Gunfire hitting City Hall prompts Texas AG to ask for more troops on border

[Casino67]

ElPasoTimes.com:

EL PASO - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today demanded that President Obama send more troops to the Texas-Mexico border and used the shots that hit El Paso City Hall as an example of increased violence on the border.

Abbott said in a letter that the seven shots that hit City Hall in El Paso were an example of the violence that is plaguing the border area and that sending 1,200 National Guard soldiers to the entire U.S.-Mexico border is not enough.

He also cited the violence in Juarez and said that Americans lives are at risk.

"More than 1,300 people have been murdered in Juárez this year as a war continues relentlessly between the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels," he told Obama.

He also said the "time for talk has passed."

Here is the letter by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott:

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Deadly violence from drug cartels and transnational gangs in Mexico is knocking on the United States' door with ever increasing frequency.

Yesterday, gunfire from the cartels pierced that threshold and struck City Hall in El Paso. Fortunately no one was injured or killed. But that good fortune was not the result of effective border control - it was mere luck that the bullets struck buildings rather than bodies.

Luck and good fortune are not effective border enforcement policies. The shocking reality of cross border gunfire proves the cold reality: American lives are at risk. As the attached news article notes: "More than 1,300 people have been murdered in Juárez this year as a war continues relentlessly between the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels." Americans must be protected as this deadly war bulges at our border.

Law enforcement officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety and your own U.S. Customs and Border Protection will reveal the hard truth. Our state is under constant assault from illegal activity threatening a porous border.

The time for talk has passed. The time for action is now. The need is urgent. Each day that passes increases the likelihood that an American life will be lost because of the federal government's failure to secure the border.

This threat demands immediate and effective action by your Administration to secure our border. As the Attorney General of Texas, I urge you to make border security your top priority so that no more innocent lives are lost to border violence.
______________________________________________________________

The response from the 0 will be prompt and effective.

[spikeytx86]

I really am not quite sure how more troops would have prevented this. They could have rimmed the Rio-Grande with Infantry and those bullets still would have just flown over their heads and hit city hall.

 

This was a shoot out between Mexican Law Enforcement and Cartels in Juarez. Unless those troops are deployed to Juarez, there isn't crap they can do to stop it.

[Casino67]

I really am not quite sure how more troops would have prevented this. They could have rimmed the Rio-Grande with Infantry and those bullets still would have just flown over their heads and hit city hall.

 

This was a shoot out between Mexican Law Enforcement and Cartels in Juarez. Unless those troops are deployed to Juarez, there isn't crap they can do to stop it.

 

When I read this, I wondered the same thing. Are they expecting troops to cross the border and go after the shooters? I guess he just wants more troops there to assure they don't cross the border to get a better shot at Townhall.

[Pepper]

"The system is working" Janet the Nappy

 

"...our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols..." Obama on his flaccid inability to keep our nation secure and instead, intent on effing up what has been handed down like a precious gift since 1776.

[AceRimmer]

I really am not quite sure how more troops would have prevented this. They could have rimmed the Rio-Grande with Infantry and those bullets still would have just flown over their heads and hit city hall.

 

This was a shoot out between Mexican Law Enforcement and Cartels in Juarez. Unless those troops are deployed to Juarez, there isn't crap they can do to stop it.

 

When I read this, I wondered the same thing. Are they expecting troops to cross the border and go after the shooters? I guess he just wants more troops there to assure they don't cross the border to get a better shot at Townhall.

 

This is reality hitting Obambi in the face. The Mexican drug cartels don't give a damn if they're in Mexico, Texas, or Arizona. They're still going to shoot, and nothing Obambi says will stop it.

 

Put National Guard troops on the border with LOADED M-16's and M-203's, with a few M-60's backing them up. The drug smuggling and illegal crossings will wither.

[Pepper]

 

From the National Park Service

 

Obama at your service

 

 

 

[Casino67]

Last nites Red Eye on Fox--actually early this morning--ran Urkel's immigration speech with a laugh track. Funny at the time. Haven't been able to find a clip anywhere. The pundits and comedians must be driving the 0, with his thin skin, crazy.

[Casino67]

 

From the National Park Service

 

Obama at your service

 

 

 

 

They are in English. Wonder which way they are facing?

[Pepper]

Casino67! They face the tax payers of course, a clear admittance that Obama has ceded our lands to the invaders.

 

 

How's that hope and change working out for you?

[spikeytx86]

I really am not quite sure how more troops would have prevented this. They could have rimmed the Rio-Grande with Infantry and those bullets still would have just flown over their heads and hit city hall.

 

This was a shoot out between Mexican Law Enforcement and Cartels in Juarez. Unless those troops are deployed to Juarez, there isn't crap they can do to stop it.

 

When I read this, I wondered the same thing. Are they expecting troops to cross the border and go after the shooters? I guess he just wants more troops there to assure they don't cross the border to get a better shot at Townhall.

 

I can see deploying NG Troops to rural open areas of the border and to small towns along the border. I think that would help curb illegal incursions and the flow of money and drugs back and forth.

 

But deploying troops to a city like EP, I can't see how that would provide anything other than a "get tough photo op". You can only cross into EP from Juarez by international bridges which already have CBP inspection stations. Inside the city of EP, the border area is rimmed with cameras and the Border Fence with regular CBP patrols. So it's pretty much as secure as you can get without severely disrupting the day to day life in the city

 

Along the border is the very busy route 85 /Paisano Drive/ aka "The Border Highway" which runs the length of most of El Paso's portion of the Border. To deploy troops along the border would mean parking Hummers and APC's on one of the busiest highways in the city. Closing that down would cause crippling traffic throughout the city without any real gain. So I am not sure what AG Abbot was hoping for besides campaign posturing.

 

I am all for some real solutions to secure the border. But it's going to be hard in this environment when you have one side demanding the Mexican Border be turned into some kind of DMZ and the other side calling any policy they don't care for racist.

 

And any strategy must include the Mexican Government as well. There needs to be an active strategy on both sides of the border to secure the border regions.

[Argyle58]

I really am not quite sure how more troops would have prevented this. They could have rimmed the Rio-Grande with Infantry and those bullets still would have just flown over their heads and hit city hall.

 

This was a shoot out between Mexican Law Enforcement and Cartels in Juarez. Unless those troops are deployed to Juarez, there isn't crap they can do to stop it.

 

As soon as there are more boots on the ground (really on the ground, not under desks) then the porous border would be less so. Therefore, there would be fewer people considering it a necessary point of congregation, lowering the possibility of shootouts with the associated stray rounds.

 

In other words, a secure U.S./Mexican border would reduce violent crime on BOTH sides of the border.