600 Border Patrol Agents Assaulted in 2019, Says CBP

More than 600 Border Patrol agents were assaulted in the line of duty so far this fiscal year. They remain among the most assaulted of all federal law enforcement officers.

Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera, in his capacity as Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council Local 3307, said assaults continue to happen at an ever-increasing rate during an interview with Valley Central CBS 4.

“Since the beginning of the year, more and more of our agents are getting assaulted,” Agent Cabrera told reporter Sydney Hernandez.

Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost says that the number of agents assaulted this year has exceeded 600, Hernandez reported.

Breitbart Texas reports extensively on the assaults carried out on Border Patrol agents as the patrol the front lines of our nation’s borders.

Cabrera says the assaults cover a wide range in terms of levels of violence.

“We do see a lot of it, our guys get assaulted quite a bit, from punching them, a full on fist fight, pushing on them, spitting on them, it happens quite a bit,” Cabrera explained. ‘It’s something we train for, we continue to train for, we’re always training for something like that, so we can go home to our families at the end of the night.”

The agent whose regular duties focus on the nation’s busiest sector in terms of migrant apprehensions recalled a particular assault.

“They actually fought for eight minutes and luckily the big guy ran away, but it took eight minutes for someone to get out there and help. Luckily, the agent was in tip-top shape and was able to hold him down until help arrived,” he told the local CBS affiliate.

Some assaults are much more violent and potentially deadly.

In August, Breitbart Texas reported that Gulf Cartel members in Mexico opened fire on Border Patrol agents assigned to a river patrol boat near Fronton, Texas. The gunfire came from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande from what appeared to be AK-47s or a similar style rifle. Fortunately, the agents were not injured but Border Patrol officials reported the boat was struck by gunfire several times.

In June, a Calexico Station Border Patrol agent became the victim of another violent assault when someone on the Mexican side of the border wall began throwing softball-sized rocks at the agent as he attempted to apprehend a migrant who had just illegally crossed the border, Breitbart Texas reported.

Rock-throwing migrants assault agents frequently — often creating life-threatening situations.

A video released by CBP officials in June shows a man firing several rounds at a border wall near San Luis, Arizona, Breitbart Texas reported. The action was captured by officials operating electronic border surveillance equipment. Fortunately, no one was struck by the gunfire.

Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents became the targets of assaults in July when a pair of migrants fought with the agents in an attempt to avoid apprehension.

Valley Central reported that 794 agents were assaulted during all of Fiscal Year 2018 — 844 the year before that. Official numbers for Fiscal Year 2019 are expected to be released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials sometime in October.