CBP: Mexican helicopters cross border twice — but it's OK

HAVANA — Federal officials said as many as two Mexican navy helicopters that crossed into South Texas on Thursday were not violating U.S. airspace.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a Mexican helicopter crossing the border early Thursday morning and a similar incident early in the afternoon, said Juan Muñoz-Torres, an agency spokesman in Washington, D.C.

It was not clear whether the same helicopter was involved in both incidents or whether there were two different aircraft.

An investigator with the Starr County District Attorney’s Office spotted a navy helicopter, identified by the word “Marina” on its side, about 12:40 p.m., said Starr County Sheriff Rene Fuentes.

During that afternoon crossing, the helicopter made its way from Alto Bonito, a community along U.S. 83 east of Rio Grande City, past La Joya and south of Peñitas, sheriff’s deputies said.

The U.S. and Mexico have a longstanding policy allowing each country’s federal aircraft to cross the border for brief periods of time, Muñoz-Torres said. A similar agreement exists between the United States and Canada.

The agreement with Mexico forgives accidental crossings by military pilots and allows Mexican and U.S. authorities to carry out missions in their home countries while surveying in the other nation’s airspace, Muñoz-Torres said.

“It is allowed for short periods of time and not on a regular basis,” he said. “But given the situation in northern Mexico, these incursions are happening more often than they used to.”

Widespread battles between the Mexican military and drug cartels have taken place across northeast Mexico since February.

The bloodshed stems from a split between the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, the once-allied dominant drug smuggling organizations in the region. At least 28,000 people have died in Mexican drug violence since President Felipe Calderón launched an offensive against the cartels in December 2006.

Mexican military helicopters crossing to the U.S. side of the Rio Grande garnered headlines in March, when at least two such incidents were reported in Zapata County.

An exact number of crossings by Mexican military helicopters into the U.S. this year was not immediately available Thursday, but Muñoz-Torres said there have been “several.”

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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.