Assaults on Border Patrol officers trying to stem the tide of illegal immigration are up a whopping 200% over the previous year to date according to testimony by Border Patrol Chief Mark A. Morgan before a Senate committee on Wednesday.
Image Credit: U.S. Army photo by Miguel A. Negron/Released
“The men and women of the Border Patrol have one of the toughest jobs in federal law enforcement,” said Morgan, adding, “They are the most assaulted federal law enforcement in the us, more than 7,400 border patrol agents have been assaulted since 2006.”
Without detailing the extent of the assaults, he said the numbers have jumped. “That rose in FY16 by 20 percent and year to date were seeing an increase in assaults by 200 percent over previous year to date. It’s a dangerous job.”
Morgan also told the Senators two agents have been killed in the last four months.
The startling rise in attacks on Border Patrol officers comes as a surge in illegal crossings makes border security even more difficult.
In joint testimony provided to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the agency’s top two officials said that 408,870 illegal crossers were caught in the last fiscal year, which ended in September. That was higher than in fiscal 2015.
Morgan and Deputy Chief Carla Provost revealed that apprehensions of younger, “unaccompanied alien children,” has surged since October 1. By November 16, some 10,549 have been caught, a 38 percent one year surge.
This rise in violence against Border Patrol officers should be no surprise based on the track record of illegal alien lawbreakers already in the country.