Border Authorities, Residents Decry Rise In Violence From Smugglers And Illegals; Armed Incursions Into Texas; Senate hearing promotes tougher border controls; what form will they take?(A)

Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL

The U.S. is under attack by violent smugglers armed with assault rifles and migrants hurling "Molotov rocks" who will stop at nothing to cross the country's border with Mexico, law enforcement officials told Congress Wednesday.

"Thirty years ago, even 15 years ago, we were dealing with a much different class of people," Sheriff Wayne Jernigan of Val Verde County, Texas, told a joint hearing of Senate subcommittees on terrorism and immigration.

"They were very docile, very submissive. At worst they'd try to flee from you and flee back into Mexico," Jernigan said.

Now he said they come in groups of 20, 30, or 50. They're armed and dangerous, and openly defiant of authority.

"They're determined they're going north, one way or the other," he said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee begins debate today on controversial fixes to the nation's immigration and border problems. Sponsors of one fix held Wednesday's hearing on border violence to highlight the need for action.