A U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist. Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who was not identified.
It was unclear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers. “Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has been going on for years,” union Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) said on its Web page. “They are never held accountable, and the United States government will undoubtedly brush this off as another case of ‘Oh well, they didn’t know they were in the United States.’ “It is fortunate that this incident didn’t end in a very ugly gunfight,” said the local’s posting.
So, who will be the first to shoot the messenger?
I wonder if the Border Patrol ever strays into Mexico.
Give those dumb asses some GPS units!
I’ve totally wandered around Ajo…
(I don’t know if this site will let me embed pics in the comments, I’ve seen John do it…)
Where are the Predator drones when you need them! Follow Cisco and Pancho back over the border and put them out of their misery.
This is one more example of why we need to end the “Drug War”.
BillM has a point. Why aren’t our borders being patrolled by Armed Drones and Terminators? Seriously, if the federal government wanted to control the border and it’s associated airspace they would. That they obviously don’t control the border makes you wonder why.
#6, as you know the government does not want to control the border. On one side you have the republicans who see a source for cheap labor, and on the other you have the democrats who see future votes, if they can just get those illegals the right to vote.
I’m sure that plan is in the works.
If Bush wanted to conquer an oil rich third world wannabe, Mexico would be the better choice – and it’s looking like they may be giving us reason.
Make the border, shoot to kill, and see how many of these jokers come across. That or seed the border with those microwave beam pain devices that were developed for crowd control.
I live in Mexico. I once saw a documentary where most parts of the border (not the part divided by the river obviously) don’t have any way of knowing where you actually crossed from one side to the other. Not even a single post or sign. Forget about a fence of any kind. Other parts have posts but no lighting, no fence, not even a mesh, so the article is completely credible. As credible as the fact that the mexican guys didn’t even know they were in the US side, and I bet US patrol has been in the mexican side lots of times and they didn’t know. The fence Bush ordered to be lifted would only cover a little part of what is needed in reality, and even those parts can be crossed in less that 5 minutes using normal warehouse-bought tools. The border is just too big to be handled by anyone. It’s a fact. Anyway, if everything goes as it has in the last 8 years in the US and in Mexico economically speaking, in some years this won’t matter anymore. Maybe we’ll have to start watching our own side to stop illegal crossing from the north.
My guess is if you are traveling north and run into a US Border Patrol agent, you may have crossed the border. I’m just sayin’….
#4 – BillM – Where are the Predator drones when you need them!
They’re flying over other countries, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen to name a few… but let’s not mention that… this is about stinkin’ Mexicans invading the USA!
How about placing a mine field on the southern border? Buzzards eat free.
@ #11 alobos
I’m familiar with that exact town: Ajo.
There is a checkpoint a few minutes south of the little town. Big clue that they were on the American side: street signs.
Also, if they crossed the border by road they’d see an obvious transition between Sonoyta and Lukeville.
They’d have to be very unobservant to not know they were in the US, especially with that particular post outside of Ajo (which to me would indicate that they were on the highway).
#10;
State where the Constitution says we have the right to deny Life to others, including those crossing the border illegally.
Great plan with the microwave device. Know how to fund defending 2,000 miles with aforementioned devices? Here’s an idea, let’s fund it the same way you conservatives have paid for Iraq!
Oh wait, you haven’t paid for Iraq…
Oh, and forget about the predator drones. Unless you want the government to be flying them over Mexican airspace, which is widely considered to be an act of war.
Not that the U.S. really cares about it’s reputation any more.
As a liberal I have a liberal solution to the problem. Until the Mex govt can take control of its northern border region and reduce corruption of its military and police forces to something that’s manageable, I propose the liberal deployment of machine gun nests along our side of the border, ordered to fire liberally at anything that crosses. Enough is enough.
btw #1, I don’t give a flying fuck if US border agents have crossed the border. If they have, they didn’t operate as drug cartel thugs or to provide armed cover for human traffickers.
#8 “on the other you have the democrats who see future votes, if they can just get those illegals the right to vote.
I’m sure that plan is in the works.”
That’s why the Dems oppose laws that enforce citizenship laws for voting.
#19;
Wow, such an eloquent argument. Tell me, where does the Constitution say we can kill civilians?
And if U.S. agents are crossing the border in to Mexico, do they logically have the right to mow them down with machine gun fire? Just because they’re “good guys” doesn’t mean they have the right to ignore a sovereign country’s laws. Unless you really think the U.S. should unilaterally impose its will upon the rest of the world.
A military presence has entered the United States. Presences associated have killed US citizens and have, in the past, made home invasions as well as having intended to fire on our own police officers.
Put plainly, I don’t see how this ISN’T a war already, despite the lack of movement on our side.
