Pentagon and DHS officials are demanding answers after two American soldiers were confronted and disarmed on the US side of the border by armed Mexican troops.
Here’s more from DC Examiner:
Armed Mexican troops disarmed two United States soldiers while they were on the American side of the border, U.S. defense officials have said.
U.S. Northern Command said in a statement that “five to six Mexican military personnel questioned two U.S. Army soldiers who were conducting border support operations” this month. The U.S. soldiers were in an unmarked Customs and Border Protection [CBP] vehicle near the southwest border near Clint, Texas.
Officials confirmed that the Mexican troops were armed with what seemed to be rifles. They raised their weapons when they saw the two U.S. soldiers, and then took a pistol from one and put it in the CBP vehicle. According to officials talking to CNN, the two Americans obliged “in an attempt to de-escalate a potential volatile situation.”
“Throughout the incident, the U.S. soldiers followed all established procedures and protocols,” the statement said. The two U.S. troops were on the south side of the security perimeter but north of the Rio Grande and thus were in the U.S., according side American territory, it added.
Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security officials demanded an explanation from the Mexican government. “An inquiry by CBP and DOD [Department of Defense] revealed that the Mexican military members believed that the US Army soldiers were south of the border,” the statement said.
“Though they were south of the border fence, U.S. soldiers remained in U.S. territory, north of the actual border.”
Clint is very close to El Paso, which is opposite Ciudad Juarez.
I’m not familiar with the terrain down there but it would seem easy enough to know if you are north or south of the Rio Grande. It isn’t a huge river but you still have to cross it whether by boat or by bridge.
The question is why were Mexican troops on our side of the border anyway? Where they chasing drug cartel members or migrants trying to cross the border?
While this should’ve never happened I suspect this will end up being a big misunderstanding, given that the CBP vehicle was unmarked.