The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget for fiscal 2017 will fund 300 fewer Border Patrol agents in 2017 than it did for this fiscal year, reported KRGV.com on March 1. KRGV.com is the website of KRGV, the local ABC affiliate television station for the Rio Grand Valley in far south Texas.
The cut in funding for agents comes at a time when illegal cross-border traffic is high and, if anything, more Border Patrol agents are needed to secure our border.
“One, we have people turning themselves in at unprecedented rates. Then we have the people that are always coming in illegally,” KRGV quoted National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 Vice President Chris Cabrera. “Then we have the drug flow that’s coming north and the money that’s going south and guns that are going south. And to cut jobs at a time like this is a recipe for disaster.”
Cabrera, as the spokesperson for the organization that represents nearly 17,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents, has been vocal in making the problems associated with securing our borders known to the public.
Speaking to Breitbart Texas last June, Cabrera said that during the previous few weeks, the numbers of unaccompanied minors and incomplete family units coming across the border had been rapidly increasing. “This is starting to resemble the summer border surge of 2014,” Cabrera told Breitbart. “We are not nearly at the numbers we were last year, but it looks like we are in the opening stages. We had two groups equal a little over 70 in one hour today. These were women and children,” Cabrera continued. “We’ve also seen a lot of children traveling alone.”
During that interview, Cabrera also observed a phenomenon that we had reported on during the 2014 surge. Instead of hiding from Border Patrol agents to sneak into the country, as illegal aliens have traditionally done, many of the children and women who have crossed the border illegally have been seeking out Border Patrol agents and turning themselves in. “This is really the mark that indicates a coming crisis,” said Cabrera. “When the women and children start seeking out agents, we know there is word spreading in their home countries that they can come and be set free.”
Just as the number of Border Patrol agents defending our borders is scheduled to drop, the influx of illegal aliens crossing them is likely to rise. And there is a new phenomenon contributing to this rise, along with lax border enforcement and the granting of amnesty to illegal aliens in the past.
A Reuters report on March 1 revealed that potential migrants in Latin American have been watching the political scene in the United States and are fearful of what will happen if Donald Trump or another tough-on-illegal-immigration Republican is elected president.
The report noted that more migrants are trying to cross the border illegally now because they are fearful of tighter policing and new policies to halt illegal immigration if Trump or another Republican wins the November 8 election. “If Trump wins, we’re all screwed and all Latinos are screwed,” Reuters quoted Isaias Franco, identified as an illegal from El Salvador who was deported from the United States late last year and is now trying to get back. Franco spoke to reporters at a migrant shelter in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.
The report noted that Franco, like other potential illegal aliens, is aware of the U.S. presidential race and Trump’s commitment, matched by fellow Republican candidate Ted Cruz, to deport all the illegal immigrants in the United States. Their numbers are estimated at more than 11 million. “You watch the news…. There’s a lot of fear among Latinos,” Franco said, adding that a Republican victory would mean the end of proposed reforms to give many immigrants greater protection from deportation.
The report also quoted Blanca Rivera, who manages the Ciudad Juarez migrant shelter, who has noticed a recent surge in the numbers of migrants, which she attributes to Trump’s strong anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric. “They think they need to take advantage while they can,” said Rivera.
Related articles:
DHS Inspector General’s Report Notes “Security Issues” Along S.W. Border
Border Patrol Agents Ordered to Stand Down in Enforcing Immigration Laws
Border Patrol Union Leader Sees Surge in Unaccompanied Children Coming
Border Patrol Agent: Obama Admin. Releasing Murderers Into U.S.
Former Border Patrol Agents: Illegal Immigration Crisis “Contrived”
Obama Opens Borders, Releases Illegal Immigrants Into U.S.
Border Patrol Union Leader Says Administration Offers “De Facto Amnesty”
