Patrol agents at risk of being injured or killed.

"It is disgraceful that Border Patrol agents are put in harm's way and our government doesn't do everything reasonably within its power to protect us from marauding Mexican soldiers and others," Mr. Tuffly wrote. "Without a forceful response to these illegal incursions, an agent will eventually be seriously wounded or killed. It is only a matter of time."

In his letter, Mr. Basham said "dialogue with the government of Mexico" had been initiated "to prevent a recurrence of this type of incident." He said CBP was committed to "preventing incursions into the United States by any entity, whether unintentional or by those who enter with criminal intent."

"Securing our borders is a top priority and our Border Patrol agents are precious resources that are essential in gaining greater levels of operational control along our border with Mexico," Mr. Basham said, vowing to Mr. Tuffly to "make it a priority to speak again with the leadership at the Department of State and the Mexican government on this issue."

The NBPC, staffed by current and retired Border Patrol agents, represents all of the agency's 14,000 nonsupervisory agents and support staff. Mr. Tuffly's local is the union's largest, with about 3,000 members.

[American Patriot]

Mexican soldiers cross into U.S. chasing U.S. citizens
KVIA ^ | Dec 7, 2009


El Paso, Texas - A Mexican Army Humvee with a machine gun and several soldiers on foot entered into the U.S. through the Columbus Port of Entry early Saturday morning.


The incident happened at about 2:35 a.m. Saturday when the Mexican soldiers were chasing three U.S. citizens, according to Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson Roger Maier.


The group of soldiers was confronted by CBP inspectors and the soldiers quickly turned around on orders from one of their officers.


A few minutes later, a Mexican Army commander arrived and apologized to the U.S. inspectors, claiming the soldiers had been pursuing a car that ran one of their checkpoints just south of the border.


The three U.S. citizens and their vehicle were inspected by CBP and the trio was allowed to continue into the US.

[Ryan Ruck]

Mexican Helicopter Over Texas Sparks Drug War Concerns

March 11, 2010

The Zapata County sheriff Thursday was questioning why a Mexican military helicopter was hovering over homes on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.

It was one of the more jarring incidents of the fourth week of border tensions sparked by drug killings — and rumors of drug killings — in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he'd reviewed photos of the chopper flown by armed personnel Tuesday over a residential area known as Falcon Heights-Falcon Village near the binational Falcon Lake, just south of the Starr-Zapata county line. He said the helicopter appeared to have the insignia of the Mexican navy.

“It's always been said that the Mexican military does in fact ... that there have been incursions,” Gonzalez said. “But this is not New Mexico or Arizona. Here we've got a river, there's a boundary line. And then of course having Falcon Lake, Falcon Dam, it's a lot wider. It's not just a trickle of a river, it's an actual dam. You know where the boundary's at.”

The sighting came amid ongoing fighting between the Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, Los Zetas. The mounting death toll and crisis of fear in cities opposite the Texas border have drawn global attention, as has a news blackout in affected cities with the kidnappings of eight Mexican journalists, at least one of whom was killed.

As violence continued Thursday with a highway shootout in the state of Tamaulipas, a Senate subcommittee in Washington heard testimony that drug cartels are trying to infiltrate U.S. agencies along the border, with corruption cases among Homeland Security personnel on the rise.

In the past two years, there have been 400 public corruption cases involving federal, state and local law enforcement agents originating from the Southwest border region, Kevin Perkins, FBI assistant director for criminal investigations, told the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on preparedness.

In addition to the highway battle, news from Tamaulipas on Thursday included a 25-year-old man found dead on a roadside in Miguel Alemán. On Wednesday, three people died in two gunbattles in Reynosa.

Four other deaths have been reported since Saturday in the cities of Mier, Camargo and Miguel Alemán.

The Mexican government's role in combating the violence remained unclear. The army presence in some cities appeared sporadic, and the navy has led operations including the December takeout of kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva in Mexico City.

Gonzalez, the Zapata sheriff, said he couldn't confirm reports that the helicopter was scoping the home of a drug criminal. He said the incursion about a mile over the border occurred over a neighborhood populated by many U.S. Customs officers who work at area border crossings — and they knew what they were seeing.

“My understanding is the U.S. military were informed,” he said. “I don't know what action was taken, if any.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Since there have been so many occurrences, I went ahead and merged all threads (that I could find) dealing with border incursions by the Mexican Military into one thread.