#21 – The Constitution grants Congress the authority to declare martial law, which may include shoot-on-sight orders of armed or unarmed persons in violation of orders.
When we’re talking about foreign soldiers, either under the authority of their government or of organized criminal gangs, entering US territory and assaulting US citizens, I say it’s time to take control of the situation, even if that means declaring martial law.
Civilians attempting to illegally cross the border where martial law would be declared, might be given warnings to turn around and go back without being shot or detained. But if they were to disregard orders and continue to try to force their way into the US, they might then be fired upon. Under the Constitution and international law, such actions would be legal.
We cannot allow the kind of anarchy spoken of in the Wash Times article to continue. The Mexicans must take control of their country and we must take control of our borders.
#23,
Or, you know, we could do something…oh, rational.
Extremism only begets extremism.
As if the whole cross-border drug smuggling thing were not sanctioned by both governments. Who make enormous profits and obtain ever-greater power over citizens lives. What a bunch of naive tube-stare-ers we have here. Actually believing the crap you see on the TV.
Losers.
#25 waaaah!
Yeah, so just sitting on our asses is perfectly fine, allowing US citizens to be killed/detained/kidnapped/stolen from/etc. is perfectly alright?
Even *if* both governments are in some way sanctioning this kind of stuff, it’s our responsibility as citizens to give our side of the government a swift kick in the butt to get them moving.
Yes, call us losers for being at least worried that a foreign power is invading the United States with military grade weaponry and force.
#26 – Freyar – Yeah, so just sitting on our asses is perfectly fine, allowing US citizens to be killed/detained/kidnapped/stolen from/etc. is perfectly alright?
Change US to Iraqi.
That’s another subject. Different economic pressures, different cultures, etcetera. On top of that, the news coming from Iraq is mixed together to the point where it requires a dedicated team of analysts to try and make heads or tails out of it.
Can we please focus on the actual topic here? Mexican Army invades US Again, Holds Border Patrol Agent Hostage.
Not another “Iraqi citizens hate US based on this study.”
#20, Cow-Paddy,
That’s why the Dems oppose laws that enforce citizenship laws for voting.
Currently it is a felony for a non-citizen to vote in any government election in the US. So tell us, WHAT EFFEN VOTING LAW ARE THE DEMS OPPOSING ???
# 24, natefrog,
In post #21 you were bitching that what I proposed was unconstitutional. In post #23 I simply pointed out that it would be both constitutional and legal under international law, so long as Congress declared martial law; and under the circumstances martial law is justifiable (ie, cross-border raids by foreign military, paramilitary & organized criminal gangs being justification enough).
Now you charge me with being irrational and extreme. My proposal would actually save lives. Hundreds die every year trying to cross that border illegally. Unknown thousands are exploited by traffickers who charge desperate people outrageous fees, many of whom are enslaved or forced into prostitution, because we have refused to take control of our border. By declaring martial law along the border, we can put an end to these crimes against humanity practically overnight.
Oh, but my proposal offends your dainty sensibilities. Let me tell you something, I really am a liberal. Universal health care: for it. The Iraq War: bad idea from the start. Corporate greed and corruption: let’s regulate and prosecute the bastards to the max. Gay marriage: for it. Pro choice: I am. Unions: all for ’em…
But even a liberal can see that democracy under these circumstances cannot long survive and stay a democracy.
We succeeded in WW2 because we threw everything we had at the challenge. Roosevelt pulled very few punches. Cities along the coasts were ordered to black out. Car companies were ordered to stop making cars and start making tanks, so that fewer than 500 automobiles were manufactured for the private sector during the war. Civilians sacrificed their comfort and their liberties to win that conflict. In exchange for their sacrifice, the people were given the implied promise that the war would be won and finished as quickly as possible and their freedoms restored thereafter.
But what do we have now? War without end. Problems without solutions. We are a society that is wasting itself away by spending more and more of its resources and national will on real threats that never go away.
For forty years the so-called drug war has raged. So that now the gangs number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, and they can buy whole brigades of Mexican soldiers, Mexican judges, Mexican cops, to shield them from the law — Mexican and American.
For thirty years, the US has slowly lost control of its immigration policy, until now we have so little control over our borders, Mexican soldiers can cross and hold a US government agent hostage at gunpoint.
For seven years we’ve been fighting Al Qaida and Islamofascism. To what effect? No end in sight in Afghanistan and Iraq could turn bad on us again in a second.
Half measures are getting us nothing but problems without end and war without end. The so-called “Greatest Generation” could not have survived the Depression or won WW2 with the leadership we have today. They won because they were committed to an absolute and undeniable victory.
It’s time to be extreme. It’s time to solve this problem because it’s solvable. No, the means are not appetizing. But martial law along the border will put an end to this nonsense.
#29
Laws can be changed.