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DATELINE LAREDO, TX: [via Pro8News, Laredo] “A convoy of three military trucks loaded with Mexican soldiers crossed into the United States from Mexico at Laredo’s Bridge #2.” It gets worse . . .

Customs & Border Patrol just let them barrel right in. Yep. CBP was on the phone with Mexican officials, trying to ascertain just what was going on, as they’d been alerted that the trucks were headed their way. Not knowing what to do (!?!?!?), they allowed the Mexican soldier-laden trucks passage into Texas.

WTH?!

Pro8 News states that CPB did not cough up this little gem of a news story. Nope. The newsies got it from the ever popular “other law enforcement agency.” (I don’t know WHICH agency, but if I had to guess, it might be one looking to deflect attention away from their own problems, no?)

Mexican officials claimed that this was a simple case of soldiers deployed to Nuevo Laredo who didn’t know the area, got lost, and made their way across the border without realizing it.

Um. Wha…? Hey, Señor…I got a great idea…since the Gringos are so clueless about borders n’ all, we could just drive right in and claim we got lost, right? By the time they figure it out, we’ll have annexed Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California!

And you wonder why Texas is busy passing it’s OWN border security legislation.

I realize that the ATF’s mission is not border security. But given the fun and games they’ve been up to lately, I think it’s entirely fair to examine how this little soirée plays from an ATF point of view. So let’s see if we can connect the dots, shall we?

Take a thoroughly-corrupt Mexican government. Add in a Mexican military, also corrupt. Add a dash of weapons allowed to go across the border by the ATF. Factor in that American LEO’s have no standing within the borders of Mexico, and if they go in armed, would be treated like any other criminal with a gun. Realize that the Americans play by the rules and will not cross the border. Then send three truckloads of armed, Mexican soldiers (!) over the border, just to see what happens.

Now it could be that this is all innocent. A mistake. Yeah. When los monos fly out of my nalgas. Right. Accident. I’m thinking of a couple more likely scenarios:

  • They were pwning the CBP, ATF, FBI, ICE, and all the other alphabet soup of LEOs, showing us how ineffective and clueless our border security really is. (As if we didn’t already know.) Yo, Gringos! ¡Usted es mi perra!
  • It was an attempt to see what would happen, testing our responses, intel to be used as needed.
  • It was an attempt to put the FUD factor (fear, uncertainty, doubt) into the locals, showing them that US law enforcement is, at best, a paper tiger, and they better show some respect to El Hombre, or else.
  • It was payback from the Federales, for leaving them in the dark over Fast ‘n Furious.
  • They’re still pissed about the Frito Bandito commercials back in the 60s. And they’ve got a bad case of the ‘munchies.’

Keep in mind, even if this WAS simply a case of Federales Gone Wild, that doesn’t make things better. It’s one thing to suspect that American border security is non-existant. It’s quite another to see it for yourself. Pay no attention to that man behind the (immigration/customs curtain) I am the Great and Powerful Oz! Um…not so much.

The more interesting question? What’s Obama, Napolitano & Co. gonna do about it? They seem to be real cozy with Calderon and the rest of the thugs-in-charge down Mehico way. Are they going to very publicly call for An Investigation To Make Sure The Offenders Are Disciplined? Are they gonna bitch-slap Calderon and tell him to shape up or forget any cooperation from us? Are they going to use this event as an opportunity for “crisis management” to divert attention away from the ATF scandal?

Um…if it’s door Numero Tres, they picked a lousy crisis to do so. Hint: usually, when you want to deflect attention, you do it by drawing the eyes of the beholders to something far, far away from the something you’re trying to cover up.

Understandably, the folks down in Laredo are none to happy about this turn of events. They know, firsthand, just what a joke border security is. But I’m guessing that none of them ever thought that they’d have to worry about the Mexican Army trodding on US soil.

So, people of Larado: ¿Cómo está ese ” esperanza y change” cosa que se resuelve para usted? Ever hear the old saw, Good fences make good neighbors? Border security is not about racism. It’s not even really about immigration. It’s about security. It’s that simple. And if we’re going to allow three truckloads of armed, Mexican soliders to just waltz right in, we have none. Or nada, as the case may be.

