Thread: Mexican border on edge after U.S. agent slain

Mexican border on edge after U.S. agent slain

Updated 5m ago
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY

Border Patrol agents in the Southwest are taking extra steps to stay safe as authorities continue to search for at least one gunman who shot and killed another agent Thursday.

After three days of searching by dozens of local and federal agents, investigators had no suspects in the killing, the first shooting death of a border agent in more than a decade, Keith Slotter, the special agent in charge of the FBI's San Diego office, said Sunday. "There's still a long way to go on this."

"Obviously the agents are taking extra precautions now," said T.J. Bonner, a Border Patrol agent in San Diego County who is president of the National Border Patrol Council. He said agents, who often work alone, are teaming up on some cases and trying to stay closer to agents they can call for backup.

Agent Robert Rosas was killed Thursday night along a remote stretch of the border southeast of San Diego. Rosas was by himself, trying to catch a group of people who had crossed the border illegally, when he was shot several times in the head and body, Slotter said. He said investigators believe there were three to five people, and that at least one was wounded.

"They certainly had some sort of firepower," Slotter said. "They certainly had the confidence level to believe they could overtake him, and they didn't have any second thoughts about doing so."

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Federal Bureau of Investigation | United States Border Patrol | U.S. Customs and Border Protection | TJ Bonner

Mexican police told the Associated Press on Saturday that they had arrested four men — all allegedly tied to an immigrant-smuggling ring — in connection with Rosas' death. Slotter said U.S. investigators plan to question the men, but that "nobody has been arrested in either Mexico or the United States in connection with this murder."

Rosas was the first Border Patrol agent shot to death since agents Ricardo Salinas and Susan Rodriguez were slain in Texas in 1998.

About 17,000 agents patrol the nation's southern border, a number that has more than doubled as the government sought to halt a tide of illegal immigration. Authorities and agents have expressed growing concern about violence by immigrant smugglers and heavily armed drug cartels.

Last year, about 50 Border Patrol agents were shot at, Bonner said. One died when he was run down by a suspected drug smuggler's car. The number is on track to be higher this year. "It's becoming more dangerous," he said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Lloyd Easterling, said in an e-mail Sunday that the agency is "constantly evaluating ways to make our job safer."
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009 ... gent_N.htm

I've talked a few of the people I know in this area and they sad, mad and scared. Many of them knew agent Rosas and they say he was a really nice guy.
I won't into detail but this would not be a good time for anyone to even think about crossing the border near that area.

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SAN DIEGO – A man arrested in San Jose after the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent has been charged with being in the country illegally after a previous deportation, authorities said Monday.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-164722.html