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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2007 
Border Brush Fire Sparks Diplomatic Protest
 Associated Press
| | A Border Patrol agent uses a searchlight while looking for footprints along the U.S. and Mexican border in Naco, Arizona, December 5, 2006. Mexico complained to the United States in a diplomatic note on Tuesday after learning that U.S. Border Patrol agents crossed into its territory a day earlier to extinguish a fast-spreading brush fire. (Jeff Topping/Reuters) |
Mexico has sent a diplomatic note to the United States objecting to an alleged incursion into Mexican territory by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Arizona trying to extinguish a fire, the country's Foreign Relations Department said Tuesday.
The incursion allegedly took place on Monday, as Border Patrol agents stationed in Sonoita were trying to quash a brush fire on the U.S. side that quickly spread into Mexico, the department said.
The Foreign Relations Department said it was notified of the incident on Tuesday by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, which reported that the border agents immediately returned to their side of the border after the fire was out.
The Embassy did not release a public statement Tuesday.
"The Foreign Relations Department has expressed to the U.S. Embassy via a diplomatic note, its rejection of the incursion," the Mexican government's news release said.
"While the department recognizes that the incursion may have been a response to an attempt to deal with an emergency, as the U.S. Embassy states, it has reiterated ... that even during emergency situations, it is required, without exception, to immediately notify the Mexican authorities."
The complaint comes on the heels of another alleged border incursion late last month, when U.S. workers erecting border fences between Douglas, Ariz., and the Mexican border city of Agua Prieta, allegedly crossed about 10 yards into Mexico.
At that time, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza issued a statement promising to look into the incident and asserting that the United States "has the deepest respect for the integrity of the sovereignty of Mexican soil and for the importance of the border shared by our two countries." |
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