AZMEX Guard 31-1-07

Guard stayed at post in rock attack
Sunday incident is second involving threat to soldiers assisting on
border
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.31.2007
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Armed National Guard soldiers who were attacked with rocks by unknown
assailants Sunday night at an observation post south of Sells took
cover but did not leave their post, Border Patrol officials said
Tuesday.
The incident is the second perilous encounter for a National Guard
entrance-identification team in the past month on the Arizona-Mexico
border. On Jan. 3, a group of men, including at least one carrying an
AK-47, approached four Tennessee Guardsmen at a post east of Sasabe
forcing them to vacate the post and move back. No shots were fired
and nobody was hurt.
No one suffered injuries in the latest encounter either. Two windows
were broken in a vacant, parked National Guard vehicle, said Jesús
Rodriguez, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. Officials aren't
yet sure if the men were in the United States or Mexico when they
threw the rocks, how many there were and if they had any weapons, he
said.
The Arizona National Guard will assign an officer to investigate what
happened as it does with any incident in which its soldiers faced
potential danger, said Maj. Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona
National Guard. But it's important keep it in context, he said.
"There was nothing more remarkable than a couple of windows being
broken out," Aguirre said.
Rock throwings are fairly commonplace for Border Patrol agents but
Sunday's assault marked the first time it happened to Guardsmen,
Rodriguez said. They usually occur in places such as Nogales, Douglas
and Naco where steel, landing-mat fences mark the border line. It's
rare for a rock throwing to occur in a remote desert area like the
one where it took place Sunday night, a few hundred feet north of the
border on the Tohono O'odham Reservation south of Sells.
With as many as 80 entrance-identification teams along the border in
visible posts to serve as deterrents, both Aguirre and Rodriguez
agreed the assaults will likely continue.
"I think the longer we are involved in the mission there is a greater
possibility that incidents like this will take place," Aguirre said.
The Guard has been on the border since June. In addition to serving
as additional eyes and ears for the Border Patrol in the entrance-
identification teams, they provide air support; repair vehicles,
fences and roads; erect vehicle barriers; and work in offices and
camera rooms.
There are 2,183 National Guard troops in Arizona as part of the
mission, 492 of whom are Arizona guardsmen, said Maj. Gen. David
Rataczak, the commander of the Arizona National Guard. The two-year
mission is expected to cost $1.2 billion, he said.
The two January encounters have opened the eyes of the Guard
soldiers, Rodriguez said.
"The Guard members now know what's happening," Rodriguez said. "The
alert level is going to be higher now."
● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or
bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

Border op pt 8

Border News
Guard chief commends soldiers' reactions
Another post, near Sells, attacked Sunday with rocks
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.30.2007
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PHOENIX — The commander of the Arizona National Guard told lawmakers
Monday that the incident between armed men and soldiers near the
border earlier this month was nothing more than a chance encounter.
Maj. Gen. David Rataczak spoke before a House committee the day after
another incident was reported involving National Guard soldiers
southwest of Tucson.
On Sunday night, assailants with rocks attacked a Guard observation
post south of Sells forcing the soldiers, who were armed, to seek
cover and notify Border Patrol agents.
Sunday's incident didn't involve any guns and no one was injured, but
the rocks smashed two windows on a National Guard truck, said Jesús
Rodriguez, a Border Patrol spokesman.
"They moved away for better cover and concealment, to reconsolidate
and to reassess the threat," he said of the soldiers.
The number of assailants and the number of soldiers involved wasn't
released.
Border Patrol agents were unable to find the individuals. It's
believed they returned to Mexico, Rod-riguez said.
Guard officials couldn't be reached for comment on the latest encounter.
The incident was not discussed at Monday's committee hearing in
Phoenix where Rataczak defended the actions of the four Tennessee
Guardsmen in the Jan. 3 incident.
"I cannot overstate how much restraint it takes if you are standing
in the middle of the desert all by yourself and somebody is looking
at you carrying an automatic weapon," he said. "I commend these
officers for not taking a more aggressive posture and for not
creating a potentially international incident."
The Guard is in the middle of a two-year commitment to support the
U.S. Border Patrol as part of President Bush's Operation Jumpstart.
And with as many as 80 observation sites along the Arizona-Mexican
border, the debate surrounding the Guard's role doesn't figure to go
away anytime soon.
"It appears to me that we are tying the hands of the men and women at
the border," said Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, committee chairman
who organized the hearing. "They basically have to be fired on to
return fire and that concerns me."
Rataczak spent the afternoon answering questions from members of the
House Homeland Security and Private Property Rights Committee who
grilled him for nearly two hours about what happened during the Jan.
3 encounter near Sasabe, the rules of force and the future of the
Guard on the border.
"It was a chance encounter," said Rataczak. "It was not an attempt to
probe the National Guard to find out what we would do."
Rataczak's details of the incident didn't completely match previous
accounts.
Contrary to a summary of the encounter written by the National Guard
Bureau legislative liaison, Rataczak said the Guardsmen were not
surrounded by armed men and that they aren't sure how many men —
they think between three and five — were in the group and if they
were all armed.
The liaison statement said six to eight armed men surrounded the
soldiers at one point.
The soldiers first saw a man carrying an AK-47 from about 700 yards
away. That man confronted a Guardsman from about 16 yards away, he
said. Neither raised his weapon and no words were exchanged.
Rataczak said the group was heading south when it came upon the post.
"We think they were going south back across the border with money,
didn't want to be confronted, didn't want to get in any kind of
hassle with the National Guard," he said.
The four Guardsmen had infantry training and two had been in Iraq, he
said. National Guard soldiers working the entrance-identification
team sites are given three ammunition magazines each with 30 rounds,
he said.
One aspect of the story that didn't change from the liaison summary
was the Guard's insistence that its men handled the situation
perfectly and that they didn't flee or retreat, but rather
repositioned themselves.
"If you flee a site, to me that's an unplanned action that you do out
of fear, that's the connotation that flee has to me," Rataczak said.
"If you leave a site and go to an alternate location it means I have
a plan if I feel threatened."
The members spent much of the time repeating one basic question, "At
what point can your soldiers defend themselves?"
He declined to get into hypothetical situations but told them the use
of force is on a case-by-case basis, and that they have to trust the
judgment of the highly trained Guardsmen. "They have a loaded M-16,
and if they choose to use it that's their choice."
When questioned about why their post was facing north, he said he,
too, wondered about that but said Border Patrol officials decide the
location and direction of the post.
When asked why the Guardsman didn't try to order the armed man to the
ground, he said the armed man was not aggressive and looked like he
wanted to get out of there.
For some members of the committee, the meeting was largely a waste of
time.
It was an unnecessary meeting organized only for his colleagues to
try to dictate the rules of engagement, which isn't the state's
responsibility, said Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix.
"There really is no question to talk about," he said. "This is not a
state issue, this is a federal issue. They are on a federal mission,
being paid for by the federal government."
There are dozens of National Guard observation teams along the
Mexican border, including east and west of both Nogales and Sasabe
and on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The troops stand guard on hilltops
next to Army tents and serve as extra eyes and ears for the Border
Patrol.
Do you approve of how National Guard troops handled a confrontation
on the border with armed crossers? www.azstarnet.com/border
● Star reporter Dale Quinn contributed to this story. Contact Brady
McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

