Officials: US agents increasingly face dangerous attacks

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_15256857

Officials: US agents increasingly face dangerous attacks
By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times
Posted: 06/09/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT


EL PASO -- Attacks on U.S. Border Patrol agents -- like the one Monday when agents were stoned from the Mexican side -- have resulted in fatal shootings in the past 20 years.

And agents have shot at attackers many times in the El Paso Sector.
Officials said attacks on agents on the border have increased and have become increasingly dangerous.

U.S. Border Patrol agents in the El Paso Sector have been targets in 29 rock-throwing attacks since October, according to agency statistics.
Doug Mosier, spokesman for the Border Patrol in El Paso, said agents also were targets of two attacks with weapons and two physical attacks. He did not have details on the incidents for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and will end Sept. 30.

In fiscal-year 2009, the El Paso Border Patrol reported 31 rock-throwing incidents, two attacks with weapons, a vehicle attack and five physical attacks.

In fiscal-year 2008, the agency reported 35 attacks against agents, including 34 rock-throwing incidents and one physical attack.
Nationally, attacks against Border Patrol agents have increased, said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, an advocacy organization for agents.

He said more than 1,000 attacks were reported in the 2008 and 2007 fiscal years.

Bonner, who himself was also attacked by people from Mexico with rocks, said it has become the most common way in which agents are assaulted.
Between April 1991 and Jan. 20, 2010, El Paso Border Patrol agents
were attacked 23 times in incidents reported by the news media.


Some of the more serious incidents involved gunfire.
Here are highlights of those encounters:


# Jan. 20, 2010: A Border Patrol agent near the Bridge of the Americas called for help because a group of people were throwing rocks from the Mexican side of the border. Another agent fired a pepperball launcher, which shoots projectiles filled with pepper spray. But the rock throwing continued. An agent then fired one round from a handgun at the rock-throwers. There were no known injuries.


# Oct. 23, 2008: Border Patrol agents chased an alleged smuggler who crossed back into Mexico, where he was joined by another person; they began throwing rocks at the agents. "The smuggler took position behind a small tree, pointed a handgun and yelled he was going to kill them (the agents)," Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said. The agent responded by firing three rounds from his service-issued handgun before the smuggler fled.


# Aug. 10, 2007: Juárez resident Jose Alejandro Ortiz Castillo was shot after he attempted to assault a Border Patrol agent. Four people -- Ortiz, a woman and two other men -- attempted to cross into the United States illegally.


# July 3, 2007: A 32-year-old immigrant from Chihuahua City was shot by a Border Patrol agent who said he acted in self-defense. The agent had gone into a manhole with a flashlight to investigate an immigrant sighting at Hill and Ninth streets. The immigrant was wounded in an arm.


# June 27, 2007: A Border Patrol agent trying to rescue a drowning immigrant shot at a smuggling suspect, who allegedly threw rocks at the agent, hitting him in the head. Officials said the alleged smuggler was not injured. The agent was treated for a concussion and cuts to the head.


# Feb. 13, 2007: A group of alleged immigrants threw rocks at a Border Patrol agent who opened fire but hit no one. The violence took place along the Rio Grande off the César Chávez Border Highway near Fonseca Drive.


# April 17, 2006: A man in a pickup was shot when he allegedly tried to run over a plainclothes Border Patrol agent in the parking lot of the Alamo Auto Supply store.


# Feb 17, 2005: Border Patrol agents José Alonso Compéan and Ignacio Ramos shot a drug smuggler in the buttocks. The smuggler was fleeing back to Mexico. The case received national publicity after the agents were accused of concealing details of the incident from their superiors. They were set free from prison after President George W. Bush commuted their sentences.


# Jan. 12, 2004: Drug smugglers on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande shot at Border Patrol agents in broad daylight; no one was hit. Border Patrol agents, whose view was obscured by bushes, did not return fire.


# May 30, 2003: A man driving a pickup loaded with marijuana was shot and killed near the Fabens border crossing. The incident involved a pursuit by Border Patrol agents following an anonymous tip.


# Feb. 22, 2003: A Border Patrol agent shot and killed an unidentified man suspected of entering the U.S. illegally after the man allegedly threatened the agents with a metal pipe in Central El Paso.


