Only On The Web: More with senior Border Patrol agent Chris Van Wagenen. 
Reply With Quotewhy doesn't the mexican govt assign their own border patroller ? Seems like there's only reports of US border agents patrolling BOTH sides of the border. Not sure if they're having trouble with equip supplies if they can't boost manpower
Border Patrol Agents Under Attack
Border Patrol Agents Under Attack
YUMA, Ariz., April 9, 2007
President Bush tours the fences along the U.S.-Mexico border in Yuma, Ariz,, on April 9, 2007. Border Patrol agents in the Yuma area have come under increasing attack. (AP)
Video>>http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_vi...ml?id=2666129n
(CBS) Along the desert stretch where Arizona and Mexico meet, there's more flying in the air than just dust. There are rocks flying back and forth toward the border agents, CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports.
It's part of a nightly bombardment of Border Patrol vehicles and agents all along the southwestern border.
Chris Van Wagenen, a senior patrol agent, says "it's mostly going to be smugglers, guides, gangbangers basically. People who make money off of this.
"This" means smuggling people and drugs into the U.S. It's gotten a lot harder to cross the border, and smugglers are reacting to more fences and more agents with more violence.
"They believe, almost like a terrorist, 'we're going to intimidate you and hurt you until you back off,'" Van Wagenen says.
Quote
"They believe, almost like a terrorist, we're going to intimidate you and hurt you until you back off."
Chris Van Wagenen, patrol agent
Assaults against agents in the Yuma sector have shot up to 126 in the first six months of this fiscal year. That's approaching the number of assaults all last year.
Agent Ben Vick was lucky he was wearing a helmet when this brick hit his head.
"I looked down and though, 'Oh, that's what hit me.' Because before that, I had no idea. It was just such a huge blow," Vick says.
With cameras mounted on Agent Vick's vehicle, CBS News set out to see what happens just after dark. A rock quickly hit the car.
"It gives you an idea of what we have to deal with down here. Things being thrown over the fence — heavy things," Vick says.
The Mexican side of the border looks more like a back alley than an international boundary. There's plenty of ammunition for anyone who wants to attack an agent on the other side, and the people who live there say police rarely patrol.
Without more help from Mexico, all agents can do is patrol the border in "war wagons," with windows shielded by steel. The way they see it, as long as there are people desperate to cross into the U.S., there will be smugglers willing to do anything to keep their business.
why doesn't the mexican govt assign their own border patroller ? Seems like there's only reports of US border agents patrolling BOTH sides of the border. Not sure if they're having trouble with equip supplies if they can't boost manpower
They do not want to stop this infiltration. If they did they would have to take care of all these yayhoos and start adderssing all the problems in their country that drives these people north. Why else would they condone free maps, compases, shuttle buses to the border, etc... It's cheaper and more lucrative to expidite the flood of illegals.Originally Posted by deagle
The Border patrol are now runing into Mexican Army units running drugs across the border with the type of firepower they can't respond to.
This is a growing problem that needs to be addressed immediately. But it won't. Its the one issue that, deep down, there is no partisan divide. Its an issue that neither party, or government, wants to touch because they both benefit from it. Democrats want them here for the votes. Republicans want them here for the cheap labor. Mexico benefits from the money shipped into its country.
Good post, I would like to add that this is a necessary step for any developed country. When Europe's fertility rate went and hunger and scarcity cam as a result, Europians went to south africa, australia, new zeeland and america. New countries have to go to already populated places...
Its like someone said before, America is Mexicos welfare plan for its citizens.
America won't be America for long. As Reagan said, "Any nation that can't defend it's borders, is no longer a nation."
We need a dedicated, armed, secretive, illegal, private militia down there, dropping ambushes on the fence jumpers, until the US govt decides it needs to protect the illegals by stopping them from coming in, thereby effectively having the border closed under the guise of protecting the illegal aliens, not stopping their entry. Left and Right will be happy......
That's it in a nutshell we are being sold out all around by our pols.
Whatever you think the bottomline is a populist movement by the Minutemen is driving the pols slowly but surely to pay attention.
Mexican Border patrol does exist. In talking with several migrants here in the US, its a cat and mouse game being caught in the middle. If Mexican Border patrol is chasing you and US Border Patrol is in position to arrest you, go to the lessor of two evils and head towards the US Border Patrol. (Better Treatment).
Migrants have told me that most hire a "coyote" with desired connections with both Mexican and US Customs/Border Patrol. (At a hefty price). Many expressed regret of the border crackdown because it forces them to stay in the US for a prolonged period, establishing roots and getting married with US nationals. In the past, many have migrated back and forth keeping family ties and providing durable goods (i.e. pickup truck full of goodies every Christmas).
Ideally, many would like to live in Mexico and commute to San Diego, El Centro, Tucson, and El Paso on a daily basis. This way they enjoy a higher standard of living in Mexico (education, medical, home ownership) while earning US wages. As in the case with an estimated 40,000-50,000 Tijuana residents working in San Diego legally.
Side note: Pelosi has said to Bush, that immigration reform will pass if the President can first deliver 70 Republican votes. Let's see how much "capital" the president has leftover from the 2004 elections.
The mexican government will not deploy extra law enforcement along the US border anytime soon. There is too much corruption within the government there to actually be able to field a viable police force on the border.
An easier way to put it would be too many politics involved
I will say it is a sad state of affairs when on the US side we have the president down inspecting the borders, the US attorney general Gonzales firing US district attorneys for doing their jobs, the new fedral prosecuters in office prosecuting US border patrol agents and local law enforcement for doing their jobs, american military patrolling the border that are not allowed to fire back, and our wonderful democratic and republican politicians up there in washington making all sorts of money from the crime being imported into this country, and last but not least, a large illegal immigrant population that is allowed to manipulate the american justice and political system......what is there not to be fixed?
Dems and Reps profit too much from the illegals. If they wanted a change they would have done something long ago.
The president is "down there" as a means to demonstrate to the hardliners that tough enforcement is a reality and to get on-board with immigration reform. Keep in mind that Pelosi has told the president that he needs to come up with 70 republican votes before the dems could sign off.
There was a poll result today that the majority of Californians favor immigration reform. I'll see if I could dig up the source.
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