Expert: Mexican Military Incursions into US 'Not Rare'

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) revealed in a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, an incident that occurred along the U.S./Mexico border in which two men in what appeared to be Mexican military uniforms and who were heavily armed, were found on the U.S. side of the border by a lone U.S. Border Patrol agent.  According to the account of the Border Patrol, the two men identified themselves as belonging to the 80^th Battalion of the Mexican Army and admitted they had crossed the border in pursuit of three suspects in the area.

When the Border Patrol agent first made contact, the two alleged soldiers drew their weapons, H&K G3 7.62 caliber automatic assault rifles, and confronted the agent.  After the agent identified himself, the situation “apparently cooled off” according to Coburn’s letter.  After additional Border Patrol agents arrived on scene, the two individuals, who’s name tapes did not match the names they gave the agent, retreated back across the border.

BuzzFeed.com stated in an article this week by John Stanton, “Both Mexican and U.S. border agents have crossed over the border in this area, pursuing suspects. But according to officials familiar with the situation, border crossings by members of either military are rare.”

Breitbart Texas border security expert, Contributing Editor Sylvia Longmire disagrees with that assessment.  Unfortunately,” Longmire explained, “Mexican military incursions across the southwest border into the United States aren’t rare at all, and they happen both by soldiers on foot and by military helicopters.”

She cites Congressional testimony reported by NBC News in February, 2006, that stated, “armed men in Mexican military uniforms have illegally crossed into the United States to provide cover for drug smugglers, and have fired upon U.S. Border Patrol agents on several occasions.”  In that article, U.S. Border Patrol Union President T.J. Bonner detailed three incidents in with U.S. agents were chased and fired upon by people he characterized as “Mexican soldiers” operating inside U.S. Borders.

Longmire cited several other examples of potential military incursions into the United States. “In March 2010, a ‘Mexican military helicopter was photographed by a Texas sheriff…flying over a residential neighborhood at least a mile into the American side of the Rio Grande,'” Longmire explained quoting an article from Judicial Watch.

She further cited an article in TheBlaze that reported a south Texas news station’s, KRGV, account of filming what appeared to be a military truck crossing into Texas with armed men “who conducted a brief vehicle check before making a U-turn and heading back to Mexico.”

As recently as January 2013, KRGV “once again documented a possible Mexican military helicopter incursion into south Texas,” Longmire said. “This may be chalked up as a “we didn’t know” thing since the international boundary is invisible, but with GPS technology being what it is, this kind of excuse is unacceptable.”

Breitbart Texas reached out to Sen. Coburn’s office to determine if the U.S. Border Patrol has responded to his letter.

The Senator had set February 3^rd as a deadline for a response from the U.S. Border Patrol. Sen. Coburn’s office has not responded to Breitbart Texas’ inquiry as of this posting.