FAIL: Slate ‘Reporting’ Confuses Border Patrol Agents with Customs Officers

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer's patch is seen as they unveil a new mob
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Slate.com, the struggling shock blog best known for ridiculous headlines that actually represent the perspectives of many liberals, attempted to blame U.S. Border Patrol agents but got the wrong organization. Slate did not do research and incorrectly blamed U.S. Border Patrol for Obama’s appointees’ actions with U.S. Customs officers.

They wrote this headline, “Border Patrol Wants To Collect Foreign Travelers’ Social Media Account Information.”

Their article then interchanges “Border Patrol” with Customs officers, making it clear that the left-of-center blogger or her editor are simply ignorant about the subject matter they attempted to cover. As editors usually choose headlines, it is likely the editor is the more ignorant of the two.

Breitbart Texas spoke to Border Patrol Agent Shawn Moran in his capacity as Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) and he stated, “This demonstrates the utter ignorance of many in the mainstream media when it comes to anything and everything about border matters. They clearly do not know the differences between the agencies and organizations that help protect our borders.” He added, “Even the slightest attention to detail would have shown the difference between U.S. Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers.”

Had Slate done even the most basic amount of research, they would have learned that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) is broken into two parts: Office of Border Patrol (OBP) and Office of Field Operations (OFO). U.S. Border Patrol agents are under OBP and Customs officers are under OFO. One group, OBP, is primarily responsible for areas in between ports of entry while the other, OFO, is responsible for ports of entry.

The Slate article was an aggregation from an article at The Hill–and the Hill article was factual and correct.

Slate was notified by Border Patrol agents via social media over 12 hours prior to publication of this piece but did not correct the facts in their work.

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(Disclosure: Breitbart Texas sponsored the Green Line podcast for the NBPC in an effort to provide a platform for agents to inform the public about the realities on the border and what Border Patrol agents face. Director Brandon Darby received an award from the Laredo chapter of the NBPC for his work in helping to defend and bring a voice to Border Patrol agents. Breitbart News assisted in covering funeral costs for a slain Border Patrol agent previously. Darby and Breitbart senior management have directly stated and shown that helping to bring a voice to the expressed needs and interests of Border Patrol agents is a top priority–personally, individually and together through Breitbart News.)

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