Border op pt 7

Guard tries to reassure lawmakers
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
January 30, 2007
The head of the Arizona National Guard on Tuesday told lawmakers that
four soldiers did the right thing when they backed away from their
post earlier this month when confronted by gun-toting border crossers.
Related Links
News
Arizona Border Issues

"Our Guardsmen follow the procedures they were told to do," Maj. Gen.
David Rataczak told members of the House Committee on Homeland
Security and Property Rights. "They followed the SOP (standard
operating procedures) to the letter of the law."

Arizona lawmakers called the hearing in response to an incident on
Jan. 3 in which four National Guard troops from Tennessee left a
lookout post at the border after being approached by four to six gunmen.

The soldiers pulled back and contacted Border Patrol agents, who
tracked the armed men back to the border but didn't find them.

Rataczak said the troops had loaded weapons that they could have used
if fired upon. But the rules of engagement set out by the U.S.
Department of Defense prohibit soldiers from chasing or apprehending
border crossers.

Those rules are part of Operation Jump Start, last year's plan by
President Bush to send Guard units to the border as a short-term
stopgap while more Border Patrol officers can be hired.

But Rataczak's explanation provided little comfort to legislators who
questioned him for several hours.

The legislators argued that the nearly 2,200 Guard troops now in
Southern Arizona should be free to apprehend illegal crossers.

"I believe the National Guard are there basically as a window
dressing," said Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Chandler. "They're not able to
do anything."

Nichols said lawmakers voted last year to spend $10 million to put
Arizona Guard troops along the border in a more active role — a bill
that was vetoed by Gov. Janet Napolitano because she said it
infringed on her right as the state Guard's commander in chief.

Nichols said Bush and his administration share the blame.

"They've failed us in this area, too," he said.

While the hearing cannot change the rules of engagement for Operation
Jumpstart, Nichols said they may help renew efforts to have Arizona
Guard soldiers along the border in a more active role.

Rataczak, however, said that would militarize the border.

"We are not at war with Mexico," he said. "They are our friends."

He also said the soldiers did not actually abandon their post, saying
they kept the site — and the equipment there — under scrutiny. And
the general said the intruders never overran the site.

In fact, Rataczak told the legislators that the whole incident has
been overblown, calling it "a chance encounter."

He said the men, who were coming from the north, likely were drug
runners who had delivered their cargo and were headed back into
Mexico with their cash.

Rataczak said they tripped across the Guard site but were not anxious
to confront them, if for no other reason than being apprehended and
then having to explain to the drug lords in Mexico what happened to
the money.

