Posted on 03/21/2008 4:41:11 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Mexican Police Chief Requests US Asylum Mar 21 07:26 PM US/Eastern By MARK EVANS Associated Press Writer ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The police chief of a Mexican border town racked by smuggling-related violence fled to the U.S. seeking asylum after his deputies abandoned him, federal officials said Friday.
Emilio Perez, the chief of Palomas, Mexico, showed up at the international port of entry in Columbus, N.M., late Tuesday, saying his two deputies had left the department and that he now needed protection, too, according to Doug Mosier, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman in El Paso.
Perez was taken in and was believed to be in custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday, according to Mosier. Letitia Zamarripa, an ICE spokeswoman, declined to comment on the case, citing privacy issues.
"This is a little off the beaten path, I haven't seen this before," Mosier said. "(But) with the escalating violence in Palomas, we understand why this individual sought asylum."
Perez's village, just south of the border with New Mexico, was once a relatively quiet town. But violence has increased in the last few years, as it has elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border, and appears to have spiked of late.
On Thursday, the bodies of two people were found wrapped in blankets and dumped along a road near Palomas, and several other people were seen taken hostage over the past few days by heavily armed men, the newspaper El Diario of Juarez, Mexico, reported Friday.
Last month, two men were gunned down at a gas station near the international checkpoint, officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Mexico appears to be falling apart like a K-Mart shirt.
Fences? We don’t need no stinking fences!
Nice country we have to our south. 5,000 years of history to achieve total corruption.
I think a little border excursion ala Pershing/Patton would clean up Palomas. The druggies are already violating the border and shooting at the Border Patrol.
Oh the sad irony - he probably could’ve just sneaked across the border. Instead he came over asking for asylum, which will probably be denied, causing him to get deported where he may then be killed by drug gangs.
I hope we can help save the man’s life, at least.
Isn’t it great to know that there is not an ounce of political leadership at the upper reaches of both parties where the fundamental, existential matter of US borders is concerned. Ain’t it grand?
And, of course, in the context of the current presidential race, well, there is nothing at issue or being debated. Mums the word.
I went with my wife (shes a huge Obamist) to the Steve Earle concert in Seattle last Tues night - after singing his obligatory protest number he comments how great it is that so many interesting characters inhabit NY (where he lives when not touring) and that borders are just lines on a map. Wonder what he and his revoutionary anarchist friends
would think of his neighborhood becoming a shooting gallery like Paloma?
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