America’s Undeclared War: Mexico versus the United States

by Joe Guzzardi
March 31, 2011

The White House assures us that stage one of the Libyan intervention is going well. But we’ve heard those comforting words before in Iraq and Afghanistan. Who really knows what stage two will bring?

As easily drawn into foreign conflicts as America is, one war Washington D.C. refuses to confront is the one waged on the U.S./Mexico border. That unacknowledged conflict has brought a long history of terror to Border Patrol agents, ranchers and innocent citizens who have been killed, kidnapped and shot at.

Judging from the official statements issued by high ranking Obama administration officials, the border is secure and no one should have safety concerns.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano travelled to El Paso, Texas to meet with area mayors and business leaders to reassure them that, despite evidence to the contrary, their region is safe.

Any perception to the contrary, Napolitano insisted, is false. Napolitano urged that trade and tourism continue as usual. Napolitano, in her latest in a series of speeches defending Obama’s apparent disinterest with the border, said that DHS has “…dedicated historic levels of manpower, technology and infrastructure to the Southwest border to ensure the safety of border communities, and these resources have made a significant impact. Some of America’s safest communities are in the Southwest border region, with border city crime rates staying steady or dropping over the past decade."

That came as surprising news to the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents 17,500 non-supervisory U.S. Border Patrol Agents. In a rebuttal to Napolitano, the NBPC claimed that the White House is playing “political games for fear of insulting the government of Mexico” and that agents “fight a war at home that no one will allow them to win.”

As the most recent case in point, the BPNC pointed to Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who in December was killed near Rio Rico, Arizona while pursuing bandits lying in wait to rob and sexually assault illegal alien crossers. Terry, a U.S. Marine, was on duty with three other unharmed agents when he was shot to death during a fierce gun battle.

Adding to the tragedy, ample evidence has surfaced that Agent Terry may have been killed by guns supplied by the U.S. government. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith sent a letter last week to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding an investigation into a report that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed nearly 2,500 guns to go to Mexico. Valued at $1 million, the guns were allegedly part of an ATF sting operation to monitor which drug cartels ultimately acquired the weapons. Two of the guns were found at Terry’s death scene.

Since 2005, according to Smith’s statement, roughly 11,871 people have been killed in the six Mexican states along the U.S.-Mexico border including U.S. law enforcement officers and rancher Robert Krentz. The harsh reality is that the border is less safe than ever. A 3,500 acre stretch in southern Arizona that includes a taxpayer funded national park has been closed since 2006 because of what Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu calls “out of control” violence. Similarly, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Deaver noted that agents have been pulled out of certain sectors because patrolling them is too dangerous.

Some analysts feel that murders of American citizens and law enforcement officers 13 miles within U.S territory could be considered an act of war. At a minimum, since the border remains one of the easiest ways for illegal immigrants to enter the United States it should be secured. Border patrol agents should have at their disposal whatever means necessary to defend the nation including an honest evaluation from the White House about conditions on the ground.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues – since 1986. He is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. He can be reached at [email protected].