The Mexican-American border is collapsing

It looks as if the days of the old republic are numbered. The United States has been overrun by drug-running profiteers with connections in the government. Prepare yourselves America; prepare for a steep descent into tyrrany.

Texas-Mexico Border Standoff Reported
Jan 25 9:41 AM US/Eastern

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press Writer

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas

Texas law enforcement officers faced off with men dressed as Mexican Army soldiers and apparent drug suspects near the U.S.-Mexican border Tuesday, after three SUVs attempted to flee state authorities, officials said.

Andrea Simmons, an agency spokeswoman in El Paso, told The Associated Press that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased three SUVs, believing they were carrying drugs, to the banks of the Rio Grande during Monday's incident.

Men dressed in Mexican military uniforms or camouflage were on the U.S. side of the border in Texas, she said.

Simmons said the FBI was not involved and referred requests for further details to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported Tuesday that the incident included an armed standoff involving the Mexican military and suspected drug smugglers. The incident follows a story in the Bulletin on Jan. 15 that said the Mexican military had crossed into the United States more than 200 times since 1996.

In a news conference, Rick Glancey of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said three Hudspeth County deputies and at least two Texas Department of Public Safety troopers squared off against at least 10 heavily armed men from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.

U.S. officials who pursued three fleeing SUVs to the Mexican border saw what appeared to be a Mexican military Humvee help one of the SUVs when it got stuck in the river, he said.

When that didn't work, a group of men dressed in civilian clothes started unloading what appeared to be bundles of marijuana from the SUV, and the stuck vehicle was then torched, he said. A second SUV had a flat tire and was left behind in the United States and its occupant ran across the border, he said.

Glancey said he could not confirm whether the armed men seen at the site were Mexican Army, police officers, or drug dealers, and would not detail what markings deputies may have seen on the men's uniforms or the Humvee.

Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department said that Mexican army personnel had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border, the Daily Bulletin newspaper reported earlier.

"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years," Doyal said. "When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."

Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, whose officers were involved in a similar incident last year, said he is certain that Mexican authorities know who was involved.

After the newspaper reported on Mexican military crossings earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the report was overblown and most of the incursions were just mistakes.

In eastern California, Arizona and New Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico border is largely unmarked. But in Texas, the Rio Grande separates the two countries and even when dry, is a riverbed about 200 feet wide.

In November, Doyal said Border Patrol agents in the border town of Fort Hancock called for help after confronting more than six men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The men allegedly were trying to bring more than three tons of marijuana across the Rio Grande, Doyal told the newspaper.

Mexican migrants to get US maps

A Mexican government agency is to issue some 70,000 maps marking main roads and water tanks for people wanting to cross illegally into the US. The National Human Rights Commission says the maps will be aimed at cutting the death toll among migrants. US advocates of tougher border controls have criticised the move, saying it will encourage illegal immigration. Relations between the US and Mexico have cooled recently over US plans to build a fence on parts of the border. The map plan is backed by Humane Borders, a US-based organisation which operates about 70 emergency water stations near the 3,200-km (2,000-mile) border. 'Not helpful Launching the project in Mexico City, officials from Mexico's Human Rights Commission (HRC) flatly denied they were trying to encourage greater migration. "The only thing we are trying to do is warn them of the risks they face and where to get water, so they don't die," said Mauricio Farah of the HRC. But a spokesman for the US homeland security department said maps would not improve safety for those trying to cross the border. "It is not helpful for anyone, no matter how well intended they might be, to produce road maps that lead aliens into the desolate and dangerous areas along the border, and potentially invite criminal activity, human exploitation and personal risk," said Russ Knocke. Each year thousands of Mexicans breach the frontier and attempt to cross the parched Sonoran Desert. Some 500 died last year while making the journey, the HRC said. Last year the Mexican government issued comic-book style pamphlets warning of the dangers of illegal migration, while also giving advice on how to stay safe.