Thread: Coalition pledges action on border incursions

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_3474986

Article Last Updated: 2/04/2006 12:23 AM


Coalition pledges action

Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

EL PASO, Texas - A closed-door meeting at El Paso International Airport involving a congressman and federal and local officers promised answers to reports of Mexican military incursions into the United States, setting the stage for congressional hearings next week.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations for the Committee on Homeland Security, said at a news conference Friday that the incursion investigations will be the first time his committee has conducted hearings since its formation four years ago.

"I want to thank these brave men and women for what they do every day and the threat that they face on the border," McCaul said, referring to the law-enforcement officials standing behind him. "It's important that members of Congress understand that and do something about it.

"We are going to get to the bottom of what happened here, and we are going to have the facts come out," he said. "It's my duty as chairman of this subcommittee to investigate this fully and follow every lead so that the American people can better be protected at the border."

Next week's congressional hearings follow a disclosure in early January by The Sun's sister newspaper in Ontario, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, that there have been more than 200 incursions by Mexican military personnel into the United States since 1996.

The incursions were documented in private files by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which were kept from public access.

McCaul sent letters on Jan. 26 to Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking for all documented information into the incursions and past investigations.

"We are extremely concerned about recent media reports of incursions into the United States by individuals appearing to be members of the Mexican military," a letter to Icaza stated. "We also would appreciate your assurances that these incursions into the United States territory are not condoned by the government of Mexico and that measures are being taken to prevent their future occurrence."

McCaul will meet with Icaza early Tuesday in Washington before the incursion hearings begin, he said.

Testifying before the committee will be T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for border agents; sheriffs with the Texas Sheriff's Border Coalition, a group of 16 border-county sheriffs, and numerous other experts, said Jack Hirschfield, spokesman for McCaul.

On Jan. 23, deputies with the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department and Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers had an armed st Neely's Crossing, 50 miles east of El Paso, along the Rio Grande with men wearing Mexican military uniforms, carrying military weapo a military vehicle.

No shots were fired, but the men in military uniforms appeared to be assisting a group of men smuggling marijuana across the border, said Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West.

The Mexican government denied its military was involved and said its military has never crossed the U.S. border. Mexican government officials insist it is either drug smugglers dressed as military or U.S. soldiers dressed as Mexican military attempting to destroy foreign relations between the two countries.

On Friday, McCaul was told that four men were arrested by Mexican federal agents Friday for their involvement in the Hudspeth County border incursion.

The arrests might have been made after a video filmed by the Texas Department of Public Safety troopers was viewed by Mexican officials, McCaul said.

The video will be aired at the congressional hearings on Tuesday, he added.

But the tape of the incursion video, which has not been made public, was edited immediately after the incident by the FBI and Texas state troopers, said a source on the condition of anonymity. The video was edited for "policy violations," the source said. It is not certain which policies were violated, the source added.

McCaul said he was not sure whether the filmed incursion, which will be played at Tuesday's hearing, is edited or not.

The confrontation that took place on Jan. 23 involved three Texas sheriff's deputies, at least two Texas state troopers and at least 10 heavily armed men from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, said Rick Glancey of the Texas Border Coalition, which began in 2004 as a way of tackling the growing violence on the Texas border.

"We know what we saw, and it was Mexican military," West said. "This wasn't the first time it happened, and it won't be the last. It's time for congressional hearings before somebody gets killed."

West and other Texas sheriffs spent Friday in Houston with Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who are also conducting their own interviews and investigations into the incursions.

West and El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego flew from Houston late Friday afternoon to speak with McCaul at the El Paso airport after the news conference.

McCaul insisted during the conference that his committee would "not only seek answers at Neely's Crossing but on the over 200 incursions on the Mexican border, some military, some not."

He said that the borders are a national-security risk and said al-Qaida terrorists have shown interest in porous U.S. borders.

"However, there needs to be cooperation on both sides of the border," McCaul added. "The question should be, how good is Mexico's cooperation with us?"

He said that the borders are a national-security risk and said al-Qaida terrorists have shown interest in porous U.S. borders.

Somebody give this man a cigar!