812.00Detention/13: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Mexico (Morrow)
188. Our 124, March 12, 6 p.m. Mexican Ambassador has taken up with Undersecretary question of disposition of Mexican refugee troops detained at Fort Bliss. Ambassador states such troops are of two classes, regulars and volunteers. Our War Department reports in response to an inquiry from us that there are, among those refugee troops, 61 civilian volunteers and in addition 62 volunteers from Mexican civil service. Mexican Ambassador has requested that these volunteers be released with or without parole in order that they may return to their families and work in Ciudad Juarez. The Ambassador intimates that he will later ask that the regular troops be returned to some area not within the field of military operations, for example, Matamoros.
Before I make any recommendation to the President I must know what the Mexican Government desires to do with reference to the alternative propositions set out in my 124. So soon as the Mexican Government advises us of their wishes, I will at once take the matter up with the President.