On Monday (January 23, 2006), Three Hudspeth County (Texas) Sheriff's deputies spotted along with a state trooper began chasing three SUVs, which they suspected of carrying drugs, on Interstate 10. The 12-mile chase ended at the Rio Grande near Highway 34, where the 3 vehicles attempted to cross the International Border back to Mexico.
One of the vehicles, a Cadillac Escalade, was abandoned with a flat tire before it reached the river. It was later found to contain 1400 pounds of marijuana.
A second vehicle safely reached Mexican side of the river and left.
The third vehicle became stuck in the river. A group of men were seen to unload what appears to be bales of marijuana from the vehicle, which they then burned.
As the American Lawmen approached the Rio Grande in hot pursuit, they encountered a Humvee occupied by men in Mexican Army uniforms. Reports indicate that the vehicle was armed with a mounted .50 caliber machine gun. The Humvee also returned across the river, where it provided oversight protection while the bogged SUV was unloaded.
No shots were fired, nobody was injured.
This time.
The Mexican Government asserted that the nearest military detachment does not have equipment of the type which was reported, and proposed that these were all civilian drug-runners, some of whom were fitted in imitation army uniforms. However, Mexico has ordered that army units may not approach within 3.2 miles (approximitely 5 kilometers) of the Rio Grande without written authorization.
From the Huston Chronicle report:
Mexico's secretary of defense has ordered a full investigation into the incident. However, Rafael Laveaga, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., said he does not think the men in military fatigues seen escorting the traffickers were soldiers. The Mexican military installation in Ciudad Juarez, which is nearest to where the incident occurred, does not have any vehicles or weapons like those described by the Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies, he said.
''We strongly deny that members of the Mexican army participated in any incident at the Mexican-U.S. border," Laveaga said. ''I think it's fair to say that criminal organizations sometimes wear military uniforms and use military vehicles to provide confusion among authorities of both countries."
Mexico's presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar insisted again today that the uniformed men were drug smugglers, not Mexican soldiers. Aguilar said the FBI supported that view, but he gave no evidence of the claim.
"These were not Mexican soldiers," Aguilar said at a news conference. "It is known that these are drug traffickers using military uniforms and they were not even regulation military uniforms."
Still, Washington is demanding answers.
The El Paso Times provided expanded coverage, as well as some photos.
Editorial comments: With all of the incidents which have occurred on the Mexican Border over the past several years, it's a wonder that American Law Enforcement Officers haven't been murdered by this border trash on a regular basis. The world looks upon calls by American Citizens to strictly enforce our borders as a mixture of paranoia, racism and 'insensitivity', which is possibly the worst accusation they can think of.
We've been hearing about the poor "undocumented immigrants" who suffer from fear of being arrested for no more crime than trying to better their life by doing "the jobs that Americans won't do."
I've talked about the problem with "undocumented aliens" in this respect before, and while I admit it's a problem which should be resolved with some kind of "guest worker" program. However, I don't think amnesty should be part of the solution. Whatever the reason people sneak across our border, they have started out their new life by breaking our laws. How badly do we need people who disrespect our country and our laws? We already have enough native-born people with this attitude, we don't need any more and we certainly don't need to reward them. The money which they earn in this country is largely sent 'home', which constitutes Mexico's second largest source of outside income after their petroleum industry. The Mexican government makes claims that they are trying to provide incentives in their own country so that their citizens can earn good money without leaving the country, and in fact this was one plank of Vicente Fox's campaign platform. He hasn't managed, this, though, so instead he has officially instituted measures to make it easier for his citizens to invade our borders with relative impunity, and applied political pressure to coerce the American government to accept the illegals who already provide between five and twelve MILLION of the people in this country today.
But the fact is, since 9/11 we've discovered that our greatest fear is the terrorists which may use this route to enter American and attack us from within. If drug smugglers can bring in tons of illegal substances every day (say, two tons of marijuana in three SUVs, and there's enough profit in it that they can afford to abandon a Cadillac Escalante with 1400 pounds of grass), and 'coyotes' can bring in "undocumented immigrants" by the dozens, there's no reason to expect that these same smugglers can be prevented from bringing in terrorists and whatever equipment they require to attack America. Again.
What else is being smuggled in?
Drugs, of course. Has anybody lately mentioned that Methamphetamine addiction was one of the greatest contributors to domestic crime in America today? Where do you think most of the meth comes from? Hint: Look at a map of North America. Look at Texas and California. Their southern borders are the most frequent access for the output of Mexican Meth Labs. Of course, we have our own domestic meth labs. Sometimes the police find them and arrest the people who are working in them, selling the meth, or transporting the meth between states. Look in the newspaper and read the names of the people who are arrested. We have city parks in Oregon where mothers can no longer take their children to play because the Mexican drug gangs have taken it over and are using it as a marketplace for illegal drugs.
Crime is not limited to drugs. Howard Sutherland writes in VDARE.COM back in 2003 about the problems with Salvadoran criminals and their increasing incursion into the United States. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang is an exceptionally violent group, whose members seem to travel back and forth across the border with impunity. They are not the only gangs composed of "undocumented immigrants", of course, but they are the most extreme examples.
Also, illegal aliens are overloading social services in this country. While many of the people whom the "insensitivity sensitive" Liberals chamption include those who work as day laborers, these are exactly the people who are likely to live in the shadow economy, being paid in cash for their labor and leaving no documentation behind (which is part of why they are referred to as "undocumented".) They pay no taxes, they pay no union dues or withholding, they just show up, work, get paid, and disappear.
They also have no insurance plans. They get sick, they go to the hospital, the hospitals have to take them. When they get better, they just . . . walk away. Who pays for their health care? You do.
Even NPR mentions the phenomenon:
Weekend Edition - Sunday, February 20, 2005 · As the U.S. government tightens security along the border with Mexico, nearby hospitals are seeing an increasing number of serious injuries in their emergency rooms.
Many uninsured illegal immigrants cannot afford to pay for this medical care, so more hospitals are forced to foot the bill.
From smugglers' use of unsafe, overcrowded vehicles to immigrants who can't -- or won't -- pay for treatment, medical resources along the border are being strained. Amid the argument over who should pay, hospitals on both sides of the border are looking for answers.
In fact, since 2005 the system has become so overloaded with "undocumented immigrant" freeloaders that some hospitals may have to close their doors because they can no longer afford to provide so much of their resources to those who will not pay for them. That means the people who can pay, the legal citizens of the community, are being inflicted with a "denial of service" in their own home town.
In response to that health-care crisis, in 2005 the United States Government has agreed to provide up to $45 million to reimburser Arizona hospitals and hospitals in other states for services rendered to illegal aliens. That's forty five million dollars ... a year. For up to four years. How much of this money comes from the illegal aliens who incur the expenses? Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm not sure that $180 million total reflects an investment in good citizenship.
Let's get back to "Border Incursions" before we close this out.
The Analogue Kid at Random Nuclear Strikes provides us with a partian shot from The OTHER Border . . . Canada.
Here's the original article that The Kid cited:
U.S. murder suspects arrested in shootout at B.C. border
A police chase that closed the Peace Arch border crossing south of Vancouver, ended in the arrest of two men wanted in California on murder charges following a shootout.
The incident on Tuesday night temporarily closed the Canada-U.S. border crossing, and caused dozens of Canadian guards to walk off the job, fearing for their safety.
The chase started when two men tried to get into Canada.Officials say Ishtiaq Hussain, 38, and Jose Antonio Barajas, 22, are now in custody. One of the suspects was wounded in a shootout with police.
U.S. sheriffs say the pair managed to make it to the check point about a metre before Canadian soil
Wait a minute, back up. What was that about ...
Officials credit a brave deputy sheriff for stopping the pair, who were considered armed and dangerous.
Bill Elf, of the Whatcom Sheriff's Department
CBC News has learned that when unarmed Canadian border guards found out the murder suspects were coming their way, they left their posts at two crossings along the B.C. border: the Peace Arch crossing at Douglas, which was closed for a while, and the Pacific Highway Truck Crossing, to which traffic from Douglas was diverted.
Supervisors were left at each crossing to protect the Canadian side.
A spokeswoman with Canada Border Services says the guards have the legal right to refuse to work if they believe they are in imminent danger.
Canada won't protect its borders. Mexico can't keep its people at home. America is subject to international castigation when it tries to protect its borders.
Some people blame it all on NAFTA.
Maybe it's just that the American had to take a good look at the "undocument immigrant" problem, realized the scope of the problem, and decided that there was none of the possible solutions would contribute to political survival.
What? Do I have a solution?
No, nothing short of a police state.
Some people have suggested that America reinforce the borders by assigning military units to guard the borders. These people just don't understand the situation. There aren't enough troops in this country to guard our borders, even if we bring every military unit back from their current assignments and assign border security as their exclusive priority. Besides, who wants to become the island this approach would suggest.
Better minds than mine are working (we hope) on this problem, but don't expect to like the answer they finally come up with.
If they ever agree on a solution. Which it won't be.
(H/T: Fish)
Note: Between the two of them, Fish and The Hobo Brasser provide enough blogmeat to keep me busy even if I didn't tend to be an opinionated, mouthy, pedantic old poop. I don't know why they don't start their own blog. I once offered The Hobo Brasser a "Guest Blogger" option on this blog, but he ignored me.
I wonder why?
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