Question for the BP Guys

[L-1]

I know the issue of border incursions by Mexican officials is a sensitive subject and I don't know if you are able to answer my question at all or could possible PM me with a response.

I was just watching an eight year old video of a suspect running from the Juarez Police. If I understand correctly, he had just shot one of their officers. He ran across the dry river bed of the Rio Grande and crossed into the United States to the El Paso side while being pursued by several Juarez police officers. He stopped next to a USPB truck and proned himself out, but was snapped up by the Juarez officers (who outnumbered and outgunned the lone BP officer) and walked him back into Mexico.

I had a couple thoughts on this. First, being outnumbered and outgunned, from a tactical point of view it was probably wise not to get in a fight with the Mexican cops over who was going to take the prisoner. But second, here in California we have a law that basically says on a boundary of two or more jurisdictions, jurisdiction of either side rests within 500 yards of that boundary. I'm guessing both Texas and the United States have similar laws.

It was clear that the Juarez cops, who were in hot pursuit, grabbed the suspect up in the US but well within 500 yards of the international boundary. Would allowing them to do so have been legally acceptable based on any US law that speaks to overlapping jurisdictions?

[FmrHammerMonkey]

I lived and worked in EL Paso for 4 years. What I came to understand after bashing my head against it initially is that the border is never a place where finite rules and laws are evenly applied. The culture infusion is so ingrained between the US side and Mexican, that the border is merely a speed bump. We do enforce our laws, that is not the issue, what I found was that we waived them, as did the Mexicans when it suited. On my low level of LE as a USCS Inspector, we didn't have working relationships with Juarez police, not to say they didn't have officers who did so with ours at other levels. At the border, we didn't do any direct dealings with them generally, and we tended to mistrust them anyway. It was common knowledge that a Honest Cop in Juarez had a short career when I worked there. The corruption was, probably is rampant still.

[battlewagon]

In south Texas, we would often encounter MX law enforcement on US ground. And keep in mind we have a damn river making a border. So there is no accidentally crossing like BP and MX LE does in Arizona. Like bruh your pants are wet from the waist down, this wasnt a mistake. We just return them south. But of course if we do it, it is an international crisis.

We've had standoffs where drug mules would be standing in the middle of the river with us on one side, and the MX military on the other. So they would come north and stash up in the super thick carrizzo and brush that grows on the river bank. It is so thick in many places that you can know someone is on our river bank on the other side of this bushel of brush, less than a few feet away, and can't get to them. Well, more than once this standoff would end when a MX Marine or whatever force would strip off their body armor, top, and hand their rifle to another Marine, and swim north and proceed to initiate street justice and bring the guy back south.

Their aircraft make incursions north all the time as well.

[L-1]

Thanks guys!