Violence in Mexico Forcing Increased Patrols on Border by U.S. Authorities

Posted: Mar 8, 2012 6:13 PM
Updated: Mar 8, 2012 11:04 PM

Dangers across the river continue to put more stress on the Valley's local law enforcement. Mexican gunbattles are affecting the front lines here in the Valley.

Call it the calm after the storm. Not far from where children play, cartel and Mexican military faced off.

"We could hear machine gun fire and grenade explosions," says Homer Flores, commander of Starr County DA Violent Crime Taskforce.

The gunbattle was in Mexico, too close to our border.

"We had Roma, the Roma Police Department, the sheriff's office, Border Patrol, DPS fixed wing flying overhead to show our presence big time and keep it from spilling over to our side," says Flores.

Local authorities say Mexican military tried to raid a stash house in Miguel Aleman. Cartel men had the home heavily guarded near our port of entry.

"It's gunfight in the middle of the afternoon when we are used to hearing it in the middle of the morning. That puts us on edge. Trends are changing, what do we expect next," says Flores.

Cartel battles keep our law enforcement busy. Federal officers at the Anzalduas International Bridge said last month a gunbattle in Mexico that day kept their patrols ongoing.

Local, state and federal law enforcement are watching what happens and making sure the battle stays across the border.

We don't know how many injuries or deaths came from the gunbattle in Miguel Aleman Wednesday. Local authorities say no one tried to cross this time because of their heightened enforcement.

But that high alert pays off in another way. For one small city in Starr County, the human smuggling pipeline there is at a standstill.

The chief in that city says it's extremely unusual for his officers not to catch any undocumented people at this time of year. They're coming in huge numbers to work up north.

"It is a busy time; they're migrating," says Rio Grande City police Chief Dutch Piper.

He says undocumented people are going north to work. While those undocumented immigrants usually come in droves, Piper says they haven't seen that in the last week. Rio Grande City police Piper says officers usually catch the smugglers take illegals by carloads through his city this time of year. His officers found none in the last seven days.

He says that's unusual. His officers found as many as 30 people in stash houses in years past. Investigators across the Valley are seeing big numbers of migrants in stash houses: 129 in Hidalgo, 25 in Brownsville, 87 in Alamo.

"There's more enforcement," says Piper.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS saw law enforcement patrolling by airboats near Santa Margarita on the river on Tuesday. Where Mexican gunmen shot at Border Patrol agents last Wednesday, we've learned more law enforcement are patrolling the river in that area. The Border patrol chief confirmed he's going to put in more agents at high-risk areas.

The chief can't say if the shooting at agents is the reason he's not seeing more undocumented people going through his city. He won't miss the sound of feet going through the brush on the outskirts of his city.

We saw several men watching us while we were at that smuggling route on the river, but we didn't see any undocumented people or smugglers in the area.

We also checked with other agencies in the area to see if they were seeing fewer migrants. Starr County deputies caught only 12 in the last week. A Sullivan City police spokesman believes the smugglers are going around Rio Grande City and cutting through his area. His officers arrested 30 undocumented people in Sullivan City in the last week.

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