# Feb. 1, 2002: Two Border Patrol agents in separate vehicles were patrolling near the Fabens border crossing when they spotted a suspicious car. One of the drivers who saw the agents approaching tried to return to Mexico. The driver then abandoned the car and fled on foot to Mexico. One of the agents was in his vehicle when he heard a loud noise while he was chasing the suspects. He discovered that his rear side windows had been shot out. The suspects got away.


# Dec. 6, 2001: Border Patrol agents said they were fired on twice from the Mexican side of the border as they investigated a suspected smuggling near West Paisano Drive. They took cover as soon as they heard the gunfire; no one was hurt.


# Sep. 13, 2000: Two Border Patrol agents fatally shot an alleged fugitive who bypassed a checkpoint and fired at one of the agents.


# May 26, 2000: A smuggler escaped into Mexico after shooting at Border Patrol agents. One of the agents was injured by flying glass when a bullet ripped through the windshield of his marked van; he was about eight miles east of the Fabens border crossing.


# April 19, 1999: A Border Patrol agent wearing body armor was shot twice in the chest and once in the back by an unknown assailant in the Columbus-Deming, N.M., area. The agent was patrolling a trail four miles east of the Columbus border crossing when he was surprised by an unknown number of people. The agent was not injured, and no one was arrested.


# Nov. 30, 1998: Border Patrol agents reported a suspicious car about a half-mile from the Fabens border crossing. They later found the car abandoned and stuck in mud. The trunk was open, and two large bundles of marijuana were visible. A Border Patrol helicopter pilot told the agents a van was parked on the Mexican side of the border with several people inside. About 15 gunshots were fired at the agents from the area of the parked van. The agents took cover, and no one was injured. The agents did not return fire.


# March 25, 1998: A Lower Valley man died after he was shot while allegedly attempting to run over a Border Patrol agent. The shooting occurred on Loop 375 about a quarter-mile west of Zaragoza. El Paso police said two Border Patrol agents were responding to a call about an illegal border crossing.


# Feb. 1, 1998: Five rifle shots were fired from Ju rez at Border Patrol agents patrolling West Paisano Drive; one bullet struck the passenger door of the agents' vehicle. The bullet, which might have been fired from a high-powered rifle, hit the door just below the seat.


# Jan. 13, 1998: Border Patrol agents shot and killed a 19-year-old Ju rez man who allegedly pointed a gun at them at the Chamizal National Memorial.


# July 2, 1997: Two Border Patrol agents reported that two shots were fired from the Mexican side of the border near the El Paso Rescue Mission. The agents didn't believe they were the targets but rerouted traffic at West Paisano Drive as a precaution.


# February 1992: An alleged marijuana smuggler was killed near the 1900 block of West Paisano Drive when he tried to grab a Border Patrol agent's shotgun and it went off.


# April 1991: A 19-year-old Juarez man was killed when he tried to attack a Border Patrol agent near the Paso del Norte Bridge.

The US agents have to defend themselves. The US agents are protecting our land. The Mexicans without proper documents must not cross the border. They must stay in Mexico. US agents are doing their jobs.

Maybe Obummer should give a speach in front of the Mexican congress and whine and complain about their country. Oh, wait, he only gives speaches that criticize the U.S.

Here in El Paso we have lots of concrete canals. For years and years, illegals have used them to go beneath the streets, travel around without being seen, etc. Some years back the entrances to the concrete pipes that merge into the canals were covered with grates. The reason was to make it harder for the illegals to utilize them. However....when it rains a lot, the Border Patrol has to go and remove the grates so that no one inside of them gets trapped and or drowns. It's apparently against their "civil rights" to be forced into a dangerous life threatening situation such as that. My husband who works for Border Patrol has had to get up at all hours of the night on many occasions to have to go out and remove those grates. The grates are very heavy and it requires more than one person plus machinery to remove them and I have to tell you all, it's an extremely dangerous situation for Border Patrol personnel to have to remove those grates while it's raining and flooding. My husband has been injured more than once in doing that kind of job. In reality....the Border Patrol spends a whole lot of their time actually PROTECTING immigrants from their own stupidity! Do they bother to acknowledge or mention how many illegals have been saved from drowning? Do they thank the Border Patrol units who swelter in the oppressive desert heat every day who specifically go in search of immigrants who were abandoned by coyotes in the middle of nowhere with no food and water?

Deport all illegal aliens.

i think this story needs to be sent to a few congress people so they can understand just what the heck is going on down on the border.
the same border that they wont visit to see how bad things really are

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