Calif. congressmen want Mexican military crossings probed.

Two California Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the House International Relations Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee to formally investigate reports of more than 200 Mexican military incursions into the United States since 1996, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported  today on its Web site.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and author of the controversial proposal to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, joined Rep. David Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee, in formally requesting the probes, reported the Daily Bulletin, which published a report last Sunday citing a Department of Homeland Security study documenting the incursions.

Chertoff this week downplayed the reports of Mexican military incursions as "alarmist," asserting that most of the crossings documented by his own department were innocent mistakes.

And Mexican officials have denied any incursions by its military.

"We write to request that your committee investigate the Department of Homeland Security's ability to prevent Mexican military personnel, or those posing as Mexican military personnel from illegally crossing the United States' southern border," Hunter and Dreier said in a joint letter to Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Hunter, who represents a San Diego district, used the occasion to push his proposal to fence the entire U.S.-Mexico border beyond what was approved in a bill passed by the House in December that would require fences at five strategic locations along the border.

"If the Mexican military attributes these incidents to being lost or bad directions, then we need to make the exact location of the border clear to them," the Daily Bulletin quoted Hunter.

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE