MCALLEN, Texas — Attacks on border patrol agents continue to take place along the Texas border as illegal aliens try to fight with authorities in an effort to elude capture. During a week’s period, two U.S. Border Patrol agents have been attacked while trying to arrest illegal aliens crossing into the country.
One of those cases took place Saturday evening near the border town of Penitas, where Ssahil Jose Lainez Fugon, an illegal alien from Honduras had just crossed into Texas as part of a larger group. Border Patrol agents responded in an effort to arrest the various aliens in the group.
An agent identified in court documents only as CG, spotted Lainez trying to hide in the brush and moved closer to arrest him. The Honduran alien then punched CG in an effort to get away. The two men continued to wrestle and fight until another agent arrived and helped handcuff Lainez. Medical personnel were called in to check CG’s condition since the agent had received cuts, abrasions and scratches during the struggle.
Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that Lainez was charged with one count of assaulting a federal officer. Shortly after Lainez’s hearing, Breitbart Texas spoke with Chris Cabrera, the Vice-president for the Local 3307 of the National Border Patrol Council. In his capacity as a union spokesman, Cabrera is able to talk about issues that affect the safety and well being of border patrol agents.
“Assaults on our agents have been on the rise for some time now,” Cabrera said. “It is good to see that those responsible for assaulting our agents are finally being held accountable for their actions. Hopefully this will send a message that if you assault out agents you will be prosecuted.”
Just days before in Sullivan City, agents responded to an area near the river after aerial surveillance revealed that six men had just crossed into the U.S. from Mexico. As agents approached the group, two men managed to flee. One of the human smugglers identified as Jose Adolfo Montes tried to run away and then attacked one of the agents. The agent was identified in court records as M. Klauenberg. Montes managed to hit the agent in the face. The agent was able to subdue Montes and handcuff him, but as they were taking Montes to one of the Border Patrol trucks, the man once again tried to run away. Montes was charged with one count of human smuggling but did not receive a separate charge for the assault on the agent.
Breitbart Texas has previously reported about how human and drug smugglers have been able to assault agents and either not been charged or received a slap on the wrist for their crime. One of the most dramatic cases took place in May 2014 when Mexican national Miguel Angel Andrade had been driving a minivan with 1,000 pounds of marijuana. After a high speed chase that ended in a crash, Andrade tried to run away. That is when one agent tried to arrest the heavyset drug smuggler. While court records describe the assault as a scuffle, similar to the most recent case, in reality the agent spent three days at a local hospital recovering from the injuries.
In Andrade’s case, prosecutors dismissed the charges of having assaulted the agent in exchange for him pleading guilty on the drug charges.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.