In certain areas of narrow passage through the border, many hopeful immigrants found themselves in the midst of mob rule. Mexican gangs set up checkpoints where everyone had to pay their last peso to cross the border. There were no exceptions, unless you wanted to trade the favors of your wife or daughters.
The sections of the border patrolled by horse units were particularly active. Inaccessible to standard all-terrain vehicles, the trails were saturated with thousands of fleeing Mexicans. Many wept as they ran across the border and stood on U. S. soil.
Texas was the first state to close their fourteen commercial crossing points into Mexico. El Paso, Pharr, Laredo, Eagle Pass, and Brownsville were overrun by 1:20 A. M. Seven illegal aliens were trampled to death on the Mexican side of the Zaragoza-Ysleta Bridge south of El Paso. Local law enforcement officials and highway patrol officers were called to help secure the crossings. California, New Mexico, and Arizona quickly followed suit.
The Mexican stampede was on, and the numbers were growing by the minute. Desperate people slapped together whatever they could carry and joined the frenzied rush of illegal aliens heading for isolated sections of the border. From battered pickup trucks carrying twenty riders to small caravans of pack mules, these people were willing to overcome any hardship, face any ordeal, to escape their miserable, poverty-ridden lives.
The image of a prosperous and happy life in America was addictive. With the United States dealing with a huge disaster, and 72 percent of the Border Patrol agents detailed to the Colorado River, the timing could not have been better.
Sixteen antiaircraft missiles were now deployed around the official residence of the president, to provide a multilayered air defense. In addition, hundreds of man-portable heat-seeking Stinger missiles were part of Operation Safe Skies. Supported by tankers, fighter aircraft patrolled Washington, D. C., twenty-four hours a day.
President Cord Macklin, continuously updated on the border situation, went straight from Marine One to the Oval Office. Vice President David Timkey was conferring with General Jeremiah Jamison when Macklin, Prost, Adair, and General Chalmers walked in and sat down.
Dave Timkey, a former governor of Tennessee, was Macklins point man with members of Congress.
"Where do we stand?" the president asked the commander of homeland security.
Shoulders squared, General Jamison responded without looking at his briefing notes. "Mr. President, the invasion is growing by the hour. CIA agents in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, have reported that illegal immigrants are pouring into Mexico from Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Some of the immigrants from Colombia and Ecuador have been waiting months to enter Mexico on their way to the United States."
Back from attending a funeral in Norway, Dave Timkey spoke up. "Chiapas is the Mexican state that borders Guatemala. This invasion from Ecuador through Chiapas, a main crossing point for undocumented immigrants entering Mexico, began about two years ago. They've been gathering in Guatemala."
Macklin was bone-tired and his patience was running low. "Dave, I appreciate the information, but I need to know what's happening on our border."
Timkey, a tough lawyer-turned-politician, stood his ground. "Sir, ninety to one hundred thousand immigrants from south of Mexico have passed through Chiapas in the last three months to enter the United States illegally. At least one third of them are militant Muslims who openly encourage a jihad against America. Along with the Mexicans, they are now coming across our border."
Jamison had one more piece of bad news. "In the last fourteen months, an estimated twenty-five thousand Ecuadorians have traveled on the high seas to get to Mexico. Their goal, too, is to enter our country. Mr. President, we have to take control of our border at any cost, and then round up the illegal immigrants."
Macklin slumped in his chair, and then looked at his national security adviser. "Hartwell?"
"General Jamison is right. We have two major dams destroyed, there's a devastating flood, and thousands of Mexicans are storming our southern border. Everyone knows the Mexican army and the federal police have been helping illegal aliens cross the border for years. I say we warn President Cardenas of dire consequences if he doesn't stop this invasion within twenty-four hours."
"And if he doesn't?" Pete Adair asked.
"That's why we have a military" Prost said, without hesitation. "To protect our borders."
The president leaned on his desk. "I agree with Hartwell. We 11 send an urgent message to President Cardenas, but I want Secretary Austin to speak face-to-face with him before we resort to a military option, if it comes to that."
"Mr. President," Prost said firmly, "I know you're tired, but I recommend that you go on television this morning after the Cabinet meeting. The American people need your reassurance that we can handle the war on terrorism and the border problems at the same time."
Macklin sat in quiet contemplation for a moment. "Ten o'clock Eastern, Oval Office."
"Yes, sir."
The president slid his chair back. "Cabinet meeting at eight sharp?"
Chapter 25
By 3:50 A. M., illegal immigrants were scurrying across the border from Baja California to Brownsville, Texas. In many isolated areas, trampled fences, toppled signposts, abandoned personal items, and trails of litter presented clear evidence of the frantic rush to seize the opportunities waiting in the United States.
Along the West Texas border, Mexican citizens were crossing the Rio Grande in anything and everything that would float. One enterprising group even had a small Zodiac inflatable boat with an electric trolling motor. In addition to the cramped adults in the ten-foot boat, they were towing another inflatable brimming with children.
For the militant Muslims who had been waiting in Mexico and in South America for their opportunity to infiltrate the United States, the time had finally arrived. The Syrian, Saudi Arabian, and Iranian regimes, along with factions still in Iraq, secretly backed the "volunteers for martyrdom." Leadership elites in this oil-rich region planned to destabilize the United States and wear out Washington's resolve to have a presence in the Middle East.
The first signs of daylight were only minutes away when a section of F-16s assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw AFB, South Carolina, were vectored to intercept an unknown bogey southwest of Deming. The low-flying fast-moving aircraft had crossed the border from Mexico and was westbound eighteen miles inside U. S. territory.
The young pilot of the Fuerza Aerea Mexicana F-5E Tiger II was disoriented and thought he was still inside his homeland. Captain Jorge de Jesus Martino had crossed the boot heel of New Mexico and was about to enter Arizona. Aside from being lost, his other problems included faulty radios and a missing wingman. His friend had aborted his takeoff because of a malfunction in one of his engines.
Martinos air defense fighter was armed with two 20mm guns and two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. With the sudden flurry of activity along the border, and growing tensions between Mexico City and Washington, the Santa Lucia-based fighter squadron had been ordered to patrol the border.
When the F-16s intercepted the F-5E, Martino was startled. He could not believe the Americans were violating Mexican airspace. He maintained his current speed and course while the F-16 flight leader tried several times to communicate via radio.
After talking with a mission specialist in the E-3B AWACS, Major Tanner Axelson tried to use visual signals. No luck.
Captain Martino believed the Americans were trying to force him north into U. S. airspace. That could create an international incident and end his air force career.