South Texas Sheriffs Deputy Shot 3 Times by Cartel Members
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas After cross-border incidents in January May June & September read Texas Attorney General Greg Abbotts letter (click here) to President Obama urging him to take action. Just last week a south Texas Sheriff Deputy from Hidalgo County was shot three times by cartel operatives. Said Abbott in his letter I implore you to aggressively confront this escalating threat.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20500
(Sent via facsimile and U.S. mail).
Dear Mr. President Over a year ago I wrote to you warning of the increasing threat of cartel-related violence spilling across our border with Mexico. At the time gunfire from cartels in Juarez had crossed over the border into El Paso. Fortunately for El Pasoans those bullets struck only buildings rather than bodies. But as I warned back then we cannot simply rely on good fortune to protect American lives from the ever-present threat of cartel violence on our southern border. Since the incident in El Paso the threat from the cartels has only grownand now the bullets have struck Americans. Just last weekend in a deadly shootout with cartel operatives a deputy sheriff in Hidalgo County Texas was shot three times. Thankfully the officer survived but the Hidalgo County Sheriff confirmed that the shooting spilled over from ongoing drug wars involving the Gulf Cartel in Mexico. Unfortunately last weeks gun battle in Hidalgo County was not an isolated incident. In January of this year highway workers repairing a road near a known drug-smuggling route were fired upon from the southern side of the border near Fort Hancock Texas. In June Texas law enforcement officers near Abram Texas exchanged fire with drug smugglers who attacked them from across the border. In May U.S. Border Patrol agents near Mission Texas also came under fire under similar circumstances. And in September one man was killed when cartel operatives exchanged gunfire between vehicles driving down a highway in McAllen Texas. Within just the last two weeks three high-level cartel leaders have been arrested inside the United States. Reports indicate they were hiding in Texas in an attempt to avoid violence in Mexico. But the violence is already starting to follow these criminals to the United States as the increasing cartel activity in South Texas demonstrates. Their presence in our country is more evidence that the cartels increasingly view the porous border as no more than a line on a map. And if your Administration continues to fail to secure the border against this threat it is only a matter of time before American lives are lost. I implore you to aggressively confront this escalating threat. The safety and security of the Americans you have pledged to defend is at risk because of the cartel battles spilling across our border. To protect American lives your administration must immediately dedicate more manpower to border securityespecially along the 1254 mile Texas border which remains unacceptably porous.| Media links |
| Letter to President Obama |
Texas and its law enforcement personnel at the state county and local levels remain committed to working with your Administration to maintain the highest level of public safety. We ask that you collaborate with us to accomplish that goal before more American blood is lost.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely
Greg Abbott
Attorney General of Texas
