Posted on 04/24/2019 4:27:34 AM PDT by gattaca
The Mexican government is powerless to control the cartels at our border. But somehow when it comes to belligerently confronting our own soldiers on our own soil, the Mexicans seem to muster the personnel and temerity to defend their side of the border. Moreover, they apparently have the unbridled impudence to complain about armed American citizens defending our border, while they have permanently transformed our country in the worst way imaginable through their disrespect of our sovereignty. This is clearly no longer about immigration, but about a pure invasion that requires a military buildup.
On April 13, at around 2 p.m. Central Time, a group of five or six suspected Mexican soldiers approached an unmarked vehicle of two U.S. soldiers stationed at the border in El Paso County, Texas, and ordered them out of the vehicle. According to Newsweek, which obtained the serious incident report, the soldiers were in fact active duty members of B Battery, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, not from a National Guard unit. The Mexican soldiers disarmed one of the U.S. soldiers and placed his sideaerm in the U.S. vehicle.
While the soldiers were parked south of the border fence near Clint, Texas, they were north of the Rio Grande riverbed, which placed them appropriately in U.S. territory, according to Maj. Mark Lazane, a spokesman for NORTHCOM. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Defense (DOD), after inquiring of the Mexican government, were informed that the Mexican soldiers thought that the Americans were south of the border. Throughout the incident, the U.S. soldiers followed all established procedures and protocols, according to NORTHCOM.
NORTHCOM confirmed that there are approximately 2,800 service members assigned to the border mission. This includes approximately 1,200 on the Mobile Surveillance Camera mission, plus about 1,000 service members hardening ports of entry in Texas and New Mexico. There are approximately 200 personnel as part of a crisis response force, with the remainder being headquarters and logistics personnel supporting the mission.
When I asked both NORTHCOM and the State Department if our government had conveyed our concerns to Mexico and asked for an apology, both departments declined to comment.
Zach Taylor, a retired 26-year veteran of the Border Patrol who has formed a group of retired border agents to better educate the public on the border, told CR that he is convinced these Mexican soldiers were making a political statement. At the reported location the Rio Grande River is distinct and easily identified in relation to the actual international boundary, asserted Taylor, who still lives near the border in Arizona. That one of the supposed Mexican soldiers took one sidearm from an American and put it in the American vehicle is curious, as if the Mexicans knew exactly who they encountered, where they were encountered, and were simply making a statement. What the purpose of that statement was is open to broad speculation, but on the face of it, this was probably political as in showing that to Mexico, borders mean nothing. Taylor confirmed that he regularly saw this behavior during his time in the Border Patrol.
We have tens of thousands of soldiers stationed in other parts of the world fully equipped for war and with at least manageable rules of engagement. Why are the soldiers at our own border too few, so lightly armed, and seeking to de-escalate a potentially volatile situation of Mexican aggression rather than deterring it?
What is particularly disturbing about this incident is that one could defend Mexicos powerless response to this border crisis and the robust cartel and smuggler activity as a lack of resources to secure its own border from non-state actors. But why is it that the Mexican government suddenly has the ability to cross into our own country and detain our own personnel, but is seemingly powerless to deal with the cartels on its own side of the border?
What is also disturbing is the lackluster response from our own government, juxtaposed to its aggressive posture against private militia groups seeking to secure our border. Our government refuses to hold the line at the border and defend the ranches from cartel activity by placing the military there in meaningful numbers and with a heavy deterrent. They certainly are not deterring the migrants. Just last week, 12,500 more illegals were released into our country with no regard for the public charge, safety concerns, or potential contagious diseases. That is literally the number one job of our federal government, as distinct from a state government. While nobody wants to see vigilantes patrolling our border, they are clearly not the problem, but a symptom of the lack of government control over our sovereignty.
Yet it appears that the FBI has arrested a leader of one New Mexico militia that recently detained a group of illegal immigrants until Border Patrol was able to get to the scene. On Saturday, the FBI arrested Larry Hopkins, the national commander of the United Constitutional Patriots, on firearms charges two days after the ACLU complained about the presence of this group at Sunland Park, New Mexico. According to Reuters, this is a group of mainly military veterans who have detained as many as 5,600 aliens until Border Patrol was able to arrive.