Border truths 28-1-07

Border 'TRUTHS' PEDDLED BY ALL SIDES
New Congress provides impetus
Groups jockey in a daily derby for attention, money, credibility
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.28.2007
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COCHISE COUNTY — On a frigid night 100 yards north of the Arizona-
Mexico border west of the San Pedro River, Michael King sits on a
couch inside a small house maneuvering a video-game controller as he
stares intently at a TV screen.
Black and white thermal images fill the screen as King pushes and
taps buttons, slides an adjuster and navigates the joypad. The goal:
find white figures moving north and call the Border Patrol.
This $85,000 camera system is the newest tool of the American Border
Patrol, a five-person team building its own virtual fence of
airplanes, cameras, sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles on land next
to the San Pedro River in Cochise County to show the Border Patrol
how it's done. Two to three times a week, president and founder Glenn
Spencer posts videos on the organization's Web site of illegal
entrants and drug smugglers that technical director King spotted and
reported.
" 'Surge' in Southeastern Arizona — Flood of Drugs/People Follows
End of Freeze," reads the headline above the link to the most recent
video of drug "mules" heading back to Mexico after reportedly being
frightened off by the American Border Patrol.
"Our job is to tell the truth about the border," said Spencer, who
moved to Arizona from California and founded the organization in
2002. "The American people have to know the truth so they can make
sound judgments."
In Southern Arizona, that truth depends on who's at the podium.
From Cochise County to the streets of Tucson, a host of immigrants'
rights and anti-illegal-immigrant groups work diligently to convince
people of the veracity of their truth.
They send e-mails; update Web sites with pictures, videos and links;
organize press conferences, meetings and protests; fundraise; travel
to Phoenix and Washington, D.C., to lobby legislators; carry out
patrols; and build fences.
With a new Democratic-controlled Congress and what analysts are
calling a tight, six-month window for immigration reform, both sides
are refining their strategies to stay on the front pages, in the
public consciousness, and in legislators' minds.
"We are investing a lot of resources and energy into impacting this
debate," said Jennifer Allen, director of Tucson-based Border Action
Network.
The organization has evolved from a local, volunteer-run outfit that
sprang up in 1999 to one that today focuses on influencing
immigration policy.
While they'll continue to maintain contact with local immigrant
communities, they'll spend much of 2007 in Washington, D.C.,
participating in networks, alliances and delegations working toward
immigration change. Such change includes a path to legalization for
those already here, and responsible border security, Allen said.
"Our communities are not against border security, they are not open
border communities," Allen said. "We are not an open border
organization."
Humane Borders and its volunteers from around the country won't
change any of their tactics with the new Congress, said founder Rev.
Robin Hoover. They'll continue to refill and service their 84 blue
water tanks throughout the Arizona desert in an effort to save lives.
They also will network with U.S. and Mexican officials to advocate
for immigration reform that includes an expanded program to bring in
necessary workers legally, he said.
"If you have comprehensive immigration reform, then you might begin
to have adequate resources for national security," Hoover said.
On March 26-30, Humane Borders will host the "International
Conference on the Migrant."
The Coalición de Derechos Humanos will focus on keeping border-
security measures out of immigration bills, said co-chair Isabel
Garcia. They'll travel to Phoenix and Washington, D.C., and take part
in coalitions, such as the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee
Rights, to pound home that message.
The group has divorced itself from what comprehensive reform has
become and is willing to butt heads with immigrants' rights
organizations that compromised to accept border enforcements, she said.
"To the immigrants' rights lobby and the Democrats and Mexico, we say
to them: Your strategy is an absolute failure," Garcia said. "What
did you get? Did you get amnesty for one person? You got a big fat
zero."
Anti-illegal-immigrant groups will focus on border security.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is erecting a nearly one-mile fence
east of Naco, expected to cost $650,000, that will serve as a small
barrier and large symbol of the porous borders. Members will be
meeting with state and federal legislators to persuade them to vote
down anything resembling amnesty, said Al Garza, executive director.
"Our political arena right now is something that should be a
concern," Garza said. "They are talking a lot about amnesty. We did
this in 1986 and that's why we are in the position we are in."
Arizonans for Immigration Control will continue to do what they've
been doing for 20 years — sending out newsletters and organizing
monthly meetings. Their objectives are the same: educate people about
the problems of illegal immigration and support the efforts of Border
Patrol, said Wes Bramhall, founder and president.
"Our only objective is to try to keep our country the way it is for
the next generation," said Bramhall, 85. "My own personal opinion is,
one nation, undivided, one language. We don't want to be torn apart,
which, if we continue the way it is now, in another generation you
are not going to know this country."
Rifts and turmoil exist between all the groups who engage in the
daily derby for attention, money and credibility.
Immigrants' rights organizations commonly refer to anti-illegal-
immigrant groups as "vigilantes" and scoff at the media attention
given to them and their influence in Washington, D.C.
They are grandstanders that are fat on rhetoric and skinny on
substance, Humane Borders founder Hoover said.
"They have simplified down to fear-inducing sound bites an incredibly
complex political, social and economic dynamic," Border Action
Network director Allen said.
On the other side, anti-illegal-immigrant groups criticize their
rivals' misguided work. Ensuring the safety of illegal entrants is
important, but so is the sovereignty of the nation, American Border
Patrol founder Spencer said.
Bramhall took it a step further: "A lot of those people don't know
what country they live in."
And even though the organizations can generally be divided into two
sides, chasms and divisions exist among them as well.
Take for example, the way Hoover and Garcia handled the human-rights
awards given to them by the Mexican Human Rights Commission in December.
Hoover accepted it and attended the ceremony where new President
Felipe Calderón gave him his medal. Hoover was extremely honored and
didn't consider boycotting, he said.
Garcia, on the other hand, refused to attend the awards ceremony
after Mexican officials told her she would not be allowed to speak,
despite earlier assurances. She had planned to denounce the effects
of border enforcement by the United States, and the Mexican
government's complicity in the deaths of thousands of migrants.
Spencer used to support the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, but he
calls their fence a waste of time and money and a gimmick to raise
money. The original Minutemen have broken up into numerous groups
across the country with separate leaders and agendas.
In the end, the multitude of ideas and proposals cover the gamut.
"It's sort of like the market-place of ideas," said Spencer, who
first got involved in the debate in the early 1990s. "Different
people propose different things and it's up to the public to evaluate
each of these proposals."
The flurry of e-mails, protests and sound bites seems likely to rage on.
King, Spencer and the rest of the American Border Patrol crew will
continue to test the components of their virtual fence and look for
illegal border crossers with their high-tech camera. When it stopped
working on a recent night, they vowed to find out what was wrong.
"You can't give up," Spencer said. "What's plan B? Leave this open
and let in the whole world?"
● Contact Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

WT Border editorial 20-1-07

Misplaced border priorities

TODAY'S EDITORIAL

January 20, 2007

The way the prosecution was carried out -- the lengths that our government has gone through to prosecute two U.S. Border Patrol agents -- is tremendously disconcerting. 

