812.00Detention/11
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Clark) of a Conversation With the Mexican Ambassador, March 16, 1929
The Mexican Ambassador came by appointment and took up the matter of the detained troops in El Paso, stating that he had been instructed so to do by his Foreign Office. (This confirmed the statement Mr. Morrow had made to me by telephone that Estrada had said he would instruct the Ambassador to take up the matter.)
I explained to the Ambassador that the question of the disposition of troops who sought refuge in the United States had been taken up with the President, who had thereupon directed that we present the Mexican Government with an alternative proposal. I read to the Ambassador a part of the instructions which we had [Page 367] sent to our Embassy in Mexico City regarding the matter. I assured him that we had no disposition to do anything that would recognize the belligerency of the rebels.
After some discussion the Ambassador adverted to the fact that a part of the troops who took refuge were regular troops (he thought 180), and the remainder were volunteer troops, men who, in order to defend the town from seizure by forces in rebellion against the regular government, had volunteered to assist. These were men who lived at Ciudad Juarez, certain of them at least being men with families. He asked that we release these men to the Mexican Consul, with or without parole not to engage in hostilities, in order that they might return to their homes and families. He further suggested that the discussion of the disposition of the other troops might be postponed for a few days with the thought that the situation in Mexico might in the meanwhile clear up. The Ambassador stated that if it did not clear up, he then would propose that we release the regulars to the Mexican Consul with the understanding that they be returned to Mexico at some point such as Laredo or Matamoros, where there are no military operations in progress.
I told the Ambassador that I would recommend to the Secretary that he take up with the President the Ambassador’s suggestion of releasing the volunteer troops in order that they might return to their homes, and as they were volunteers and not regulars, I would recommend that they be released without parole.
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