... isn't this kind of stuff akin to a hostile invasion?

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U.S. agents under greater attack on Mexico border
08 Mar 2007 19:30:33 GMT
Source: Reuters
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By Robin Emmott

LAREDO, Texas, March 8 (Reuters) - Frustrated by tighter security on the U.S.-Mexico border, illegal immigrants and drug traffickers are taking it out on U.S. agents, increasingly attacking them with guns, rocks and petrol bombs.

Assaults against Border Patrol officers rose 10 percent to 843 incidents in the year to September 2006 from the same period a year before, officials say. It is also a near three-fold increase from two years previously.

Mexican drug cartels, locked in a turf feud and under pressure from an army crackdown, are lashing out at law enforcement officers in Texas.

"The attacks against us are becoming more brazen. Drug cartels have instructed their people to go down fighting, to do whatever is necessary to get the narcotics through," said Rick Flores, Webb County sheriff in Laredo, Texas.

He said drug smugglers are increasingly taking pot shots at agents with assault rifles from inside Mexico at night, although no one has been killed.

They are also using riskier routes to bring drugs across the border, leading to clashes with U.S. law enforcement.

Laredo lies across the Rio Grande from Nuevo Laredo, one of the Mexican cities worst hit by a fight between rival drug gangs that killed around 2,000 people last year. The area is a key entry point for cocaine.

In the Yuma sector, which covers a 125-mile (200-km) desert strip in southwest Arizona, attacks on agents rose 60 percent between last Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, official data shows.

Large groups of illegal immigrants regularly pelt Border Patrol agents with softball-size rocks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails, leaving agents with burns, bruises and head wounds.

"Immigrants are frustrated and are lashing out. It has reached the point that we are seeing attacks on an almost daily basis," said Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling.

In one assault in 2005, a group of rock-throwing illegal immigrants damaged the rotor of a Border Patrol helicopter and forced it to make an emergency landing.

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From Phoenix's Channel 12:

Guardsmen overrun at the Border

12 News
Jan. 4, 2007 02:44 PM


National Guard unit stormed while patroling the border
Border attack raises security concerns

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.
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And for those that think that the immigration problem has nothing to do with security, the Washington Times disagrees:

Terrorists target Army base — in Arizona - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper


Really now, how hard does it have to be? Seems simple enough to me: [Edit: tried to figure out how to put the picture in the body of the message, but it put it down at the bottom. Any suggestions?]

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I agree but our government only WANTS us to think they want to do something about security while their true agenda is to make us one nation with Canada and Mexico in the long run. Border security is only smoke and screens otherwise those border security guards that are in jail wouldn't be there and we wouldn't be building that Trans Texas Corridor NAFTA super highway from Mexico to Canada --just to name a couple actions that speak louder than words

Just ask Campos and Ramos .I'd bet they think it the equivalent of a hostile invasion.

You got THAT right! That whole situation stinks worse than my boots after cleaning horse stalls.

Poor journalism stands out more than anything else. Incidents involving border crossings and bandits have been happing along the border, in Texas especially, since its inception.

There have been increased incidents because of increased enforcement…that makes sense.

“Those guardsmen were forced to retreat,” without injury. C'mon, someone needs to find out why because this reporter was too lazy to find out what their orders were, and it obviously was not to hold the position. A military retreat on American soil needs explaining.

The whole thing needs explaining. How can illegal immigrants smuggling drugs testify against border guards doing what they are there for, win and the guards be sentenced to 11 years?
Talk about our justice system going down the drain!!

Has there actually been more enforcement? Do we know that for a fact? Or has therre been the same level of enforcement, but increased frustration on the part of illegals, especially drug smuggling illegals? The article states that there is an increase in incidents, but it doesn't give any statistics regarding an increase in the number of border security guards, or a list of different actions being taken by border security. Do we really know that there is a correlation between increased security and an increased number of violent incidents? It has not been proven to my satisfaction. We only know about one side of the equation.

I agree. The articles lack information.

In any case, I would say that 11-12 million non-citizens coming over the border constitutes an invasion by any standard. It's not a VIOLENT invasion, but it is still an invasion... a mass incursion by foreigners on our soil constitutes invasion.

Elliot

Elliot

If you want to call it an invasion it's OK with me. If you want to dilute the meaning of the term; that's how meaning evolves. I just don't see any value in saying we are being “invaded,” because it really adds nothing that helps the problem. I do however believe it would be best to ignore bad journalism because it paints an illusion rather then reality.

The untold story is why we have the military at the border if they are simply going to retreat from a position on American soil.

What word has a better meaning that you would suggest?

Why do we need a better word, I can't imagine very many people who are not aware of the problem of illegal immigration. Hardly a day goes by that someone in the news and government is not talking about it. What's wrong with the term illegal immigration that is what it is?

I was just wondering how you would have worded what ETW had to say.

He said, “[A]n invasion by any standard. Of course this is factually not true in the first place. What would be factually true is the American government is not doing their job as well as they should. “In any case, I would say that 11-12 million non-citizens coming over the border constitutes…” a failure on the part of government.

Dennis,

Perhaps not all of our US border sections are set up the same way, but I was under the impression that our borders had or were getting a zone to them. In other words, that we build the perimeters on our countries side, but back a bit. Like a quarter mile back or so deep warning track. It would seem that if these knuckleheads are able to get close enough to throw rocks and other fire projectiles, and rocks can kill, then they are within striking distance of legal defence and should catch a bullet, all on our side of the border.



Bobby