    Forthwith, the details of the case: A Mexican drug smuggler with 743 pounds of marijuana in a van confronted and assaulted a border Patrol agent in February 2005. The agents shot the suspect in the buttocks as he fled across the Rio Grande. The Homeland Security Department ordered an investigation and, after locating the suspect, presented him with an offer of immunity. Yes, immunity. In exchange, all the suspect, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, had to do was testify against the two agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. The agents, 10- and five-year veterans, respectively, of the Border Patrol, were sentenced in October to a combined 23 years in prison. The drug smuggler was not charged. 

    Border Patrol agents, like all law enforcers, are not above the law, but in its zealous efforts to hold the conduct of Ramos and Compean up to scrutiny, the Justice Department made several deeply perturbing decisions. Why offer a suspected drug runner, who had already broken the law by entering our country illegally, immunity in exchange for his testimony against the two border patrol agents? The seriously misplaced priorities leave us thoroughly disappointed with the process. 

    President Bush on Thursday -- the day after the agents began serving their prison sentences -- promised a "sober look" at the case, but taking an honest, sober look at the situation on the border has not been a hallmark of the Bush administration. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, accurately summed up the situation: "Our border agents risk their lives daily to uphold our immigration laws and defend our borders," Jerry Seper reported Thursday in The Washington Times. "If the conviction of Ramos and Compean is an indication of how our government will repay them, we can be certain good men and women will soon flee the ranks of Border Patrol service," the congressman said. 

    While the president decides whether to grant a pardon, safety is a paramount concern for the two agents, now incarcerated while awaiting appeal. Prison is a dangerous place for former law enforcers, and special steps need to be taken to ensure no further harm comes to Ramos and Compean. 

    Such harsh -- if not downright malicious -- prosecution sends the wrong message to both agents and the entire U.S. Border Patrol. That message is that Border Patrol agents, our first line of defense along the southern border, should be more concerned with protecting themselves from future prosecution than with actively and earnestly carrying out their duties. 

     

     

     

     

    

Border op pt 6 20-1-07

Tense moments revealed in Guard border incident

Armed intruders surrounded unit in Jan. 3 face-off

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.20.2007

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Four armed Guardsmen from Tennessee were surrounded by six to eight men carrying automatic weapons during an encounter on Jan. 3 east of Sasabe.

This and other details have emerged about the widely-discussed incident in accounts released by Gov. Janet Napolitano's office and confirmed by the National Guard and the U.S. Border Patrol.

Statements from legislative liaisons from the National Guard Bureau and U.S. Customs and Border Protection released by Napolitano's office describe a much closer and potentially more dangerous encounter than has previously been acknowledged by the Border Patrol and the National Guard.

According to the statements, the armed group wore bulletproof vests and carried automatic weapons as they approached an entrance-identification site manned by the four National Guardsmen.

As they approached, the armed men "split into two groups to surround the site," said the statement from the National Guard government liaison.

Then, as the Guardsmen were putting their gear into the vehicle to leave, one of the armed men approached to within 40 feet, the National Guard report said.

The report goes on to say: "Both groups kept their weapons 'ready low' and never pointed them at each other. No shots were fired."

The Guardsmen finished loading their things and as they left the area, they called the Border Patrol to report the situation.

The Border Patrol statement says the agency was notified by handheld radio and satellite phone as the situation unfolded. After the face-off with the gunman who approached the closest, the Guardsmen followed standard operating procedure and "retreated to their vehicle and drove approximately 200 yards away from the site."

The Border Patrol statement says a Customs and Border Protection helicopter arrived within five minutes, and five Border Patrol agents were on site within 10 minutes.

The helicopter and agents on the ground tracked the armed men back into Mexico.

Nothing was taken or moved at the National Guard post. Both reports emphasized that the Guardsmen were armed at the time of the encounter.

"We see this as a triumph of the training, discipline and professionalism of the Guardsmen performing this mission," reads the report from the National Guard legislative liaison.

Gustavo Soto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman, confirmed the accuracy of the reports Friday although he said he doesn't know where the liaison office found some of its information. Arizona National Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Aguirre said he hadn't released the report but confirmed the accuracy.

The release of the detailed accounts comes on the heels of calls from both federal and state lawmakers for more information on the incident.

Tucson Sector officials didn't release the statement because it wasn't theirs and because they wanted to make sure not to compromise their own investigation, Soto said.

The full accounts weren't released by Border Patrol headquarters because public-information officers didn't know about them, said Xavier Rios, Border Patrol spokesman in Washington, D.C. He said what was released to the media was a military description while the statement from the liaison was a civilian description.

"Unfortunately, there wasn't coordination internally here when that message went out," Rios said.

The Governor's Office received the statements via e-mail Jan. 10 from Aguirre of the Arizona National Guard but never issued a press release, said the governor's spokeswoman, Jeanine L'Ecuyer.

