Mexico Blames U.S. For Border Shooting Among Rival “Coyotes”

Mexico’s president was quick to accuse U.S. anti-illegal immigration groups for shooting a pickup full of undocumented aliens along the Arizona-Mexico border last week but it turns out the attack came from rival Mexican smugglers.

Gunfire is nothing new along the vast Arizona-Mexico border because it is infested with violent Mexican drug cartels and human smugglers (coyotes) who charge thousands to bring illegal immigrants into the United States. The competition is fierce and crime is on the rise yet Mexican officials blame the crisis on Americans.

When gunmen opened fire on a pickup truck carrying undocumented immigrants in northern Tucson late last week, Mexican officials immediately blamed anti-immigrant discrimination in the U.S. and demanded an “exhaustive investigation” into the incident.

Three illegal immigrants, from Guatemala and Honduras, were killed and a fourth was wounded. The truck’s driver was a Mexican man who had been paid to smuggle the group into the United Sates. Mexican President Felipe Calderon didn’t waste any time blaming “anti-immigrant sentiments that are being shown ever more openly” in Arizona. A Mexican Senator joined the discrimination bandwagon, saying that he is “profoundly indignant with the violence” on the U.S. side.

It turns out that it was fellow Mexican smugglers that ruthlessly shot the group, apparently in an effort to eliminate the fierce competition for clients. Yet, as the Montana Conservative points out, the corrupt, chaotic and inept Mexican government blames anybody and everybody but themselves for our illegal immigration and border security problems.