Holding the line: Virginia Guard troops man the U.S.-Mexican border

“U.S. Senior Border Patrol Agent Jim Hawkins pointed Monday to the shallow, chocolate brown waters rushing north through a concrete tunnel entrance.

Last Thursday, Hawkins explained, a group of 34 Mexican immigrants waded through the water - dark with mud and industrial waste - for about a mile to breach a pair of metal flood gates and enter the United States.

While they pushed along in knee-high water, heavy rains started a flash flood, filled the tunnel and burst open the storm gates. A small army of U.S. border patrol agents waited on the concrete banks. They pulled dozens of men and women from the rushing waters as they spilled into the shopping district of this small border town. At least two died trying to reach the United States.”

Stumble it! | |