L'Ecuyer said she chose to answer individual inquiries about it rather than issue a release.

"This is definitely common knowledge," she said Friday.

Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, who chairs the House Committee on Property Rights and Homeland Security, has scheduled a Jan. 29 meeting at which the committee will question Maj. Gen. David Rataczak, the state Guard commander.

Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps said he was surprised that the government accounts match the the description Minuteman volunteers heard from the Guardsmen involved.

Usually, government-issued reports bear little resemblance to what actually happened, he said.

"I'm impressed," said Simcox, who had not seen the accounts before Friday. "For the first time in a long time, they did something right."

At the same time, the reports expose the danger of putting the National Guard on visible posts with orders to avoid confrontation, he said.

"They are standing out there just basically being targets," Simcox said. "They could be wiped in a second by a group walking up on them. Ultimately, it's going to lead to a bad situation."

There are dozens of National Guard entrance-identification teams along the Mexican border, including east and west of both Nogales and Sasabe and on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The troops stand guard on hilltops next to army-green tents and serve as extra eyes and ears for the Border Patrol.

No changes have been made in light of the incident, Soto and Aguirre said.

Guardsmen working these observation posts receive special training, and many have been in Iraq or Afghanistan, Aguirre said. They will continue to follow protocol established for the mission, said Maj. Aguirre, which means: "If they feel physically threatened, they will react accordingly," he said.

If they were shot at, they would shoot back, he said.

Napolitano is pleased with how the Guard handled the encounter, her spokeswoman said. She and Rataczak are continually analyzing the danger the troops face but are confident they can handle whatever comes at them, L'Ecuyer said.

"It's not something they ask for," she said. "But, it's something they train for."

? Contact Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com

Border op pt 5

Guard did not flee armed men near Sasabe, general says
B. POOLE
Tucson Citizen

National Guardsmen were carrying loaded M-16s when they were
approached by armed men near Sasabe Jan. 3, but they backed off
because they were following the rules agreed upon by the border
states and the federal government, the National Guard's top general
in Arizona told the Tucson Citizen in a recent interview.
They did not flee, said Maj. Gen. David P. Rataczak, commander of
National Guard troops in Arizona.
"They left because that's what they were taught to do," Rataczak said.
The guard has three main missions along the border: watching for
people or vehicles, manning command posts so Border Patrol officers
can work in the field and performing engineering jobs, such as
building or repairing fences and roads, Rataczak said.
He denied that the guardsmen fled, stating instead that the troops
were following rules of engagement signed by governors of the border
states, the Border Patrol and the Department of Defense.
"Unless they feel personally threatened, they have to leave and walk
away and not get into a confrontation with these people, and that's
what they did," Rataczak said.
The three guardsmen were approached in the dark by four or five men
who came close enough for the guardsmen to talk to them. A language
barrier prevented communication, and the guardsmen left their
position and called the Border Patrol, Rataczak said.
"We do not handle people. We do not arrest people, and we do not
detain people. Border patrol is there, we have radio communication
with them and they will respond to these types of situations," he said.
The troops called Border Patrol agents, who responded within minutes
on foot and in ground vehicles and helicopters. The men who
approached the guardsmen were not aggressive and did not raise their
weapons, Rataczak said.
"The site was under control, our people were under control and, as I
said, they were standing off to the side watching the site and
watching these people," he said.
The people disappeared in the darkness and were not apprehended. The
National Guard has 60-80 such observation posts along the border on
any given day. The sites change daily based on intelligence and
Border Patrol needs, Rataczak said.
The contact was expected, Rataczak said.
"We anticipated this. We knew at some point in the future that
someone would eventually approach these sites," he said.