[zenbudda]

well, let's just say for a second that it's possible that the mexican government is really running this army and not the drug cartels (i don't have any solid evidence to prove that they are not mexican soliders). would it be fair to say that it is within Mexico's right to resolve issues at their own borders? From the underground chatter i've been hearing, the US crosses over lots more than they cross over our borders.

now, i'm not saying something shouldn't be done. i'm also not saying that it's not possible the cartels are behind this mess. however, i am saying that we should be prepared to defend ourselves at all costs BUT we should also take a non-confrontational approach to determine wtf is going on.

some of you guys might have more reliable and detailed intel behind what's going on. the news outlets are either OVER reporting it or UNDER reporting it. god i hate the news.

[Ryan Ruck]

2nd Mexican Helicopter Sighted In U.S. Airspace

Pentagon looks into violation by military aircraft

April 2, 2010

The U.S. Department of Defense said it was investigating the second sighting within three weeks of a Mexican military helicopter flying in U.S. airspace over rural Zapata County.

“The incident did occur and it's still under investigation,” department spokeswoman Maj. Tanya Bradsher said, confirming that the copter, believed to belong to the Mexican navy, was seen Sunday.

Rick Pauza, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, earlier in March confirmed a Mexican military helicopter hovered as long as 20 minutes on March 9 over a residential area near Falcon Lake, a reservoir on the Rio Grande.

He said CBP officials who lived in the neighborhood were among those who saw it.

Pauza said the helicopter crossed back without incident and that once the sighting was reported up the chain of the command “that was the extent of it.”

On Thursday, he said he was not aware that Sunday's reported sighting had been confirmed.

“In general, in situations where there is an actual incursion those situations are reviewed by both the United States and Mexico. They are taken seriously,” Pauza said.

Agents sent to the scene

Jason Darling, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman in Laredo, said Border Patrol agents responded to the scene of “a report originating from the community” within a half-hour of receiving it Sunday but did not see the helicopter themselves.

He said the copter was reported near U.S. 83 between Zapata and Laredo.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said Sunday's sighting was the second one confirmed, but several others were reported to him during the past two weeks that he couldn't be sure enough about to forward to the federal government.

Gonzalez said the unconfirmed incursions occurred on March 20 and on Monday and Tuesday and were reported to him by a deputy, a local news reporter, and a federal officer who the sheriff said has since been muzzled by higher-ups.

“I don't want to get him involved because it sounds like they're going to fire him for saying the truth,” Gonzalez said of the officer.

Dismissed, at first

But Gonzalez said he didn't pass along those reports to federal officials because he wasn't sure about them.

He said federal officials initially rebuffed his initial reports of the March 9 and Sunday sightings, which he made to the Joint Operations Intelligence Center because he had photos from witnesses and a pretty good idea that they were Mexican military operations.

When Gonzalez told the officials he had photos, however, they blamed their lack of knowledge of it on faulty radar, he said.

Then other federal officials confirmed the incidents to reporters.

“It's becoming more common now every day,” he said. “My problem is we find these things out through our media instead of our government. It goes to show how incompetent I guess our government is.”

Come on TX members, there are so many options out there! You need to pick one and get to work! We can't have these Mexicans aircraft crossing the border with impunity.


German Flak 88


Swiss Solothurn 20mm


US Quad .50


Russian ZSU-23-4 Shilka

[American Patriot]

I'm afraid, Zen that I haven't heard of any such incidents of our MILITARY crossing over the border.

In fact, we don't over fly areas without specific permission, but just be aware that in most cases we have standing permission to over fly both Mexico and Canada, and for exercises, and certain kinds of missions we will obtain specific permission for those.

But helicopters from the US crossing the border? I have extreme doubts about that.

[Ryan Ruck]

Mexican 'Assassin Teams' May Target U.S. Law Enforcement, DHS Warns

April 06, 2010

Law enforcement officers in west Texas are on guard following an alert issued by the Department of Homeland Security warning of retaliatory killings for a recent crackdown on the Barrio Azteca gang.

David Cuthbertson, special agent in charge of the FBI's El Paso division, said the paramilitary-style gang has an "open policy" to kill its rivals and may turn its sights toward local law enforcement officers.

"[They] are extremely cold-blooded and aggressive," Cuthbertson told FoxNews.com. "The killings are done really without thought and any kind of remorse."

Citing uncorroborated information, Homeland Security issued an Officer Safety Alert on March 22, advising lawmen in the El Paso sector to vary their routes to and from work and to wear body armor while on duty. The alert also suggested that officers' relatives pay closer attention to unusual activity in the area.

"The Barrio Azteca gang may issue a 'green light' authorizing the attempted murder of [law enforcement officers] in the El Paso area," the alert read. "Due to the threat, it is recommended that [law enforcement officers] take extra safety precautions."

The Barrio Azteca gang, which formed in Texas prisons in the 1980s, is a brother organization to the Aztecas gang in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the epicenter of Mexico's violent drug war, Cuthbertson said.

