Sections of Mexican border called virtual war zone

By DAVE MONTGOMERY
Star-Telegram Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- State and federal law enforcement officers appeared before senators Wednesday to paint a horrific picture of life on the Southwest border, telling of violent assaults, running gunbattles, brazen cross-border incursions and threatened contract killings of U.S. officers.
The hearing, co-chaired by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., prompted calls for a border crackdown to combat what Kyl described as "bad, nasty, dangerous people."
U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar showed slides of battered agents, telling senators that his officers increasingly fall victim to attacks by assailants firing weapons, hurling rocks or pursuing the agents with vehicles. One current weapon of choice, he said, is a "Molotov rock" -- a rock wrapped in fabric then set ablaze.
Val Verde County Sheriff A. D'Wayne Jernigan, head of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said in written testimony that authorities have received information that Mexican drug rings plan to kill as many U.S. police officers as possible in an attempt to intimidate U.S. authorities.
"The drug trafficking organizations have the money, equipment and stamina to carry out their threats," Jernigan said. "They are determined to protect their illicit trade."
The Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to begin preparing a comprehensive immigration measure to present to the full Senate, possibly by the end of the month. Cornyn and Kyl are co-sponsoring one of the major bills to be considered by the committee.
The joint hearing by Cornyn's and Kyl's two subcommittees was prompted by a Jan. 23 incursion into Hudspeth County by uniformed and heavily armed gunmen. The incident fanned allegations that rogue Mexican military units are serving as escorts for drug smugglers, assertions vehemently denied by the Mexican government.
Marcy Forman, investigations director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told senators that her department is still investigating and has not determined whether the Mexican military was involved.
But Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, who attended the hearing but did not testify, said in an interview that he remains convinced that Mexican military personnel participated in the standoff.
West's deputies chased three vehicles to the border, confronting a Humvee with a machine gun and men in uniforms. "There is no doubt it was Mexican military," said West, a lifelong resident of the border area. "I've seen them all my life."
Aguilar said the Border Patrol has documented 144 incursions by Mexican government officials since 1991, but he said most appeared to be accidental. U.S. authorities have been working with Mexican officials to prevent unauthorized incursions and have reduced the rate by 50 percent over the past five years, he said.
But T.J. Bonner, a San Diego agent who heads the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' national union, said that front-line agents increasingly confront Mexican military and that he was "incredulous" that the Mexican government denied the allegations. He cited four instances since 2000 in which agents have been fired on.
Aguilar acknowledged that criminal organizations use military-style uniforms, equipment and weapons but said his agency "does not have proof" that any of the recent incidents involved Mexican government personnel.
Other law enforcement officers portrayed sections of the Southwest border as virtual war zones, where outnumbered officers almost routinely engage in confrontations with smugglers fighting to protect lucrative operations trafficking in humans and drugs.
"Today, the expected response to an attempted interdiction is to fight," said Sheriff Larry Dyer of Cochise County in Arizona. "High-speed chases on congested public highways and through populated residential areas are common."
Lavoyger Durham, manager of the El Tule Ranch in South Texas, about 75 miles north of the border, said between 200 and 300 immigrants move across his ranch property each night.
Many are job-seekers heading north but others are gang members and smugglers, who increasingly shoot at ranchers and ranch hands.
Other residents and ranch workers have been beaten and held hostage, he said.
"The stories are endless and are only getting worse," he said.
ONLINE: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, www.ice.gov