Border op pt 4 7-1-07

Lawmakers ask: Why did Guard retreat?
And will episode embolden armed drug smugglers?
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.17.2007
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Questions still linger about what really happened two weeks ago when
a National Guard observation team was forced by four armed men to
retreat from its post east of Sasabe.
Federal lawmakers have joined their state counterparts in demanding
answers about the Jan. 3 incident. House Homeland Security Committee
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sent a letter to Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff asking what the agency has learned and how
it will handle future hostile confrontations.
Last week, Arizona lawmakers asked for an explanation as to why
National Guard troops fled their observation post. Rep. Warde
Nichols, R-Gilbert, who chairs the House Committee on Property Rights
and Homeland Security, has scheduled a Jan. 29 meeting at which the
committee will question Maj. Gen. David Rataczak, the state Guard
commander.
"I've heard two or three different stories of what happened at the
border," Nichols said . "We want to get to the bottom of what
happened and not stay in the realm of 'he said, she said.' "
Among the questions that loom is whether the Guard troops had
ammunition in their rifles, who the armed men were and what the Guard
is allowed to do when confronted, he said.
Border Patrol officials have scoffed at reports that the troops
didn't have ammunition in their rifles. The only National Guard
troops without loaded weapons are those working in administrative
positions and helping with construction of fences and vehicle
barriers, and repairing roads, said Gustavo Soto, Border Patrol
Tucson Sector spokesman.
"They've had rifles and ammunition since day one," Soto said.
Reports that the National Guard Entrance Identification Team was
forced to flee or abandon its post don't accurately describe the
incident, Soto said.
Some of the confusion can be traced to the agency's own statements in
the days after the incident. On Jan. 4, the next day, a Border Patrol
Tucson Sector spokesman said the National Guard team was forced to
flee its post after it had been compromised and deemed the episode a
significant incident.
The following day, Tucson Sector spokesmen were forwarding all
inquiries to headquarters in Washington.
Border Patrol headquarters spokesman Mario Martinez said troops moved
to a safer location after an armed group came within 100 yards of
their post, and notified Border Patrol agents. When agents arrived
minutes later, the armed individuals were gone, but the agents
tracked their footprints to the U.S.-Mexican border, he said.
"The entrance-identification team acted appropriately and did what
they were expected to do," Martinez said.
Officials in the Tucson Sector say there will be no changes in
protocol and that the observation posts are staffed and operational.
Both headquarters and sector spokesmen said Guard troops have the
green light to use their weapons if necessary.
"If they see armed individuals coming toward them, they are going to
move to a safer position and defend themselves," Soto said. "If they
were fired upon, they would return fire."
There are dozens of National Guard entrance-identification teams
along the Mexican border, including east and west of both Nogales and
Sasabe and on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The troops stand post on
hilltops next to army-green tents and serve as extra eyes and ears
for the Border Patrol.
Thompson's letter, also signed by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif.,
requests information on how many illegal entries involved armed
suspects in 2006, how sightings of armed entrants are handled, and
the rules of engagement and force for the National Guard.
"This situation highlights a potential operational gap between the
National Guard and the Border Patrol that must be filled immediately
to ensure that this type of incident is not repeated," Thompson said
in an e-mail Tuesday.
Nichols remains dissatisfied with the answers. Nichols has received
calls from National Guard members who say the troops didn't have
ammunition in their rifles, he said. He plans to question Rataczak
about that in the hearing.
His greatest concern is that the armed men — who many believe could
have been drug smugglers — were testing the Guard troops to find out
what they could do in future showdowns.
"I believe that those people in the National Guard are more at risk
today than they were two weeks ago because if those illegals are
testing them, now they know that when they come across with weapons
that we are going to retreat," Nichols said.
As it becomes more difficult for smugglers to get their goods across
the border, frustration will increase, Soto said.
Violence is a constant companion for any agent or officer working the
border, but no more so now than it was a month ago, national Border
Patrol spokesman Martinez said.
"The Border Patrol isn't just out there watching the sunset and the
sunrise," Martinez said. "There are criminals out there committing
criminal acts and there is an inherent level of risk."
The incident took place in the busiest stretch of the Tucson Sector
for marijuana seizures. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, seizures were up 28
percent over the same time the previous fiscal year. Marijuana
seizures are up 26 percent across the Southwest border.
Apprehensions, meanwhile, are down by 8 percent in the Tucson Sector
and by 26 percent across the Southwest border.
The incident and murky details about what happened have raised
concerns and questions among those who follow military or border
issues in Tucson, said Bill Langeman, a business consultant in Tucson.
He contacted the offices of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Jon Kyl,
R-Ariz., and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. He heard back only from
Kyl's office, where someone read him the official statement on the
incident. He has heard secondhand that National Guard members had
guns but no bullets.
"I'm furious that this happened and I can't get a straight answer
about how it happened," said Langeman, 53. "This just sounds like the
usual federal cover-up."
The Border Patrol continues to investigate the confrontation and has
asked Mexican authorities to do the same, Martinez said.
"I can tell you we are going to be monitoring that area a lot
closer," Martinez said.
● Contact Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com

Border op pt 3

Guard soldiers back off from armed men out of Mexico
Matthew Benson
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 6, 2007 12:00 AM
A Border Patrol official says National Guard troops acted
appropriately this week when they abandoned their post near the
border southwest of Tucson as four gunmen approached from Mexico.

It is the nearest that Guard members have come to an armed conflict
on the border since spring when President Bush pledged up to 6,000
soldiers to help slow illegal immigration along the nation's 1,950-
mile southern border.

No shots were fired in the incident, and no one was injured. Border
Patrol spokesman Mario Martinez stressed that "there was no attack."

But he added, "It's a serious situation. We're not trying to say it
wasn't a serious situation. We've never had an incident where there
were gunmen this close to a post."

It also raises questions in the eyes of critics who say the border
mission has placed Guard troops in an awkward position. Guardsmen are
strictly in a backup role along the border. That means performing
administrative functions, building roads and fences, even conducting
surveillance in some cases, such as with the team near Tucson.

But they're never to confront or attempt to apprehend border crossers.

"What are we paying our National Guard to do (along the border)? That
is the question," said Don Goldwater, who led a failed campaign for
governor last year on his promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

"We're putting the National Guard down in harm's way along the border
with no intention to allow them to protect themselves."

Goldwater is the nephew of the late Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, a
former presidential candidate.

The armed confrontation took place about 11 p.m. Wednesday near
Sasabe about a quarter-mile north of the border. A team of four or
five Guard members, armed with M-16s, were watching for border
crossers at an observation post when they spotted four men carrying
what appeared to be rifles, Martinez said.

As the men came closer, the soldiers left their post and called for
the Border Patrol.

"In order to not be detected, they moved to a safer location,"
Martinez said. "That's exactly what we want them to do.

"They're armed for their protection. Once they are afraid for their
lives, they can defend themselves.

"That was not the case."

Border Patrol agents responded within minutes and scoured the area by
helicopter and on the ground, but the gunmen could not be located.
Their tracks showed that they had arrived near the observation post
after crossing into the United States from Mexico.

