Mexico is angry that US Border Patrol crossed into Mexico while chasing a drug smuggler after abandoning his stuck truck containing 1 ton of marijuana in the Rio Grande. The front wheels were on the Mexico side while the back end remained on US soil.
How far into Mexico did the US Border Patrol go that has caused this outrage? "no more than 25 feet across the border," El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Robert W. Gilbert said.
The city of Juárez issued a statement "condemning that authorities from other countries enter a national territory without respect for sovereignty." City official Jorge Alvarez Compeán called for formal complaints to the US and the Mexican Attorney General is now conducting an investigation.
Of course this is not the only border incursion that has occurred. Over the last decade over 200 incidents of Mexican "law enforcement" - sometimes guarding drug shipments - crossing over the US border have been documented.
El Paso Times
The incident occurred Thursday afternoon when Border Patrol agents chased a marijuana-loaded pickup that got stuck in the Rio Grande near Fabens. Police officials from the Mexican village of Guadalupe Distrito Bravos said that when they arrived at the scene, they found the agents on the Mexican side of the river and had a brief standoff.
Jose Luis Delgado, a police officer in Guadalupe, said he and two colleagues responded to a report of an abandoned drug-laden truck with their guns drawn. "When we arrived (the U.S. agents) drew their weapons," Delgado said.
The PGR said it was told by the police officers that when they arrived at the scene, they saw about 15 Border Patrol agents, who pointed at them with rifles and were attempting to hook up the pickup to chains to pull it.
Border Patrol officials said they were investigating. They said agents retrieved 300 pounds of marijuana from the truck before Mexican officials took over.
The two smugglers in the truck got away and vanished into Mexico.
I don't blame the Border Patrol for pointing their weapons at the approaching Mexican law enforcement, on numerous occasions drug smugglers have been escorted by Mexican police and those dressed as Mexican law enforcement. How would they know that these approaching Mexican officials weren't just coming to retrieve the drugs for their cartel?
The absolute gall of the Mexican government to act outraged over this incident is ridiculous. We have millions of illegal aliens coming over the border every year, tons of drugs, people throwing rocks at our Border Patrol Agents - from the Mexican side of the border - and many incursions and now they're mad because we chased a couple drug smugglers 25 feet into their country?
It's also amazing that Mexico is actually acknowledging that there is an actual border. They haven't seemed to act like there is one for a long, long time.
Now, if there had been a border fence...
