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El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos, refuses to treat Mexican cartel victims

by Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter June 12, 2008 12:08 a.m. PDT

 

El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos, right, addressed the media during a press conference in the judge's meeting room Tuesday at the El Paso County Courthouse. El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca center along with County Commissioner Luis Sarinana listened in. County officials met with various members of the El Paso community to discuss security at Thomason Hospital following an incident where two Mexican police officials apparently shot by drug traffickers were taken to the hospital. The hospital was locked down by sheriff's deputies as a security measure to protect the injured officers and the hospital community at large. (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)

Related: Read past stories on Juárez, plus video and audio slideshows.

According to El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos, the U.S. government should absorb much of the responsibility for treating victims of cartel violence who cross the border and receive emergency medical services at Thomason Hospital, El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos said Tuesday.

During a closed door emergency meeting Tuesday County officials, Fort Bliss officials, the El Paso County sheriff, Thomason executives met to develop a strategy to get the federal government to pay for the security expenses or treat the patients at a federally operated hospital such as William Beaumont Army Medical Center located on Ft. Bliss in the city of El Paso. The U.S. government has treated in the past drug dealers and other non-U.S. Citizens at that facility.

Cobos said a dangerous situation has emerged in which victims of cartel violence are seeking treatment in El Paso and creating a security problem -- a result of law enforcement officers at border crossings allowing entry to wounded people and the federal government's policy in the war on drugs.

Newspaper reports that county officials twice this year have implemented lockdowns with a heavy security detail after Mexican law enforcement officers who had been shot in Mexico sought emergency care at El Paso’s county Thomason Hospital. Officials fear that gangsters could "infiltrate Thomason Hospital and try to finish the job there," Cobos said.

"I believe that the violence south of the border has shown itself here, at least at Thomason Hospital," Cobos said. "We're taking steps to mitigate some of the potential situations that could potentially spill over."

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Julie L. Myers, Wednesday spoke to local El Paso ICE officials about operations and

 accomplishments nationally and in the El Paso area. During a media roundtable, Myers discussed the ongoing violence in Juárez and other parts of Mexico between warring drug cartels.

"In El Paso as in Laredo, we're seeing active daily violence across the border," Myers said. "We want to make sure we do everything we can to stop it." Myers said one way ICE is trying to curb the violence is through Operation Armas Cruzadas, an effort to identify and disrupt transborder weapons smuggling networks with the help of the the Homeland Security Information Network, a computer-based weapons task force that allows U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies to share information and intelligence.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are doubling up on security efforts to ensure violence in Juárez doesn't spill over into El Paso, said one of the top ICE officials in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Myers referred questions regarding the hospitalization of Mexican police officers at Thomason Hospital because of the ongoing violence to Roberto G. Medina, special agent-in-charge of ICE in El Paso.

Medina said that a Mexican officer hospitalized in January was a U.S. citizen, and the officers treated at Thomason last weekend were allowed to cross into the U.S. for "humanitarian reasons," although they were not U.S. citizens.   Medina said that in January, ICE agents were asked to intervene during Thomason's lockdown "as security for the American people and the public at the facility. We were there in support of the sheriff's office, which had primary jurisdiction."

Medina said that last weekend, ICE agents weren't asked to support El Paso County Sheriff's Office deputies but would do so at the request of Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca.

Friday, Juan Etiene Castruita, director of the Casas Grandes Department of Public Safety, and Lorenzo de la Torre, assistant director of public safety, were taken by ambulance to Thomason Hospital from the Bridge of the Americas after they were wounded in an ambush.

Mexican officials said last week that de la Torre was gravely wounded and that Etiene Castruita's hand was injured.

In January, Thomason Hospital was placed on lockdown after Cmdr. Fernando Lozano Sandoval, of the Chihuahua State Investigations Agency, was shot several times in the streets of Juárez. That incident cost $50,000, which the county is trying to recoup from the Mexican government, El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca said.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, told the press Tuesday that he was working with federal officials in the United States and Mexico to ensure that El Paso taxpayers do not bear the brunt of the cost of treating and securing patients from Mexico.

"When a critically wounded individual approaches our port of entry, (Customs and Border Protection) officers have no choice but to admit them; and once that individual is on U.S. soil, Thomason Hospital has no choice but to treat them," Reyes said in a statement. "The county currently receives funding from the U.S. government to help offset the cost of medical care for undocumented immigrants, and the Mexican government was also very cooperative in reimbursing Thomason for the cost of providing treatment to the Mexican officer admitted in January."

Jim Valenti, president and chief executive officer of Thomason, said finding other hospitals to treat the patients either in El Paso or away from the border city would be welcomed, but impractical. Thomason is the only Level 1 trauma center within 280 miles, and other El Paso hospitals might not be well equipped to provide the same level of emergency service or security.

Roger Maier, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said that if someone arrives at the bridge with an emergency medical condition, the person will be allowed no matter what into the United States if the person has the proper documentation.

Without it, he said, customs defers to emergency medical services to determine the proper course of emergency treatment.

"We're not medical professionals," Maier said.

County officials estimate that as many as 10 ambulances a day respond to ports of entry in the El Paso area to provide emergency services, though Maier said he suspects that figure is a little high.

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