(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
Report: Border Patrol agents reportedly feel demoralized
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20211025160749/https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/report-border-patrol-agents-reportedly-feel-demoralized/
Border Patrol agents reportedly feel demoralized over not being able to do job

Migrants climbing over border fence - YouTube screenshot (courtesy of The Washington Examiner)

Report: Border Patrol agents demoralized over not being able to do job – ‘Morale is in the toilet’

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According to reports, “morale is in the toilet” with respect to Border Patrol agents due to an alleged inability to do their jobs, per recent statements made by a spokesman for the Del Rio chapter Border Patrol’s union.

The Del Rio chapter union spokesman fears that “there’s really no end in sight” to the agents’ plummeting morale.

Reports show that there were approximately 212,672 people detained along southern border in July, serving as a 13% increase from June and also being the highest number apprehended in 21 years.

The Associated Press also reported that the number of unaccompanied minors stopped at the border in July “likely hit an all-time high.”

Even CNN reported on the influx of crossings in July as being odd, noting that “arrests usually dip” along the southern border during the summer months due to the increased temperatures posing dangers for those making the trek.

Needless to say, the traffic along the border is intense.

And National Border Patrol Council’s Del Rio chapter president Jon Anfinsen says that agents working along the border feel as though they’re not allowed to efficiently perform their duties:

“Morale is in the toilet. Morale is low because agents aren’t allowed to do their job — if our job is to be out patrolling the border in between the ports of entry and actively searching for people who have crossed illegally, but we’re not allowed to go do that job, it basically creates this defeated feeling in everyone.”

Anfinsen says that the agents are feeling “burned out and there’s really no end in sight”:

“Everyone shows up to work sort of downtrodden, almost dead inside, for lack of a better term. They’re not allowed to [do] the job, and they know that people are getting away every single day, every hour.”

A former CBP senior official, who was unnamed, reportedly confirmed that Border Patrol agents’ morale is on the decline:

“Morale is tanking fast. This can be seen in the simple statements made by agents, but even more importantly, it can be seen in increasing processing times. Agents are just flat tired, and we are seeing and hearing it.”

Anfinsen explained part of the problem is that agents are being so overwhelmed with processing of illegal immigrants that are self-surrendering, that they’re tied up in processing centers and not on the field to detain migrants who are able to avoid apprehension:

“Agents are primarily indoors, processing, and we’re dealing with the people who are flagging us down — the ones who are walking up to us and turning themselves in.

Meanwhile, the immigrants who don’t want anything to do with us, they’re running away, although sometimes they’re walking because they have no need to run because we’re not there.”

While speaking with the Washington Examiner, an unnamed CBP Air and Marine Operations agent based out of Texas said that spotting border crossers along the Rio Grande River is easy, but that “there are no agents available” on the ground to detain them.

Another former CBP employee who maintains regular contact with agents still active in the field also proclaimed that the rank-and-file feel “abandoned” by officials and the current administration:

“These guys feel abandoned by CBP and DHS and the administration. Nobody’s coming to rescue them.”

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Huge win for America: federal court rules Biden’s cancellation of the ‘stay in Mexico’ program was illegal

(Originally published August 15th, 2021)

AUSTIN, TX – A federal court has handed a solid defeat to the Biden administration’s immigration policy by ordering the revival of a Trump-era border policy requiring migrants to stay in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court date.

President Joe Biden ended the Migrant Protection Protocols border policy, known as “Remain in Mexico,” at the beginning of his term as he promised during campaigning.

The Trump program required thousands of non-Mexican migrants to wait in Mexico rather than make entry into the U.S. Texas and Missouri sued in federal court to stop the Biden administration from continuing its lax immigration policies, which have strained states’ resources.

On Friday, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas ruled in the case of Texas and Missouri v. Biden that the Biden Administration’s termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) violated both the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), as well as federal immigration law requiring that certain illegal aliens be detained.

Under Trump’s policy, migrants arriving at the border seeking asylum were permitted to file papers. They were then made to wait in Mexico for their court date, rather than be permitted to remain inside the United States.

Under Biden’s policy, immigrants have entered the country in record numbers and are being bussed and flown to cities throughout the United States to await processing. Many of these immigrants will never appear in court and join an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already inside the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in June formally ended the program, saying keeping it intact “would be a poor use of the department’s resources.”

Judge Kacsmaryk said Secretary Mayorkas made several errors in ending the program:

“First, the Secretary failed to consider several of the main benefits of MPP. As the Court stated above in the findings of fact, DHS had previously found that ‘aliens without meritorious claims — which no longer constitute[d] a free ticket into the United States — (were) beginning to voluntarily return home.’ DHS also found that MPP addressed the ‘perverse incentives’ created by allowing ‘those with non-meritorious claims . . . (to) remain in the country for lengthy periods of time.’”