Why is it that our government, which appears unable or unwilling to deal with Mexican aggression, the cartels, or illegal immigration, is suddenly pursuing a zero-tolerance policy for American militias seeking to do a job the federal government wont do? Failing to secure our borders is a breach of the social contract of government, as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, and if there is anything that would ever justify the citizenry to take action, it is this issue. Its not something we want to see, but where is our own government in dealing with the problem?
Mexicos Foreign Relations Ministry expressed its deep concern that these militia groups would drive human rights abuses of people who migrate or request asylum or refuge in the United States. Thats a pretty rich statement from a government that evidently refuses to apologize for stepping on our soil and detaining our own soldiers.
Its also self-evident from this statement that Mexico, rather than working with us to stop this bogus asylum-seeking, is helping encourage it.
The president would be wise to announce a buildup of the military in Texas and New Mexico and change the rules of engagement. He should also renegotiate NAFTA while making border and immigration issues the main sticking points.
If our government would only go after those violating our sovereignty with as much rigor as they do those American veterans trying to defend it, justifiably or not, this entire issue would go away. As Trump often says, either we are a country, or we are not.
Government response:?
Kind of reminds me of when Russia solders were stealing weapons and vehicles from our troops after WWII.
We just let them have them.
Government response: Have the FBI arrest men defending the border because the federal and state governments refuse to do so...
Their action was clearly a litmus test of our resolve and I’m sure additional penetration tests will be forthcoming if a firm response isn’t provided in kind. Closing the border would send a clear message, politically, to Mexico that we are willing to escalate our responses to any further attempts.
Why are Mexican soldiers on the US border? Were they really Mexican soldiers?
Dunno what the answer is. At this point. Satan's plan for America has unfolded in unbelievable steps these past 50 years. Now, it's accelerating.
This is a perspective I had overlooked, and it is quite prescient: Remember how the Mexican authorities were overly-eager to prosecute Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi for accidentally taking a firearm into Mexico?
Either the Mexican soldiers knew they were in the U.S., or they were not truly Mexican soldiers.
After all, CBP surveillance has captured video of armed men dressed in tactical gear escorting illegal aliens over the border.
Regardless, our military needs to change its engagement protocol ... at the very least, have Air Cavalry on the standby at all times.
One should be more than concerned with how many terrorists (of the muzzie kind) that want to destroy America, are flowing in past the border unchecked and released with the horde of Mexicans and Central Americans into the US.
What government response?
<Ted Kennedy voice>
"Er, ah...I think Mistah Horrorwish meant to use the word er, ah...'vigah'"
</Ted Kennedy voice>
Another caravan is on the way. Our keadership is encouraging these by doing nothing to stop it.
Why won’t Trump close the border and make it deadly to cross?
And everybody in the upper levels of government, including the White House, is aware of this. Yet, again, NOBODY is addressing that issue.
Maybe President Trump wins a second term. Maybe he wins by a landslide. Maybe he loses. IF he loses, it will be because he has taken no definitive steps to definitively secure our borders AND remove foreigners from our country. And if he doesn't do so, sadly, there is no one who will.
We're like the middle class crackers in Britain, viz. we're watching our beloved country go up in flames and there's nothing we can do.
That’s a good question. Read my post directly below yours.
They should have taken the Mexican soldiers into custody. Taken their names, etc., and put them on a “persona non grata” list and then turned them over to the Mexicans at the furthest point of entry possible.
"While they were wearing uniforms, those we not genuine Mexican troops. They were armed thugs working for the Cartels --enemies of bot the US and Mexico."
And they will simply wash their hands of the matter.
George Bush told our National Guardsmen, "If while manning a border outpost you are approached by cartelistas, simply RUN into the expanse of the desert..."
Is Trump any better..?
We will find out.
For the sake of 2020, I hope the answer is yes because it will affect votes.
The lion has no teeth
I just don’t understand why Trump even bothered to make empty threats at all since nothings changed and things have gotten worse. Hope he isn’t using this JUST to get re-elected.
But now that he's in, he wants what every president wants. He wants what every administration wants more than anything: a second term.
Maybe he campaigned as a businessman but has been transformed into a politician.
Don't get me wrong. I like the other things he's done. Trade. Business. But he sure got our hopes up about the border, didn't he? Mebbe he's pulling another Jorge Busho?
Obviously the destruction of the USA as founded is the goal. The left is very close to accomplishing this and the border is the main issue. If they can overwhelm us with third worlders who have no concept of a “rule of law for everyone” they will replace it with a kleptocracy of elites.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.