Incursions Spark Tension on U.S.-Mexico Border

Armed Mexican government personnel made five unauthorized incursions into the U.S. in the last three months of 2005, according to confidential Department of Homeland Security records.

The incursions involved police officers or soldiers in military vehicles and were among 231 such incidents recorded by the U.S. Border Patrol in the past 10 years, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"It's clear you're dealing with a large number of incursions by bona-fide Mexican military units, based on the tactics and the equipment being used," said T.J. Bonner, a Border Patrol veteran and president of the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union.

Bonner told the Washington Times that it was "common knowledge" along the border that some Mexican military units, federal and state police and former Mexican soldiers are paid by smugglers to protect shipments of cocaine and other drugs into the U.S.

Incidents in the Homeland Security records include Mexican helicopters flying north into U.S. airspace near El Paso, Tex., for about 15 minutes; five Mexican officials armed with assault rifles entering the country near El Centro, Calif., and returning without incident; and two Mexican police officers observed on the U.S. side of the border near Yuma, Ariz.

Details of the incidents emerged "as authorities on both sides of the border scrambled to investigate a dangerous confrontation Monday in Texas," the LA Times reported.

A confidential Border Patrol summary of the incident said it began when county sheriff's deputies and state troopers tried to stop three vehicles on an interstate highway southeast of El Paso. The three vehicles made a run for the border, the report said.

One vehicle, a black 2006 Cadillac Escalade loaded with nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana, was abandoned near the border, said Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West.

As deputies approached the river they saw a Mexican military Humvee – equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun – on the U.S. side, West disclosed. A second vehicle got stuck in shallow water in the Rio Grande, while the third made it back to Mexico.

"The Humvee attempted to push and pull [the stuck vehicle] toward Mexico to no avail," the Border Patrol report states.

At that point, Mexican soldiers and civilians began unloading marijuana from the stranded vehicle. About 20 Mexican personnel in military uniforms, with insignias on their caps, pointed automatic rifles at about half a dozen sheriff's deputies and state troopers.

"They were daring my guys to make a move," West said.

The uniformed men burned the vehicle after it had been unloaded, then returned to Mexico.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said in an interview Wednesday that the incident in Texas was "about as serious as it gets" and noted that dozens of incursions have been reported in his state.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., called this week for U.S. troops to be deployed along the border to counter armed incursions.

And as NewsMax reported earlier, Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., has demanded that the State Department take "immediate diplomatic action" to stop Mexican incursions.