U.S., MEXICO DISPUTE TEXAS OFFICERS' VERSION OF DRUG BUST

Sheriff's Agency Says Neighboring Country's Military Aided
Smugglers

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas - It began as a simple drug bust near this speck
of a West Texas border town, but it soon mushroomed into an
international incident that has pitted local law enforcement officers
against the U.S. and Mexican governments and others.

The local officers say the incident involved heavily armed members of
the Mexican military, adding yet more firepower to the violent and
dangerous drug cartels trying to protect smuggling routes into the
U.S. U.S. and Mexican government officials say that the Mexican
military was not involved and that the local officers exaggerated
their account, playing up public fears in a bid to win support for
increased funding for border security. Texas sheriffs are lobbying for
$34 million of $100 million in federal money earmarked for border
security, money that would pay for additional sheriff deputies to act
as a second line of defense behind Border Patrol agents. "The sheriffs
have found a way to get attention and hopefully increased resources
for their poor counties, where law enforcement jobs represent the
bread and butter of their economy," said Dennis Bixler-Marquez, a
political science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
"But at what expense and at whose expense?"

Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West takes issue with such talk. He
cites increasing violence along the border, including 778 attacks
against Border Patrol agents in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30,
compared with 374 in the previous year.

"I have no political agenda, or a personal agenda, nor is this my 15
minutes of fame," he said. "This is plain and simple a matter about
security, about protecting our county and our country."

The dispute began Jan. 23, when Deputy Sheriff Esequiel Legarreta and
his partner, Deputy Joe Tammen, received an informant's tip of a
planned drug smuggling operation across the Rio Grande. The men
notified state troopers and Border Patrol agents.

Troopers gave chase to three SUVs, which turned toward the border and
tried to flee across the Rio Grande. Local authorities said a
military-style Humvee and several men wearing uniforms came to the aid
of the SUVs, but one of the vehicles became stuck in the mud. Another
had a flat tire and was abandoned - with its load of 1,447 pounds of
marijuana. The smugglers escaped. Deputies had been reporting similar
alleged military incursions for months, but their reports were often
met with skepticism by Washington bureaucrats, who say that while
incursions are common, most of the time they're accidental as soldiers
get lost along a border that stretches across wilderness and desert.

This time, a frustrated Deputy Tammen carried a camera and shot
pictures of some uniformed men unloading drugs from the SUV that was
stuck in the mud. "I'm tired of people saying I'm full of crap," said
Deputy Tammen, a military veteran of Iraq, Macedonia and Kosovo. "I
wanted to document it for our government."

Deputy Tammen insisted that the vehicle that came to the aid of the
SUV was a military Humvee. "These people were military," he said. "I
counted at least 12 of them."

Tactics questioned U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, disagrees.
Mr. Reyes, a 26-year law enforcement veteran and former Border Patrol
chief, said he supports increased funding for local law enforcement on
the border, including the sheriffs. But he questions their tactics.

"To have the sheriff and his deputies spin this is as an incursion and
to have them say they were pinned down, that's just pure
embellishment," Mr. Reyes said. "Sheriff West was on all these neocon
TV shows and radio talking about uniformed Mexican military, and he
sensationalized the heck out of this whole thing. What happened to
facts?"

The incident remains under investigation by both governments, although
a senior U.S. official said: "The Mexican military was not involved,
that much we can say. Why does the sheriff insist on wanting to stir
up problems, I don't know, but I for one am very curious and skeptical
about his motives." The Mexican government immediately denied that its
military was involved in the incident and later identified some of the
men caught on photographs as members of drug cartels.

Geronimo Gutierrez, undersecretary for North America in the Foreign
Ministry, forcefully repeated the denial Friday during an interview
with editors of The Dallas Morning News. "The Mexican military was not
involved," he said, adding that all military personnel in the area had
been accounted for. Disputed TV report What happened next is also in
dispute.

After the Jan. 23 incident, Mr. Reyes requested that the Mexican
government look into the incident. On Jan. 30, Mexican authorities
notified U.S. authorities that their soldiers and federal police would
be at the scene of the incident the next day.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration notified other U.S. agencies,
including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and the
Hudspeth County Sheriff's Office, according to four government
sources. Sheriff West disputes that his office was notified.

Meanwhile, a crew from the local Fox television station, KFOX,
accompanied one of Sheriff West's deputies to get footage of the scene
of the standoff. As the crew rolled tape, two Mexican soldiers walked
nonchalantly near the Rio Grande. The TV crew shot the video and
quickly left. Their taped report, which aired repeatedly, referred to
the incident as "an incursion," although there was no video showing
that the soldiers ever crossed the border. News director Dave
Bennallack explained that the film crew, fearing possible violence,
left immediately, but saw the soldier cross. "I am confident we were
not used by the sheriff or his deputies," Mr. Bennallack said.

Minutes after the report appeared on KFOX on Jan. 31, the Texas Border
Sheriffs Coalition sent a mass mailing to the media, politicians and
other law enforcement agencies, informing them that "Hudspeth County
has reported another incursion."

"How far are we supposed to retreat?" the mailing said. "We know we
are supposed to turn the other cheek, but being slapped twice in 8
days?" Mr. Reyes, the El Paso legislator, suggested that Sheriff
West's office had manipulated the situation.

"The strange thing about that report is that KFOX never says that
these soldiers were there at my request and that the proper U.S.
authorities had been notified beforehand by Mexico," Mr. Reyes said.
"I don't agree with bashing Mexico just to get more funding. ... It's
pretty chilling to see guys who are supposed to be the law and
enforcement of our community with no qualms about stretching the facts
. under the mantra of protecting our nation and national security."

'Blatant lies' Sheriff West called Mr. Reyes' comments "outrageous,
ludicrous" and said statements that U.S. authorities notified him of
the Mexican soldiers' visit were "blatant lies."

"I hear Reyes' doubts, and it only makes me question his loyalty to
the United States of America," Sheriff West said. "Why is he so cozy
in bed with Mexico?" This month, members of the House Homeland
Security Subcommittee on Investigations flew into El Paso and held a
hearing on border violence. When Mr. Reyes, a member of the committee,
challenged the local officers' version of the border incident, one of
the sheriffs - Leo Samaniego of El Paso - walked out in protest.

"I think Reyes has forgotten what the border is like," said Deputy
Legarreta, who was also at the hearing. "It's one thing to question a
person's integrity, but when you question the integrity of a law
enforcement officer, you hurt him where it really hurts."

Deputy Legarreta and fellow deputies say they've since received death
threats. On Feb. 3, unknown men drove to the house of a deputy and
told his wife in English, "Tell your husband to stay away from the
river." Deputy Legarreta, who is married with four children, said: "I
take the threat very seriously because we confiscated some 5,000 to
6,000 pounds of dope in the last month, and these narcos are mad.
We're hurting their business, and they can't be that happy about it."

Even so, as of Feb. 13, the threat had not been reported to the FBI or
any other federal agency. Sheriff West explained: "What can the FBI do
about it? I'd rather tell the media because at least the media will
write about it."