Armed individuals crossing remote areas of the border typically are
smuggling drugs, Martinez said, though it is unknown who the gunmen
were in this incident. It's also uncertain whether the men were
scouting the observation post, testing National Guard response or
merely stumbled upon the soldiers.

Martinez wouldn't say whether troops have since returned to the
observation post, but he noted that "we're still monitoring the area;
we'll probably be monitoring the area closely for a while."

Gov. Janet Napolitano's staff was briefed about the incident by the
Arizona National Guard, but it deferred comment to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. A spokesman from that office did not
respond to a phone message left by The Arizona Republic.

Barrett Marson, spokesman for state House Speaker Jim Weiers, said
"legislative leaders have not been briefed on the situation but would
like some information."

State Sen. Chuck Gray, a Republican and retired Mesa police officer,
was surprised that Guard members would run in the face of an armed
threat, unless they were seeking protective cover.

"I can tell you, as a police officer of 10 years, there was never a
policy to flee," he said. "If they're running for cover, that's
different than running away."

Illegal immigration moved to the forefront of American politics in
the past few years. Polls consistently have said it is one of the top
issues in the minds of Arizonans, and Napolitano and New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson declared border emergencies for their respective
states in August 2005.

Nearly one year ago to the day, Napolitano used her State of the
State address to call for the federal government to pay for the
deployment of the National Guard to the border. In the spring, she
got her wish with Bush's announcement of Operation Jump Start, a plan
to use thousands of Guard members to tighten the border until new
Border Patrol agents could be hired and trained.

Roughly 5,700 Guard members are stationed along the border, more than
a quarter of whom are in Arizona. It is hoped that they can be pulled
back by 2008.

Initial reports indicate the program has reduced illegal crossings.
Apprehensions were down 11.4 percent in Arizona from 2005 to 2006,
and down 8.5 percent for the four border states

Border op pt 2 5-1-07

Guard wasn't overrun by gunmen, officials say
Associated Press
Jan. 5, 2007 05:20 PM
TUCSON - Armed men who prompted National Guard soldiers to leave an
observation post near the Mexican border came within 100 yards of the
troops, but apparently were unaware of the presence of the Guard
members, authorities said Friday.

Four soldiers near Sasabe decided to move to a safer position late
Wednesday night as the group of four or five armed men apparently
from Mexico approached, Border Patrol spokesman Mario Martinez said
in Washington.

"There were no shots fired, no attacks, no overrunning of the
National Guardsmen," nor any contact with the group, Martinez said.

Border Patrol agents responded within minutes and followed tracks
believed left by the group back to the Mexican border, Martinez said.

The National Guard troops are in Arizona and the three other border
states assisting Border Patrol agents in a variety of roles, such as
operating surveillance cameras, repairing border fences, constructing
vehicle barriers and reporting illegal entries.

Observation teams such as the one that saw the armed men near Sasabe
look out and report illegal border crossings to federal agents.

Maj. Paul Aguirre, spokesman for the Arizona National Guard, said
those team members always carry arms for self-defense.

"The National Guard personnel's reaction was exactly as planned for
and prepared," Aguirre said. So was the Border Patrol's response
within a few minutes, he added.

"There was no harm done to any of the personnel or the site," Aguirre
said.

He said he was not aware of any similar incidents involving other
guard units.

Martinez also said the soldiers did not report seeing the men
carrying anything that might be contraband.

U.S. Border Patrol officials are investigating the incident.

The incident occurred between Nogales and Lukeville.

The National Guard troops are not allowed to apprehend illegal
immigrants.

"We don't know if this was a matter of somebody coming up
accidentally on the individuals, coming up intentionally on the
individuals, or some sort of a diversion," said Rob Daniels, a
spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.

The west desert corridor has been the busiest in the Tucson Sector
for marijuana seizures since last year.

With more Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops patrolling
the Arizona section of the U.S.-Mexican border, it has become more
difficult to smuggle drugs and people across and "that heightened
frustration may have been connected to what took place last night,"
Daniels said

Border op pt 1 5-1-07

Armed group forces Guard to flee post near Sasabe

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.05.2007

National Guard troops working at an observatory post near Sasabe were approached by a group of armed individuals late Wednesday night and forced to flee, said Border Patrol and National Guard officials Thursday.

The event occurred about 11 p.m. Wednesday at one of the National Guard entrance identification team posts near Sasabe, said National Guard Sgt. Edward Balaban. The troops withdrew safely. No shots were fired and no one suffered injuries, he said.

"We don't know exactly how many because obviously it took place in the dark," Balaban said. "Nobody was able to get an accurate count."

Border Patrol officials are investigating the incident and trying to determine who the armed people were, what they were doing and why they approached the post. The incident occurred in the west desert corridor between Nogales and Lukeville in the vicinity of Sasabe, Balaban said.

The Guard troops are not allowed to apprehend illegal entrants.

"We don't know if this was a matter of somebody coming up accidentally on the individuals, coming up intentionally on the individuals, or some sort of a diversion?" said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. "We just don't know and that's why everything's got to be looked into."

Border Patrol officials say the armed group returned to Mexico, Daniels said.

The west desert corridor — where the incident occurred — has been the busiest in the Tucson Sector for marijuana seizures since last year. Agents have seized 124,000 pounds of marijuana there since Oct. 1, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. Sector wide, marijuana seizures are up 28 percent this fiscal year, according to agency figures.

With more Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops patrolling the Arizona section of the U.S.-Mexican border, it has become more difficult to smuggle drugs and people across, Daniels said.

