Assaults Against Border Patrol Up 30% Since Last Year

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Assaults against U.S. Border Patrol have increased 30% since last year, according to a report from the government watchdog group Judicial Watch.

“It may be hard to imagine, but the situation along the Mexican border appears to be worsening,” the report said. “Just months after government figures disclosed unprecedented criminal activity, a distressing escalation in drug smuggling and brazen attacks against federal agents, the U.S. Border Patrol reveals an alarming 30% increase in assaults against officers in the first five months of fiscal year 2022, which started in October. Back in mid-August, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the frontline Homeland Security agency charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S., confirmed that organized Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) are behind the movement, and they are a serious threat to national security and public safety.”

“The latest CPB stats show that agents are increasingly encountering violence on the job and a growing number are coming under attack,” the report added. “So far, this fiscal year the agency has recorded 194 agent assaults compared to 149 during the same period in 2021. In the majority of cases, federal agents were physically attacked by another person. The rest of the incidents mostly involved rock-throwing and vehicular assault. In some of the attacks the perpetrators used guns or knives, according to the agency.”

After a recent case near the border wall in New Mexico, the sector’s chief, Gloria Chavez, wrote on Twitter, “USBP Agents face threats every day on the border. Transnational criminal organizations conduct counter-surveillance on our border operations daily. Watch your 6, USBP!”

The news comes as the border crisis that began after President Biden took office continues to worsen, with illegal immigration levels hitting record highs while deportations hit record lows.

“In Fiscal Year 2021, ICE officers and special agents effectively carried out their national security, public safety, and border security mission despite having to work through the devastating COVID-19 pandemic,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Tae Johnson said in a statement. “As the annual report’s data reflects, ICE’s officers and special agents focused on cases that delivered the greatest law enforcement impact in communities across the country while upholding our values as a nation.”

According to a report from ICE earlier this month, there were just 59,011 deportations in fiscal year 2021, less than a third of the 185,884 deporations that had occurred in fiscal year 2020. During that time, CBP detained over 1.7 million migrants — the second-highest annual total on record.

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