Over the weekend Border Patrol agents were fired upon by cartels operating on the border in Texas. According to Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert, who represents Texas' First Congressional District, and Border Patrol agents, shots may have come from a high powered .50 caliber rifle. More from Fox News:
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U.S. Border Patrol agents on the American side of the Rio Grande were forced to take cover Friday night when high-caliber weaponry was fired at them from the Mexican side of the river, sources told FoxNews.com.
The weapons were fired at the U.S. side of the riverbank in the area of the Rincon Peninsula across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico, at about 8:30 p.m., sources said. Bullets ricocheted into an area where Border Patrol agents were positioned, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com.
Border Patrol sources confirmed Gohmert's account, and said the shots may have been fired by .50-caliber weapons.
"We don't have any armor that can stop a .50-caliber round, so our Border Patrol agents had to take cover when the rounds were richocheting around them," said Gohmert, who has been in the area for the last week to get a first-hand look at the border situation.
Sources said they believe the gunfire came from members of Mexican drug cartels, which include former military members trained in shooting that type of weaponry.
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As the influx of illegal immigrants continues to overwhelm Border Patrol facilities and agent resources, cartels are operating with impunity. In Arizona as agents change diapers and change bed sheets, drug runners continue to operate and transport narcotics into the United States.
"We have all of these juveniles so they're pulling agents out of the field to come in and babysit them basically," a source said last month. "They're cancelling some of our specialty details for our crews who go out and work the mountains, calling them back in and telling them they have to work the processing center because there are so many people in there."
As this crisis has gotten worse, illegal immigration has become a top priority for American voters.
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