WASHINGTON (AP) - Mexican drug cartel members threatened to kill U.S. agents working on the American side of the border this month, a Texas congressman said Thursday.
Republican Michael McCaul said a law enforcement bulletin was issued this month warning that Mexican gangsters were overheard plotting to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Texas Rangers stationed along the border. McCaul did not identify which cartels or what agency issued the bulletin.
Don Reay, executive director of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said threats against American law enforcement officials along the border are nothing new.
"We get almost periodic reports of some informant saying there is a bounty" on U.S. authorities, Reay said. "We realize the potential is there, the threat is there."
The latest bulletin warned of a plot to shoot at the agents with AK-47 assault rifles from the Mexican side of the border into the U.S.
Reay said he couldn't comment on the specific threat McCaul mentioned, but said it was proof that a serious security threat remains along the U.S. border with Mexico. Members of Congress have asked the administration to get what they call "operational control" of the Mexican and Canadian borders.
But they define that as meaning no "unlawful entries into the United States", including drugs, terrorists and illegal immigrants, a definition Homeland Security officials call unrealistic.