He said members of the gang's "assassination teams" are thought to work for very small monthly fees. One official from the Drug Enforcement Administration has said Aztecas have been known to kill for as little as $100. Since 2006, drug violence across Mexico has claimed nearly 18,000 lives.

Eduardo "Tablas" Ravelo, the reputed boss of Barrio Azteca members living in Juarez, remains on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, and the FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest. He and other Barrio Azteca gang members serve as hitmen for the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes drug trafficking organization -- also known as the Juarez cartel -- and are responsible for several killings, according to the FBI.

The DHS warning came just days after hundreds of Barrio Azteca gang members were interviewed by officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI following the murders of three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez on March 13. More than 200 officers from at least 18 agencies participated in "Operation Knockdown," which resulted in at least 26 felony arrests of alleged Azteca members.

The Barrio Aztecas are believed to be aligned with the Juarez cartel against the Sinaloa drug cartel for control of the billion-dollar drug-trafficking routes through the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez corridor. Since 2008, the Aztecas have been rivals of the Artistic Assassins, or "Double A's," who serve as contract killers for the Sinaloa cartel, Cuthbertson said.

"They're very organized," he said. "They have a code they go by and certainly a communication network inside and outside of the prison system."

Cuthbertson said Barrio Azteca gang members have been found in central Texas towns like Odessa and Midland, as well as in southern New Mexico.

Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, an Azteca sergeant, said last week in a purported confession that his gang was hunting for the vehicle of a Texas jail guard who was killed in one of two SUVs attacked in the March 13 shootings that killed El Paso jail officer Arthur Redelfs, his wife Lesley Enriquez, who worked as an employee of the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, and Jorge Alberto Salcido, the husband of another consulate worker.

Valles de la Rosa, according to his statement, was instructed by Azteca brass to target Redelfs due to alleged harsh treatment of Azteca members in jail. Valles de la Rosa was ordered last week to be held for trial on weapons charges for allegedly carrying a 9mm pistol when he was arrested.

Ron Martin, president of the El Paso Municipal Police Officers' Association, said that while he takes any threat to the law enforcement community seriously, he won't change his habits.

"It's not the first time a gang has put a hit out on El Paso police officers," Martin said. "Our guys are very highly trained, so they're pretty well prepared for just about anything. For them to come out and attack a law enforcement officer in the United States would be detrimental to their business."

Martin called the March 13 killings "unacceptable" and said he felt the killings were no less shocking because they occurred in Mexico, just across the border, rather than in El Paso or elsewhere in Texas.

"It doesn't matter if it actually happens across an imaginary dotted line, you're killing people for money," he said. "It's unacceptable."

Asked if he had changed his daily routines since the DHS alert, Martin said: "It's not like we're doing anything different because a bunch of murderers -- I call 'em terrorists -- are threatening us. Personally, I don't do anything differently than I did before. We're not changing the way we do our job because of them."

[American Patriot]

"May"? They already have. Look at CA with the various bombs being set.

[Ryan Ruck]

Sheriff To Texas Border Town: 'Arm Yourselves'

April 9, 2010

Along the border, fears are growing that the escalating drug violence in Mexico will spill into the United States.

Last month, a well-known rancher was murdered in southeastern Arizona. Authorities suspect an illegal immigrant did it.

The murder prompted governors in New Mexico and Texas to send forces to the border. This week, the Mexican government sent dozens of police and soldiers to the Juarez Valley to restore order.

For many on both sides of the border, the fear is very real.

'Arm Yourselves'

Last week, residents held a town-hall meeting in Fort Hancock, Texas — a sleepy agricultural town on the border, about an hour southeast of El Paso, that looks like the bleak set of No Country for Old Men.

A couple hundred people crowded into the grade-school gym to hear a chilling message from Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West.

"You farmers, I'm telling you right now, arm yourselves," he said. "As they say the old story is, it's better to be tried by 12 than carried by six. Damn it, I don't want to see six people carrying you."

His warning was prompted by the killing of the Arizona rancher, and the spiraling violence a couple of miles away in Mexico in a region known as the Valley of Juarez. The notorious smuggling territory is being fought over by the Sinaloa and the Juarez cartels.

"One of the men that works for me had five people killed in front of his house over there [in Mexico] this past weekend," says Curtis Carr, who is a farmer and county commissioner. "And he's moving his family over here this week. It's serious over there. Whether or not it's gonna spill over here, I don't know."

Nobody knows.

'They Poked His Eyes Out'

The sheriff warned citizens to be alert and report strange vehicles on their streets. But at the same time, he said, don't succumb to fear.