"That heightened frustration may have been connected to what took place last night," Daniels said.

Officials will make a decision about whether changes need to be made in regard to the entrance identification teams following the investigation, Balaban said.

Since arriving in mid-June, the Guard has assisted the Border Patrol by manning control rooms, doing vehicle and helicopter maintenance, repairing roads and fences and constructing vehicle barriers and fences, and spotting and reporting illegal entrants in entrance identification teams.

There are dozens of National Guard entrance identification teams along the Mexican border, including east and west of both Nogales and Sasabe and on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The troops stand post on hilltops next to army-green tents and serve as extra eyes and ears for the Border Patrol.

"Having any of them breached could have been very, very unsafe," Daniels said. "Not just for the National Guardsman, but for any of our personnel in the area as well."

? Contact Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.co

TJ Police 5-1-07

Tijuana police abandon posts
After federal agents confiscate the force's weapons, officers decide
going back on patrol would be too risky.
By Richard Marosi, Times Staff Writer
January 5, 2007

TIJUANA — The municipal police force in this troubled border city
walked off the job Thursday after soldiers and federal agents ordered
its members to turn over their weapons in connection with homicide
investigations.

The surprising turn of events came two days after Mexican President
Felipe Calderon dispatched 3,300 federal troops and police to the
city in an effort to combat violence linked to drug cartels.

Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon acknowledged in a radio interview
Thursday that local and state police were being compromised by narco-
traffickers, and he said government salaries could not compete with
the financial rewards offered by drug dealers.

Members of the 2,300-strong police force turned over more than 2,100
guns and semiautomatic assault rifles at police headquarters. But
police officials decided it would be too dangerous to patrol unarmed,
especially because more than a dozen officers have been killed
recently in drug-related attacks.

"The police are not patrolling the city. They won't work without
their weapons," said Fernando Bojorquez, a spokesman for the city's
top police official, Secretary of Public Safety Luis Javier Algorri
Franco.

Among those whose weapons were taken were the bodyguards for the
mayor and for Algorri, a civilian who does not carry a weapon.

A spokesman for the federal attorney general said the military had
ordered the confiscation of the police weapons to investigate whether
any had been used in suspicious killings. He gave no details.

It was not immediately known how many homicides the federal officials
were investigating. More than 300 people were killed in the city in
2006.

Police walked out late in the afternoon, and no major disturbances
had been reported by late evening.

The soldiers and federal agents set up checkpoints Thursday across
the city and began patrolling downtown, the Zona Rio commercial
district and some tough neighborhoods.

Dozens of disarmed officers remained outside City Hall after 9 p.m.,
eating chicken tacos and wondering what would happen next.

The next shift, due in at 7 a.m., was ordered to report to the plaza,
and police will remain there until their weapons are returned,
Bojorquez said.

"We're defenseless against organized crime. Without our weapons, we
can't do anything," said one officer, who declined to be identified.

It appeared that municipal police were still on duty at jails.

Tijuana and the surrounding communities are a key battleground for
control of drug smuggling routes into the United States. The city and
the state of Baja California have suffered increased kidnappings and
killings of drug traffickers, police officers, business owners and
bystanders.

The federal enforcement effort, dubbed Operation Tijuana, comes three
weeks after Calderon sent troops to his Pacific Coast home state of
Michoacan, where more than 80 people were arrested, more than 1,300
acres of marijuana crops were destroyed and over 6 tons of harvested
plants were seized.

Calderon has said that federal forces are needed to combat Mexico's
drug violence because of corruption and incompetence among local and
state police.

In a television interview Thursday, federal Atty. Gen. Eduardo Medina
Mora said: "The object of this type of operation is not the surgical
capture of big leaders. Sure, we're going after the big capos, but
that's not the purpose of this kind of operation, which in this case
is the recovery of geography and tranquillity."

Medina Mora said Calderon's campaign against drug violence would move
to other states in coming weeks.

richard.marosi@latimes.com

Times staff writer Sam Enriquez in Mexico City contributed to this
report.

AZMEX UPDATE 3-9-04

AZMEX UPDATE 3 SEP 2004 

September 3, 2004 at 6:00PM MST

Lupita Murillo Reports

Labor Day campers near US/Mexico border: Be cautious

Labor Day marks the end of summer vacations and many will be heading to camp grounds.

Some will be camping near the border, but the recent murder of a hunter has authorities warning campers to be cautious.

Steve Montano often camped alone in the Santa Rita mountains. His hobby turned tragic last weekend when he was shot several times.

No arrests have been made.

Pima County Sheriff's Homicide unit continues to investigate the possibilities. It may have been drug or people smugglers or thrill seekers.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is issuing a warning, especially in areas along the border.

Lorraine Buck says, "Be aware, if you are going camping, hiking or a day trip, to be aware that there is an issue in that area with illegal immigration."

It's those same routes that illegal drug traffickers use to smuggle their goods, so authorites want the campers to use caution and basic safety, such as

    * never go alone

    * make a plan and follow it

    * share that information with another person

    * let them know when you'll be returning

    * take a cell phone

    * take plenty of water and extra food. 

Buck says, "Because of the circumstances we know is occurring througn the networks of law enforcment agencies, we just felt it was a good idea we needed to give people as much information so they can have a safe holiday."

If you witness illegal activity, don't intercede. Contact the nearest law enforcement agency or call 911 or (520) 88-CRIME