Exclusive Interview: Border Patrol Agents Retain Right to Defend Themselves

The safety of the men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol has often beencollateral damage in left-of-center illegal immigration advocates’ effortsto reduce border security and continue allowing the steady flow ofillegal aliens into the United States from nations south of theU.S./Mexico border. 

However, recent lobbying efforts, primarily led by theAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), to prevent U.S. Border Patrolagents from using force in certain deadly and remote situations has failed.

“I was surprised by the Border Patrol Agency standing up for us in theface of special interest groups,” Shawn Moran, Vice President ofthe National Border Patrol Council, exclusively told Breitbart News. “Past history shows that the BorderPatrol leadership usually backs down in the face of special interestgroups.”

Moran was referring to recent efforts to curb the use ofdeadly force by Border Patrol agents who were having rocks or otherdeadly items thrown at them. The ACLU, along with the academics and previouslypolitically-appointed law enforcement brass from the nonprofit PoliceExecutive Research Forum, sought to prevent the U.S. Border Patrol andtheir parent agency, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), from usingdeadly force in response to rock attacks and suspects using vehicles toattack agents. 

The activists’ effort to diminish the ability for Border Patrolagents to defend themselves was reportedly initiated by a letter signedby 10 congressional leaders after the death of an illegal immigrant in2010. All of the letters signers were Democrats, including then-Representative Bob Filner. The 2010 death of the illegal alien occurred approximately a year after the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent by illegal aliens in the same area. In that instance, several Mexican nationals illegally entered the U.S., lured, trapped, and killed Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, Jr. because they wanted his night-vision goggles.

The CPB and Border Patrol Agency decision to continue allowing Border Patrol Agents to defend themselves was first reportedby Elliot Spagat of the Associated Press (AP). The AP article wasactually quite fair and acknowledged some of the dangers lone BorderPatrol agents face while having to operate in remote border regionareas. The article acknowledged that the protocols for use-of-force thatare appropriate for law enforcement officers in urban areas are oftennot appropriate in desolate surroundings along the U.S./Mexico border.

“The men and women of the border patrol with their boots on the groundhave won a major victory in the fight to defend themselves and protectthe American public,” said Moran. “They are out there all alone and areconstantly assailed by rocks, stones, and bricks.”

“This is an absolute victory, there are two sides to every story and theBorder Patrol agents’ side is often left out when an accusation isleveled against them,” Moran said. “They choose to assault Border Patrolagents and endanger our lives and this guarantees that agents have theright to defend themselves.”

A previous Breitbart News exclusive indicated the aggressive defense ofBorder Patrol agents by Moran and his National Border Patrol Council mayhave actually played the pivotal role in this victory for the men andwomen the council represents. When the ACLU and their ideologicalcounterparts in media began using one-sided reports of abuses of powerand excessive force from illegal aliens to reduce the ability of BorderPatrol agents to defend themselves, Moran and his National Border PatrolCouncil responded by leveling an unprecedented public campaign to defend the agents. 

Not only did they demand the CBP begin to release data on the criminalhistories of many of their agents’ accusers, they also publicly accusedthe CBP of intentionally restricting access to that information alongwith other pertinent data regarding the numbers of attacks on BorderPatrol agents. Perhaps the most shocking revelation from Moran’sNational Border Patrol Council was that the CBP was refusing to prosecute illegal aliens who had physically assaulted U.S. law enforcement from the Border Patrol.