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21 COMMENTS

  2. I saw this story earlier and there aren’t many details, maybe someone in Laredo will comment. However, I think what happened here is that the MexiTroops blundered over the river, but had not gone past the Immigration checkpoint, which is IN the US and not THE border to the US.

    I think the pic that this news story shows is the checkpoint on the Mexican side of the border. They probably turned right around when they figured out what happened.
    Check out the google maps for Laredo and it will give you a sense for the area down there.

    But…. here’s a good training note for new Mexican recruits. If you’re headed north and you cross a big ass river….your wrong.

  3. Not all the border between the Gulf and the Pacific is a river. In Texas yes, in other places no. In Arizona, New Mixico and Califoria there where border towns that at one time had no dividing line. And know have a fence.

  4. Go easy on those poor, lost Mexican soldiers. They were just looking for Bob’s Gun Store.

  5. We (the ATF) help to smuggle 2K+ firearms to BGs in their country. They send soldiers into our country. Let’s call it a wash…

  7. True story, me and some of my college buddies went down to Laredo looking for a good time. We planned on parking this side of the border and walking across. Being lazy, we wanted to park as close to the border as possible to cut down on the walking. So we passed several commercial parking spots and suddenly found ourselves in Mexico, $hitting bricks.
    Apparently there’s a point of no return where you can’t exit or u-turn and I missed the sign. And then I had to cross. And you know what? The Mexicans just shrugged and let me through.
    So, it could have been an honest mistake. We weren’t a truckload of armed soldiers, but I guarantee the traffic down there is a nightmare of confusion. Never attribute to malice that which can be blamed on stupidity.

  8. I can’t comment on what I think should have been done w/o getting in trouble. Now where are those mine fields and machine gun emplacements?

  9. Brad, I hate to be a speelnig nazi but….
    use its, not “it’s”. “it’s” is a contraction for “it is”.
    non-existent not “non-existant”
    treading not “trodding”. Trod is past tense and cannot be combined with a present tense modifier (the proper term for that escapes me. Sister Mary Metal Ruler would be so ashamed of me.)

    • I read something, somewhere, that claimed that a study (by some group of scientists) had determined that there was zero correlation between spelling an intelligence.

      I breathed a sigh of relief. Wish I’d been smart enough to save that link. Woulda come in handy.

      I try to take care with everything I write. I really do. But there are no telethons for the spelling-impaired. No government entitlements, grants or “special cut-outs” for those of us who can’t spell their way out of a wet paper bag. And of course, don’t get me started on grammar. I’ve got at least two English teachers who, when they passed away, might as well have asked for rotisseries to be installed as an option in their respective coffins. At least it would make it easier for them to spin.

      But thanks for the ‘catches.’ It’s always humbling to know that people are actually paying attention to what I write.

  10. “Ever hear the old saw, Good fences make good neighbors? Border security is not about racism. It’s not even really about immigration. It’s about security.”

    All I know is that I want to be able to take a nude dip in a Loredo hot tub without all the “neighbors” viewing my junk. If not a fence for security, let’s at least make sure we have some privacy. Only my wife is supposed to see my junk. She doesn’t, but that’s another “immigration” issue altogether … Suffice it to say that the wife’s border security is better than our country’s.

  11. First, that is a photo of the US side of the border, not the Mexican. These guys were actually driving into the border checkpoint already in the US with three trucks full of soldiers & weapons.

    Second, there is no way to “get lost” on your way out of Mexico and into the US. This crossing is used by thousands each day and every six year old Mexican child knows the way.

    Third, something is terribly wrong here. The Border Patrol was warned that an armed incursion was on its way and did nothing. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!

    Fourth, this is not the first time (or last) this has happened. Google “Mexican Soldiers Enter US” and see what comes up. We’ve had several of these incidents here in Texas over the past few years and the border is completely porous.

    Fifth, there is very little water flowing in the Rio Grande this year. I was at the border (fully armed for my protection) last month and there was less than six inches of water between Mexico and the US in many places. I saw several “crossings” that looked suspicious and watched the Border Patrol intercept a drug transfer in one case. (We bugged out as soon as the boys in green arrived. I’m not one to stand around and get shot at.)