Mentioning the June 1, 2021, memorandum that Mayorkas sent ending the program, the Judge said the Secretary never mentioned the benefits of MPP:

“The June 1 Memorandum never once mentions these benefits. At the very least, the Secretary was required to show a reasoned decision for discounting the benefits of MPP. Instead, the June 1 Memorandum does not address the problems created by false claims of asylum or how MPP addressed those problems.

“Likewise, it does not address the fact that DHS previously found that “approximately 9 out of 10 asylum claims from Northern Triangle countries are ultimately found non-meritorious by federal immigration judges,” App. 303, and that MPP discouraged such aliens from traveling and attempting to cross the border in the first place.”

The judge also pointed to the failure of Mayorkas to consider the wave of illegal aliens that would flood across the border and into the United States if MPP was terminated:

“Second, the Secretary also failed to consider the warnings by career DHS personnel that ‘the suspension of the MPP, along with other policies, would lead to a resurgence of illegal aliens attempting to illegally’ cross the border.

This is all the more important because the Secretary had the opportunity to see if the warnings were predictive because the Secretary suspended enrollments in MPP on January 20, 2021.

“From that date until June 1, 2021, when MPP was permanently terminated, the Secretary had the opportunity to observe the ever-increasing number of border encounters.

But the Secretary never discussed the rise in border encounters in the June 1 Memorandum or discussed why the warnings by  career DHS personnel were misguided or incorrect even as the data appeared to show that the career officials were, in fact, prescient.”

The ruling gave DHS seven days to file an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals before the ruling goes into effect.

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Incoming Chief of Border Patrol says migrant crisis has “overwhelmed” agency, calls it completely “unsustainable”

(Originally published August 8th, 2021)

DEL RIO, TX – Raul Ortiz, who is slated to become the next Chief of the United States Border Patrol later in August, was recently interviewed by Breitbart News where he delved into the difficulties that the Border Patrol is currently facing with the southern border crisis.

Ortiz is in the midst a tour of some of the busiest agency sectors in the state of Texas, which his first stop was the Del Rio Sector – which he highlighted as being the second busiest sector for migrant traffic in the entire country.

Having served as Del Rio Sector’s Chief Patrol Agent slightly over a year earlier, Ortiz commented on some of the things that have changed in the sector regarding migrant crossings and apprehensions:

“The demographics and the population of folks we are encountering out there on a daily basis are much different than when I was the Chief here, you are seeing folks from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Brazil and on and on.”

Ortiz stated during the interview that the number of migrants being apprehended along the southern border have “overwhelmed” the agency with regard to being able to “house and detain” individuals – even with the addition of impromptu detention facilities that have been erected:

“Fortunately, we’re not seeing as many unaccompanied children here in the Del Rio Sector, but we continue to see an awful lot of singles adults and some family units. It has overwhelmed our capacity to house and detain and process individuals within our facilities. Even after standing up the soft-sided facility, we are still finding ourselves in an overcapacity status.”

When discussing what the agency is currently doing to address and rectify the surge at the southern border, Ortiz stated that the agency has been able to accomplish some expedited removals for those originating from Central American countries, but is also seeking to gain more assistance from Mexico’s government to stop the flow of migrants before they reach the southern border:

“What we’re also doing is working with our government of Mexico partners. One, they have to help stem the flow as it migrates through Mexico, so we’re not being overwhelmed here on the southwest border. But then secondly, I think there are some opportunities to perhaps repatriate some of these individuals on a Title 42 status.”

During the interview, Ortiz was asked what he’s been telling the rank-and-file Border Patrol agents to help them navigate the current crisis at the southern border, which he responded with the following:

“Having done this job for 30-plus years, I can tell I’ve been detailed all over the southwest border, and we’ve seen these increases. For a large part of our population – our Border Patrol agents – that make up our rank-and-file, for some of them, this is their first exposure to a surge in migration.”

“A couple of things I’ve mentioned to them is one ‘we’ll make it out on the other side of this’.

We’ve just got to weather the storm, and that’s what we’re experiencing right now – some really high numbers with respect to apprehensions, to got-aways, to processing, and to migration levels. Two, we have to make sure to take care of each other – we’ve got to be safe out there – not just for ourselves, but for our families and for the migrants that we’re encountering on a daily basis.”

Ortiz also added that he has assured the rank-and-file from the agency that he will “fight for the resources” the agency needs to adhere to their mission:

“Let me fight for the resources, so that way when we make out on the other end, and we get back to our traditional border security mission, we have the right level of technology, the right vehicles, the right number of agents out there patrolling – and perhaps maybe we can ensure that they have access to that border area so it’s not a free-for-all.”

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About The Author

Gregory Hoyt is an I.T. Marketing and Sales professional based out in Sierra Vista, Arizona. While being a staunch and outspoken advocate of law enforcement and first responders, Gregory Hoyt also has the experience of having spent nearly 5 years in prison as well. Since then, he's used his unique perspective to offer support and commentary about the criminal justice system. When not working or combating bad ideas, Hoyt also leisurely studies economics, history, and law.

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