Border Patrol Union: Feds Risking Agents' Lives to Appease 'Fringe' Groups

The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) has condemned the decision by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) to “overhaul its basic training on the use of force and mandate the use of cameras in vehicles and on agents.” 

In a blunt press release circulated on Thursday, the NBPC said that the changes have put the lives of Border Patrol (BP) agents in jeopardy in order to appease fringe groups. The border patrol union also called out the CBP for not releasing criminal histories of the illegal border crossers who make allegations against BP agents and failing to prosecute violent illegal aliens who attack agents. They also suggest that the U.S. government is not allocating enough resources to secure the U.S./Mexico border properly.

The NBPC begins the press release by explaining that the Border Patrol has chosen to use the already diminished funding for the U.S. Border Patrol Agency to place cameras in BP vehicles. “The decision would cost millions of dollars at a time when Border Patrol agents are lacking basic resources to secure the border and a long-overdue pay reform package,” according to the release.

The release also states that BP agents are unable to secure the “porous” border due to budgetary constraints. This reporter confirmed these assertions on recent tours of the U.S./Mexico border, where I witnessed miles upon miles of unsecured, wide-open border. I also witnessed solitary BP agents who had been assigned to monitor miles of the unsafe territories with no backup in sight and often in areas where no fence or barrier of any kind separated the public servant from cartel-controlled stretches of Mexico.

Border Patrol Union Press Release