    I have a great deal of respect for the young men and women guarding our southern border here in Texas but they are badly understaffed at present. The interior border checkpoints have five man teams stopping cars in Texas but each agent I saw at the border in a truck was by himself. Responding to an illegal border crossing or intercepting a drug transfer is not something to attempt without proper backup but we have these agents working alone in one of the hottest zones in the world. I say again. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot?

  13. I used to collect all the Frito Bandito erasers when I was a kid, and I loved the commericals. Our so called border patrol are a bunch of useless clowns that can’t even stop unarmed civilians from getting in, so there’s no chance of them stopping the morons in the mexican army from doing as they please. I’m suprised that the cartels haven’t sent some hit squads to take out these clowns.

  14. I’m with Don – Have you ever been to that border crossing? I am assuming someone who has commented above has been there, it is friggen crazy confusing. Yeah, the LEO’s shoulda done this and they shoulda done that, blah, blah, blah, conspiracy, etc.. Last time I crossed the border there I noticed there is absolutely no place to turn around, particularly on the Nuevo Laredo side, once you are pointed in that direction you have no choice, there is no place to bail out, you have to go through the checkpoint. We made a wrong turn once on the Laredo side looking for a feed store and had to go over the bridge (with three shotguns in the back), talk about freaked out, but there was nothing we could do. Maybe its different now but this is news relevent to this site? Where’s the tin foil…?

    • Say what you like. Call me crazy. (You wouldn’t be the first.) But here’s the deal. In a former life, one of the things I did was to dabble in closeup magic. Coins. Cards. Foam balls. And one of the things I learned is that it’s much easier to figure out the trick if you watch it in reverse. Unfortunately, when it comes to things like “history,” when you’re in the moment, there’s no way to say “hey, lemme fast forward five years or so, and see if this is significant.” So what I do is to try and spot patterns in things. Look at seemingly inconsequential things and spot trends. Predict the future. It’s a crap job. If you get it right, you were “lucky.” Wrong, and you’re an idiot.

      You may think this has nothing to do with the site. Okay. Fair question. I think if we have soldiers from another nation, armed and in our country illegally, it is of interest to our readers. (Our stats, by the way, back me up.) And I think that border security is – and should be – a big focus of TTAG, largely because if we have no secured borders, sooner or later, we’re all gonna have to worry about who’s coming across the border. That will take “personal defense” to a whole new level. If you look at the horror stories coming out of our Southern border states, you have to worry. And with both Bush and Obama doing little to nothing to help the situation, you should be frustrated. Is this little incursion the start of something big? I don’t know. But if my story gets you thinking about the border, that’s a good thing. And I’d be very happy to be wrong on this one. I just don’t think I am.

      • Brad, I don’t disagree that the border is a mess, I’m just speaking from extensive backcountry experience in that area – as well as my own personal experience negotiating Laredo/Nuevo Laredo streets. It appears you see conspiracy where I (and other commenters) see a genuine f-up/mistake. I also know the “horror stories” as you call them first hand as I have family living south of the border. I still stand by my position that this is much ado about nothing, just hope you don’t kick me off the site because this is one of my favorite forums and really like the discussions that take place.

        • Gage,

          You may be right. This may just be a situation where they screwed up, got lost, and pandemonium ensued. But I maintain that, even if this WAS a simple case of Stupidity in the First Degree, that it exposed a much bigger problem – that our border security is effectively non-existant, and laid us wide open to someone (drug cartels, anyone?) taking advantage of that situation next time.

          And for the record, we don’t kick people off the site for disagreeing with us. If everybody agreed with everything we write here, this would quickly become a really boring site. To get banned here, you have to be an obnoxious, race-bating, bigoted, insufferable asshole, who won’t listen when warned to back down. From what I can see, you’ve never said anything here that would even get you so much as a stern look, much less a warning. Even when you disagree with me.

          • Gage I agree with Kozak. As long as you keep it clean and actually debate and do not name call and flame others with bad language and bigoted words RF will not ban you.

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