(Photo: After a record number of assaults, Border Patrol agents have called in reinforcements and retrofitted their vehicles with steel bars to protect from rock attacks. Amy Isackson/KPBS )
United States Border Patrol agents say they're under assault as they guard a section of the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego. Officials say immigrant and drug smugglers have stepped up attacks on agents who fear for their lives as rocks the size of softballs are lobbed over the border fence.
But, people who live just south of the border fence say they're under siege, too, from counterattacks by the U.S. Border Patrol . KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has the story.
On one of the main streets in Tijuana's Colonia Libertad, houses line one side.
On the other is the 10 foot tall rusty metal border fence.
For years, people here have joked they live just a stone's throw from the United States. But beginning last August, that turn of phrase became serious.
Rubis Guadalpe Argumedo's kitchen window stares straight at the border fence. She says one sweltering night last summer the window was open and tear gas poured in.
She says Border Patrol agents lobbed the canister over the fence and told her it was payback for the rocks that were being hurled at them.
Argumedo says her son had nosebleeds for two weeks.
The Mexican Consulate confirmed that at least 11 neighbors have been treated at Tijuana hospitals as the tear gassings have continued.
Argumedo : Last weekend, we were watching a movie and the dog barked. I went out and opened the kitchen door and saw something fall and then there was an explosion and I said ‘hey, hey, hey!’
Argumedo says one recent Saturday night, she and her husband were watching a movie when the dog started to bark.
She says she opened the kitchen door and saw an explosion outside.
Argumedo says her house filled with smoke and she felt like she was drowning.
She ran out to her front porch and yelled at a Border Patrol agent on the other side of the fence.
Argumedo : I told him don't throw anything. There are kids here. And he said, “I am the police of the world. No one touches me.” I said, you're not in Iraq. He said, I'm very sorry. But we're going to keep shooting because they're throwing rocks at us.
Two nights later, on the opposite side of the fence, Border Patrol agent Damon Forman's radio crackles with news of the latest rock throwing incident.
Forman : It just happens. Just moments ago when the sun was up, it was quiet. And now, slowly but surely there's going to start being movement.
Forman is perched on a dirt mound on the U.S. side of the border and can see Argumedo's home.
Historically, Colonia Libertad has been a haven for smugglers who take advantage of the neighborhood's proximity to the border to stage their operations.
Forman says assaults on agents have increased five-fold in the area since October compared to the same time last year.
Forman : At one time, they'll be maybe 15 people on the south side of the fence, and you'll see the sky fill with rocks and all of them will come over on top of our agents at one time.
Forman says since border security has gotten tighter, smuggling organizations are increasingly desperate and therefore, increasingly aggressive.
In response, the Border Patrol has amped up its arsenal.
Agents spray rounds of rubber bullets filled with pepper into Mexico.
They were recently equipped with new non-lethal guns that fire bigger pellets that hurt more.
But, Forman won't acknowledge the use of tear gas.
Forman : But I can stand by my word in saying that I am sure those agents, whatever tactics they are using, it's not targeted towards anyone but the people who are committing the assaults and trying to harm our agents. And if some people who are not involved in the smuggling activity are affected, I put that blame on the smugglers who use the neighborhoods for shelter to hide and operate in.
However, Alberto Lozano, spokesman for the Mexican Consulate, says consular officials are outraged.
Lozano : Regardless the reason, there's no chance we can accept that Mexican nationals could be hit by tear gas devices or whatever on Mexican soil.
Lozano says the consulate asked the Border Patrol to investigate and is waiting for the results.
Meanwhile, the Border Patrol has called in reinforcements and installed steel bars over their vehicle windows.
Lozano : (Knocking on steel) It’s one of the ways we show we're not going to be pushed around and that we're going to be here.
Argumedo, who was born and raised in the neighborhood, says she's not moving either.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
