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War on drugs sparks incursions, officials say

By Anna Cearley and Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
January 20, 2006

An increased Mexican military presence along the border over the past decade could be making it more likely that Mexican and U.S. authorities are crossing paths, according to several border law enforcement experts.

"The military in recent years is being drawn into the war on drugs," said David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute, based at the University of San Diego.

Victor Clark, a Tijuana-based human rights activist who follows drug trends, said "there is more militarization along the border because the U.S. is pressuring to have more there."

In recent days, reports of incursions along the border by Mexican authorities have caused a media and political frenzy, despite assertions from Homeland Security officials that incursions by authorities on both sides are, though not frequent, fairly common.

"It's important to put this in perspective," said Mike Friel, a Washington spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol. "Incursions do happen on both sides, but for the most part they are infrequent. Generally these incursions are situations that happen when authorities are pursuing criminals, usually in unmarked stretches of the border. These reports of the incursions are being overblown."

Friel added that criminals also have been known to pose as Mexican authorities.

Some proponents of stronger border enforcement say the incursions are an indication that powerful drug smugglers have compromised some members of the Mexican military.

Earlier this week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said there are an average of about 20 incidents a year in which Mexican police or military might set foot on U.S. soil, but that "a significant number of those are innocent things . . . because they're not aware of exactly where the line is."

Chertoff's comments were in reaction to a newspaper report that the Mexican military had crossed 216 times into the United States since 1996. The story was published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario.

The statistics were attributed to a Homeland Security report, although a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said yesterday he had not seen the report.

Even though the potential for violence is high in such encounters, most ended with Mexican forces retreating, said T.J. Bonner, the San Diego-based president of the National Border Patrol Council, the Border Patrol agents' union.

Bonner said he didn't have statistics for incursions along the California border, and recalled one major incident six years ago. In October 2000, two Border Patrol agents encountered armed men in military-style uniforms about eight miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, Bonner said.

According to Bonner, the agents came under fire and the assailants pursued them into United States before backing off. Mexican authorities later confirmed a military group was operating in the area, but said it didn't step into U.S. territory. U.S. authorities later said there wasn't evidence the agents were shot at, and closed the case despite criticism of downplaying the incident.

In July 2000, Mexican officials decried what they called a deliberate incursion on the part of two Border Patrol officials, who crossed into Mexican territory to detain individuals; U.S. officials said the agents thought they were still on U.S. soil.

Alberto Lozano, a spokesman for the Mexican consulate in San Diego, noted that the consulate had still not seen a copy of any report detailing Mexican incursions.

"The Mexican military has never deliberately stepped onto U.S. soil, and every incident or supposed incursion has been investigated and clarified," he said.

Meanwhile, politicians in favor of stricter border enforcement have taken the opportunity to promote various security proposals. U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., took to television and radio yesterday to promote an amendment calling for increased aerial surveillance that he made to the recently passed HR 4437 border security bill.

"Our borders are under attack by sophisticated organizations that have no qualms about firing upon our Border Patrol units," he stated in a news release Wednesday.

Though the Mexican military hasn't traditionally been involved in combating drug trafficking, Mexico has turned to the military over the past decade because it's considered less corruptible than police agencies.

That isn't always true, however. For example, in 1997 a top Mexican general who went on to lead an anti-drug group was linked to a major drug cartel.

Bonner, the Border Patrol union chief, said he suspected that many of the incursions are drug-related. "Our agents are convinced that they are facilitating the entry of drugs, whether they are rogue units or recognized units," Bonner said.

Bonner said he believes anyone patrolling the border has a clear idea of where the boundaries are. Shirk, the Trans-Border Institute director, and Clark, the human rights activist, disagreed.

"It's not a very clear line drawn in the sand," Shirk said. "It goes through valleys and over mountains and across vast stretches of desert. There has been a number of incursions – in both directions, I think it's important to say – across this line."





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Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com