Chertoff: Mexico Troop Reports Overblown By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 19, 4:34 AM ET SAN DIEGO - Reports of Mexican soldiers frequently crossing onto U.S. soil are overblown, and many of the incidents are just mistakes, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. Chertoff's remarks followed a newspaper report that Mexican military units had crossed into the United States 216 times since 1996. The report by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario on Sunday was based on a Homeland Security Department report. Chertoff estimated there were only about 20 crossings a year, and said "a significant number of those are innocent things" in which police or military from Mexico step across the border because they're not aware of exactly where the line is. "I think to create the image that somehow there is a deliberate effort by the Mexican military to cross the border would be to traffic in scare tactics," he said Wednesday. Rafael Laveaga, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, declined to comment. He stood by earlier remarks that the Mexican military has never deliberately stepped onto U.S. soil. He declined to say if there were any unintentional crossings. The head of a labor union" that represents about 10,500 U.S. Border Patrol agents dismissed Chertoff's remarks as a "diplomatic response" to a long-running problem on the U.S.-Mexico border. "It really doesn't surprise me that he's playing the diplomat," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council. "This is a guy whose time on the border can be measured in hours, not years." Bonner said Mexican soldiers — possibly some Army deserters — are providing protection for drug runners. "It's all about the drugs," he said. "The lure of the riches of the cartel, they're too many for many of their solders to resist, whether they're corrupted on active duty or take up with other bands." Homeland Security recorded an annual average of 21.6 Mexican military incursions since the 1996 fiscal year, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Incidents peaked at 40 in 2002 and dropped to nine in the 2005 fiscal year that ended in September. The Border Patrol's El Centro sector, which covers southeastern California, recorded the most incursions since 1996 (58), followed by Tucson, Ariz., (39), El Paso, Texas (33) and McAllen, Texas, (28), according to the newspaper. Del Rio, Texas, recorded only three incidents, the fewest of the agency's nine sectors along the southwest border. Peter Nunez, the U.S. attorney in San Diego from 1982 to 1988, said it was difficult to know if the reports are overblown without additional information. "Who's reporting these things?" he said. "What are the details?" ___
Official says standoff in Texas involved men in Mexican Army Official says standoff in Texas involved men in Mexican Army uniforms Associated Press Posted January 24 2006, 12:19 PM EST SIERRA BLANCA, Texas -- Texas law enforcement officers and men dressed as Mexican Army soldiers and apparent drug suspects faced off on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, an FBI spokeswoman said Tuesday. Andrea Simmons, an agency spokeswoman in El Paso, told The Associated Press that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased three SUVs, believing they were carrying drugs, to the banks of the Rio Grande during Monday's incident. Men dressed in Mexican military uniforms or camouflage were on the U.S. side of the border in Texas, she said. Simmons said the FBI was not involved and referred requests for further details to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported Tuesday that the incident included an armed standoff involving the Mexican military, suspected drug smugglers and nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officers. It said Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States. The incident follows a story in the Bulletin on Jan. 15 that said the Mexican military had crossed into the United States more than 200 times since 1996. Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department told the newspaper that Border Patrol agents called for backup and were joined by Hudspeth County deputies and DPS troopers. Mexican army personnel had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border, the newspaper said. Doyal said deputies captured a Cadillac Escalade that had been reported stolen from El Paso, and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside. He said Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river. The site is near Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso, it said. ``It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years,'' Doyal said. ``When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us.'' After the newspaper reported on Mexican military crossings, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the report was overblown and most of the incursions were just mistakes. In eastern California, Arizona and New Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico border is largely unmarked. But in Texas, the Rio Grande separates the two countries and even when dry, is a riverbed about 200 feet wide. In November, Doyal said Border Patrol agents in the border town of Fort Hancock called for help after confronting more than six men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The men allegedly were trying to bring more than three tons of marijuana across the Rio Grande, Doyal told the newspaper. Doyal said such incidents are common at Neely's Crossing.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff = IDIOT! , maybe you, I and Magnus need to head down to Neely's Crossing to protect the homeland. We could represent the NETX SM Brigade.
It would give us a good opportunity to try out survival skills, not to mention we would have lots of material for the board.
We need our own Minute Man type program. If you get a chance check out Ranch Rescue. Do a quick search and you will find their web page. For years they have been getting together and performing security and cleanup on ranches on the border. They come in and help the rancher repair fences, water lines, clean up the mess the illegals (not migrants, ILLEGALS) leave behind, and they also perform security functions. They have apprehended illegals, drug runners, and lots of drugs. Of course this really pisses off fed. law enforcement. They have done all they can to prevent Ranch Resuce from it's volunteer work. These various groups are showing that the American people are fed up with the illegals and the lack of concern by the Gov. Soldier of Fortune has quite a few articles on Ranch Rescue and their operations. They do a lot of good.
