Mexican incursions inflame border situation
House panel told of shootings by gunmen in Mexican military uniforms
By Brock N. Meeks
Chief Washington correspondent
MSNBC
updated 9:33 p.m. ET, Tues., Feb. 7, 2006
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An incident last month in Hudspeth County, Texas, along the border east of El Paso
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On Jan. 23, a group of Texas deputy sheriffs, acting on a tip, intercepted a group of drug smugglers
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When confronted by the deputies, the drug smugglers raced back across the border while men in Mexican military uniforms, driving a Humvee, “took up a defensive position” that Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West described as a "military maneuver."
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Nothing unusual
Mexican soldiers caught inside U.S. boundaries “isn’t a new phenomenon,” said David Aguilar, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. Although the Mexican military has an “internal policy” that states they won’t operate within about two miles of the U.S., that policy is routinely violated or simply ignored, he said. “We often spot them” near or inside U.S. borders, Aguilar said.
And on several occasions the U.S. has chased, apprehended and even detained members of the Mexican military, Aguilar said during his testimony. However, the U.S. has no concrete evidence that the Mexican military is in any way involved in drug smuggling, Aguilar was quick to point out.
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