"We haven't had anybody kidnapped here yet, but it could come," he said. "We haven't had anybody killed here, but that could come."

The violence in the Juarez Valley directly affects this little Texas town.

A couple of weeks ago, gunmen in the Juarez Valley killed the Mexican relative of a Fort Hancock high school student. When the student's family in Fort Hancock heard about it, they crossed the border at 10 a.m. to see the body, and took the student with them.

"By 10:30, they had stabbed the relatives that went with him, which included his grandparents, with an ice pick," says school superintendent Jose Franco. "My understanding is that the gentleman is like 90 years old, and they poked his eyes out with an ice pick. I believe those people are still in intensive care here in a hospital in the U.S."

Franco says the boy has isolated himself from other students so they won't ask him about the gruesome attack that he witnessed.

Tactics To Drive Out Rivals: Arson, Murder

The Valley of Juarez has a long history of human and drug trafficking. There's lots of open farmland for illicit activity. It's close to the city of Juarez, a major smuggling point. It's right across from Texas, with Interstate 10 only a few miles to the north.

And the river, the Rio Grande, is no deterrent.

Veteran Border Patrol agent Joe Romero stands on a levee overlooking the international river — which this time of year is but a trickle.

"You can literally walk across the river — and some times of the year not even get wet," he says. "And with the ease with which you can literally cross the border here from one side to the other, this made it very lucrative and appealing to anybody trying to smuggle in whatever contraband they had."

In recent years, the Department of Homeland Security has put up 44 miles of tall fencing across from the Juarez Valley, and doubled the number of Border Patrol agents. As a result, marijuana seizures in this area have fallen 97 percent in the past four years.

But none of this has dampened the drug mafias' vicious competition to dominate the Juarez Valley.

Farmers In Esperanza Flee To Juarez

Esperanza is one of several farm towns in the Juarez Valley terrorized by the narco-war. Last week, traffickers are believed to have torched two houses there and killed the occupant of one. A large bloodstain on the back door of one house marks the spot where the owner was executed.

More than 50 people were killed in the Juarez Valley in March.

Arson and murder are the tactics being used to drive out rival traffickers, as well as the general population.

Along a highway, eight members of the Villareal family stand, their bags packed, waiting for the bus. They say they're all afraid because of the killings. There's no security, no work anymore, and farmers have abandoned their fields.

You know it's bad when people are fleeing for safety to Juarez — the most murderous city in the hemisphere.

[American Patriot]

Tic..... tic....

Ok.... the invasion is well under way.

[Ryan Ruck]

U.S. Shrugs Off Sighting Of Mexican Helicopter

March 12, 2010

U.S. officials Friday downplayed the sighting of a Mexican military helicopter hovering as long as 20 minutes over a residential area north of the Texas border this week, saying the incursion didn't cause alarm even though it hadn't been cleared in advance.

U.S. agencies could offer no reports of a follow-up investigation and no indication whether a Mexican explanation had been asked for or given. Gov. Rick Perry's office released a statement late Friday, however, saying the state was working with Customs and Border Protection to investigate.

U.S. officials familiar with the incident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not a joint training exercise.

“We made the proper notifications and the helicopter did cross back into Mexico and that was the extent of it, really,” Laredo-based Customs and Border Protection spokesman Rick Pauza said Friday.

Customs officers spotted the aircraft at about 5 p.m. Tuesday about a mile into U.S. airspace over Falcon Heights. The incursion was “brief,” lasting possibly “15 to 20 minutes,” Pauza said.

A spokesman for the Mexican ministry of defense did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the incident.

[American Patriot]

With the battles being waged down there at the moment, how are we to KNOW it is a MILITARY chopper and not a hijacked military chopper being flown by a drug cartel?

[vector7]

Don't worry...OBAMA ADMIRAL PROMISES "RELATIONSHIPS" WITH CANADA AND MEXICAN MILITARIES

[Toad]

"As they say the old story is, it's better to be tried by 12 than carried by six."

Ain't that the truth. I swear if I lived on a southern border state my place would look like I was ready for a zombie invasion, I'd be so geared, gunned, and ammo-ed up.

[vector7]

Quote:

"As they say the old story is, it's better to be tried by 12 than carried by six."

Words to live by on today's border.

If I had property on the southern border I would sell and move further north.

When things go down you may find your location deep behind enemy lines.

[Toad]

Quote:

"As they say the old story is, it's better to be tried by 12 than carried by six."

Words to live by on today's border.

If I had property on the southern border I would sell and move further north.

When things go down you may find your location deep behind enemy lines.

I'm less than 100 miles from Canada. I'd have to move to Alaska.