Thread: U.S. agents: Mexican gangs terrorize border

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/ ... angs.reut/


U.S. agents: Mexican gangs terrorize border

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Armed gangs dressed in military uniforms often illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, providing cover for the trafficking of drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States, a Senate panel heard Wednesday.

U.S. government officials and sheriffs from border areas told lawmakers these intruders were becoming more sophisticated and ruthless, often clashed with U.S. Border Patrol agents and committed crimes in the United States.

"We are indeed aware of criminal organizations that wear military-style uniforms, use military-style equipment and weapons and employ military-style vehicles and tactics while conducting illegal activity in border areas," Border Patrol chief David Aguilar told a joint hearing of the Senate subcommittees on immigration and terrorism.

However, Aguilar said there was no proof that Mexican army personnel were involved or that the Mexican military had intentionally violated U.S. sovereignty.

In January, Texas deputies spotted two dozen drug smugglers wearing military-style uniforms, armed with automatic weapons and driving three vehicles loaded with marijuana they were trying to bring across the Rio Grande.

When one of the vehicles got stuck in the river, the uniformed men took up protective positions as others unloaded the drugs. Then they set the truck on fire and retreated back to Mexico.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday takes up immigration reform legislation that is expected to include steps to tighten the 2,000-mile U.S. border with Mexico. The House of Representatives in December passed a bill that called for the construction of 700 miles of fence along different stretches of the border.

But Aguilar said he did not favor the plan because his agency did not have the resources to manage such a barrier. Instead, he said the United States should employ the latest technology to build what he called a "virtual fence" that would give it the ability to monitor the entire border and respond quickly to incursions.

The Border Patrol has intercepted more than 400,000 illegal immigrants trying to cross the border in the first two months of this year, compared with around 100,000 a month -- 1.2 million -- last year. About 10 percent of those caught had criminal records.

Larry Dever, sheriff of Arizona's Cochise County, said Mexican smugglers now came armed with high capacity assault weapons and orders to protect their cargoes at all costs.

"Failure to make safe delivery is not acceptable and many who do fail are executed," he said. "High-speed chases on congested highways and through populated residential areas are common," he said, sometimes causing the deaths of innocent bystanders.

Mexican criminal groups smuggle into the United States most of the cocaine available in domestic drug markets and produce and smuggle into the country much of the heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine, the Bush administration said.

Sheriff A. D'Wayne Jernigan of Val Verde County in Texas said several murders in border counties inside the United States were orchestrated by Mexican drug cartels operating in both countries.

"The Rio Grande Valley, Cameron, Hidalgo and Starr counties have continuous problems with pseudo cops coming from Mexico to extort and kidnap citizens in these counties," he said.

Several U.S. police officers and family members had received death threats, sometimes delivered to their homes. "The drug trafficking organizations have the money, equipment and stamina to carry out their threats," he said.

Aguilar said that 192 Border Patrol agents had been assaulted so far in the current fiscal year, which began October 1. In fiscal year 2005, 778 Border Patrol agents were assaulted -- more than double the 2004 total of 374.

One weapon of choice was what he called "Molotov rocks" -- rocks wrapped in cloth, soaked in fuel and ignited.

One more reason to put soldiers, and enough of them to make a difference, on the border and let the Border Patrol agents help ICE round up the ones who think they are here to stay.

"We are indeed aware of criminal organizations that wear military-style uniforms, use military-style equipment and weapons and employ military-style vehicles and tactics while conducting illegal activity in border areas," Border Patrol chief David Aguilar told a joint hearing of the Senate subcommittees on immigration and terrorism.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

The House of Representatives in December passed a bill that called for the construction of 700 miles of fence along different stretches of the border. But Aguilar said he did not favor the plan because his agency did not have the resources to manage such a barrier.

I think Aguilar is being the good soldier and following orders from above. If they build the type of fence that the House envisioned, aliens will not be able to dig under it, climb over it, or cut through it. These are just more reasons to do nothing.

These same sheriffs, Aguilar among them, are in Washington again today. I hope that at least one of them has the guts and the skill to make the Senate see that they need assistance down here on the border.

Aguilar is a fool if he says a fence won't help. Even people on the border BUILDING a fence will help. The Minutemen on the border with binoculars and cell phones helped! What is the matter with these people?