{"id":24927,"date":"2021-08-24T12:11:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T16:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=24927"},"modified":"2021-08-24T12:11:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T16:11:15","slug":"border-patrol-understaffed-low-morale-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2021\/08\/24\/border-patrol-understaffed-low-morale-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Border Patrol: Paper Tiger at a Collapsing Frontier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Up to half of Border Patrol personnel in Texas has been pulled from the field, with a record low 12 officers attempting to cover a busy 245-mile stretch<\/a> of the Rio Grande. As more agents are assigned to deskwork, \u201cmorale is in the toilet,\u201d says the Border Patrol\u2019s union. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf our\njob is to be out patrolling the border in between the ports of entry and\nactively searching for people who have crossed illegally, but we’re not allowed\nto go do that job, it basically creates this defeated feeling in everyone,\u201d said\nJon Anfinsen, president of the National Border Patrol Council local in Del Rio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of defeatism, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas privately admitted that the situation is \u201cunsustainable.\u201d<\/a> In a leaked audio<\/a>, Mayorkas sounded like an incompetent general plotting retreat: \u201cIf our borders are the first line of defense, we’re going to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayorkas\u2019s holistic argument that migration begins far from the southern border is valid, as far as it goes. But his palaver about \u201cpush\u201d factors<\/a> rings hollow as long as his department fails to deport<\/a> illegal border crossers and attempts to dismantle effective policies like the Remain in Mexico<\/a> program. Contrary to the secretary\u2019s claims, America\u2019s southern border is<\/em> open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An observer with the Center for Immigration Studies<\/a> recently drove through the sprawling Del Rio sector and saw a grand total of one Border Patrol vehicle on the road. But he did find more than a dozen units parked at the agency\u2019s headquarters in Brackettville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does this square with robust official tallies of border \u201cencounters\u201d?<\/a> Answer: Migrants no longer run from Border Patrol officers. Families, unaccompanied minors and even single adults simply line up to turn themselves in en masse. Some trudge miles to find an agent to \u201cprocess\u201d them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DHS\u2019s\nfuzzy encounter category makes it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish\nbetween expulsions and releases. But the docility\/brazenness of illegal border\ncrossers in and around Del Rio indicates that \u201cprocessing\u201d means sending them\non their way. In other words: catch and release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next door in Eagle Pass<\/a>, Texas state law enforcement officers, who have no authority to turn back border crossers, keep watch along the river without any Border Patrol presence. A federal agent said that except for transporting illegal aliens, all Border Patrol personnel were reassigned to migrant processing, with no actual field duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a pep talk to beleaguered Border Patrol officers last week, Mayorkas declared, “The extent of the challenge should not be understated, but nor should our ability to meet it.\u201d But glib remarks are no substitute for a serious and properly deployed enforcement program. This administration\u2019s designed collapse in South Texas is a real morale killer for conscientious Border Patrol personnel chaffing to do what used to be their job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Up to half of Border Patrol personnel in Texas has been pulled from the field, with a record low 12 officers attempting to cover a busy 245-mile stretch of the Rio Grande. As more agents are assigned to deskwork, \u201cmorale is in the toilet,\u201d says the Border Patrol\u2019s union. \u201cIf our job is to be<\/p>\n

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