Illegal Immigrant Allegedly Kicks Border Patrol Agent in Head During Arrest

An illegal immigrant allegedly kicked a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the head during an arrest.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials reported that Rio Grande Valley Sector agents came upon a group of migrants who had illegally crossed the border from Mexico on Friday morning. As the agents attempted to take the group into custody, one became combative.

During the fight, the migrant allegedly kicked the Border Patrol agent in the head. The blow caused a laceration on the agent’s forehead. The agents got control of the migrant and placed him under arrest for immigration violations and for attacking a federal agent.

The injured agent was taken to a hospital where doctors treated him for the laceration and released him.

Border Patrol agents are among the most assaulted of all federal law enforcement officers. During the first 11 months of Fiscal Year 2018, the number of assault incidents against Border Patrol agents increased 18 percent, Breitbart Texas reported.

A report released this week by U.S. Customs and Border Protection reveals that Border Patrol agents were the target of various types of assaults 619 times between October 1, 2017, and August 31, 2018. While the number of agents assaulted dropped by eight percent from Fiscal Year 2017, the number of assault incidents actually increased by 18 percent. In Fiscal Year 2017, CBP officials reported 286 incidents of assault compared to 338 in Fiscal Year 2018, the report states.

Agents are frequently attacked with rocks and other forms of physical violence including gunfire and vehicular assaults.

“U.S. Border Patrol agents are the most frequently assaulted and most frequently injured federal law enforcement officers,”  El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron A. Hull during the groundbreaking of a new border wall segment in El Paso, Texas, last month. “We’ve seen time and time again that the addition of serious infrastructure creates a safer environment for our people to operate. It also creates a safer community on both sides of the border.”