WAR ON DRUGS SPARKS INCURSIONS, OFFICIALS SAY

An increased Mexican military presence along the border over the past
decade could be making it more likely that Mexican and U.S.
authorities are crossing paths, according to several border law
enforcement experts.

"The military in recent years is being drawn into the war on drugs,"
said David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute, based at
the University of San Diego.

Victor Clark, a Tijuana-based human rights activist who follows drug
trends, said "there is more militarization along the border because
the U.S. is pressuring to have more there."

In recent days, reports of incursions along the border by Mexican
authorities have caused a media and political frenzy, despite
assertions from Homeland Security officials that incursions by
authorities on both sides are, though not frequent, fairly common.

"It's important to put this in perspective," said Mike Friel, a
Washington spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which
oversees the Border Patrol. "Incursions do happen on both sides, but
for the most part they are infrequent. Generally these incursions are
situations that happen when authorities are pursuing criminals,
usually in unmarked stretches of the border. These reports of the
incursions are being overblown."

Friel added that criminals also have been known to pose as Mexican authorities.

Some proponents of stronger border enforcement say the incursions are
an indication that powerful drug smugglers have compromised some
members of the Mexican military.

Earlier this week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said
there are an average of about 20 incidents a year in which Mexican
police or military might set foot on U.S. soil, but that "a
significant number of those are innocent things . . . because they're
not aware of exactly where the line is."

Chertoff's comments were in reaction to a newspaper report that the
Mexican military had crossed 216 times into the United States since
1996. The story was published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario.

The statistics were attributed to a Homeland Security report,
although a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said
yesterday he had not seen the report.

Even though the potential for violence is high in such encounters,
most ended with Mexican forces retreating, said T.J. Bonner, the San
Diego-based president of the National Border Patrol Council, the
Border Patrol agents' union.

Bonner said he didn't have statistics for incursions along the
California border, and recalled one major incident six years ago. In
October 2000, two Border Patrol agents encountered armed men in
military-style uniforms about eight miles east of the Otay Mesa Port
of Entry, Bonner said.

According to Bonner, the agents came under fire and the assailants
pursued them into United States before backing off. Mexican
authorities later confirmed a military group was operating in the
area, but said it didn't step into U.S. territory. U.S. authorities
later said there wasn't evidence the agents were shot at, and closed
the case despite criticism of downplaying the incident.

In July 2000, Mexican officials decried what they called a deliberate
incursion on the part of two Border Patrol officials, who crossed
into Mexican territory to detain individuals; U.S. officials said the
agents thought they were still on U.S. soil.

Alberto Lozano, a spokesman for the Mexican consulate in San Diego,
noted that the consulate had still not seen a copy of any report
detailing Mexican incursions.

"The Mexican military has never deliberately stepped onto U.S. soil,
and every incident or supposed incursion has been investigated and
clarified," he said.

Meanwhile, politicians in favor of stricter border enforcement have
taken the opportunity to promote various security proposals. U.S.
Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., took to television and radio yesterday to
promote an amendment calling for increased aerial surveillance that
he made to the recently passed HR 4437 border security bill.

"Our borders are under attack by sophisticated organizations that
have no qualms about firing upon our Border Patrol units," he stated
in a news release Wednesday.

Though the Mexican military hasn't traditionally been involved in
combating drug trafficking, Mexico has turned to the military over
the past decade because it's considered less corruptible than police agencies.

That isn't always true, however. For example, in 1997 a top Mexican
general who went on to lead an anti-drug group was linked to a major
drug cartel.

Bonner, the Border Patrol union chief, said he suspected that many of
the incursions are drug-related. "Our agents are convinced that they
are facilitating the entry of drugs, whether they are rogue units or
recognized units," Bonner said.

Bonner said he believes anyone patrolling the border has a clear idea
of where the boundaries are. Shirk, the Trans-Border Institute
director, and Clark, the human rights activist, disagreed.

"It's not a very clear line drawn in the sand," Shirk said. "It goes
through valleys and over mountains and across vast stretches of
desert. There has been a number of incursions - in both directions, I
think it's important to say - across this line."