Veterans Group Works to Close Border Wall Gaps near San Diego

A handful of veterans trekked into the mountains east of San Diego to place concertina wire in small gaps in the border wall to slow the increasing migrant flow from Mexico into the United States. The group of veterans who call themselves “Border Vets” included Kate Monroe, a current candidate for Congress running against Democrat Mike Levin (D-CA) in the race for the state’s 49th District.

Monroe, a retired Marine Corps veteran, joined the group on Wednesday and highlighted the effort in a post on X, saying, “I put my life on the line to serve our country once when I signed up to join the Marines, and I’m amped to serve our country again in this way. However, it is disappointing that I had to do it and that nobody else had the guts to do it.”

I secured the border myself.

I’m the only person in America who came to secure the border.

No one else in congress.

No president.

No border patrol.

Nobody in our country would do this.

So I had to do it myself.

I put my life on the line to serve our country once… pic.twitter.com/jZYooeEY4r

— Kate Monroe, CEO (@KateMonroeCEO) February 21, 2024

In a NewsNation report, the group was pictured at the base of the border wall just east of San Diego where migrants from across the globe are brought to the gaps by cartel smugglers. The group admits they don’t know how long the temporary fix to close the gaps might last before smugglers remove the wire, but Monroe told a NewsNation reporter, “That’s not going to stop us or deter us from coming here. If we can stop them for one day, one hour, one week, we’ve stopped more people from coming into our country.”

As efforts underway in Mexico to curtail the flow of migrants using freight trains to reach the border in Texas have reduced crossings there by more than 60 percent since December, some areas of the border to the west, including the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector have been unimpacted by the measures.

According to a source within Customs and Border Protection, migrant crossings within the agency’s San Diego Sector, which includes the Jacumba and Boulevard areas to the East, has spiked compared to last year. The source told Breitbart Texas apprehensions between October and the third week of February are 76% higher than the same time frame last year.

To date, in fiscal year 2024, more than 140,000 migrants have entered the United States near San Diego compared to slightly more than 80,000 in the same time frame in fiscal year 2023.

The source says the increased flow into the sector is making the task of apprehending the migrants and transporting them to a processing facility. “Some are camping out near the border fence as they wait to be taken into custody, with migrants spread throughout the sector continue to cross, the logistics are just too much for us right now.” Migrant groups crossing in the area where the Border Vets placed wire to fill in existing gaps, according to the source, can include migrants from China, Turkey, several African nations, and host of other countries outside the hemisphere.

As noted by News-Nation, civilians are prohibited from tampering or manipulating the border wall, but the source tells Breitbart Texas the group’s activities will likely not be a concern to the agency and will be a welcome site to rank and file Border Patrol agents who are overwhelmed by the volume of migrant traffic in the area.

Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol.  Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.