The dangerous situation in the border city of Palomas, Mexico, escalated a notch this week as its police chief, Emilio Perez, fled the city on Tuesday, March 18, for the U.S. border, requesting political asylum. He reportedly told Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at the Columbus (N.M.) Port of Entry that his department’s two officers had fled and he had no idea where they were.
The officers’ flight leaves Palomas’ 10,000 citizens without police protection. Mexican federal and state officers from Chihuahua were apparently being dispatched to the area to help control the situation, but there is no indication when they will arrive. So far, the Mexican military has not been called in.
The New Mexico State Police do not intend to send forces at this time, although a spokesman for Gov. Bill Richardson’s office said the violence there indicated the continued need for National Guard presence on the border. Operation Jump Start, that has deployed National Guard troops on the border since mid-2006 to augment U.S. Border Patrol agents, is ending this summer. Since last July, an average of 3,000 troops have been deployed in the four Southwest border states.
Palomas, about 30 miles south of Deming, New Mexico, has until recently largely escaped the violence attributed to border cities such as Juarez or Tiajuana. In the last month, several murders have been reported and other people have “disappeared.” On Tuesday, the bodies of two people were found wrapped in blankets and dumped along a road near Palomas. Several other people were seen taken hostage over the past few days by heavily armed men, as reported by the newspaper El Diario of Juarez, Mexico.
Authorities are blaming cartels who are in a war among themselves to control drug trafficking in the area.
While the hostilities continue unchecked, people on both sides of the border are increasingly nervous. People who have gone to Palomas regularly are reluctant to go since there is now no police presence. "People are just afraid to visit,” a Columbus, N.M., resident told the local paper. “It wasn’t unusual to go there two, three times a week and quite frankly, now we’re just avoiding it."