An illegal immigrant punched and bit a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the face on Thursday as brave men and women on the front lines of the Harris-Biden border crisis battle a “massive increase” in assaults.
The daring raid took place on Cristo Rey Mountain in Sunland Park, New Mexico, a known smugglers' haven where migrants flee into the United States by sprinting down the remote, unwalled mountain range.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement that the officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries and that the migrant was arrested and taken to a local hospital.
This was just the latest incident contributing to a disturbing increase in attacks on Border Patrol agents.
Since the start of the new fiscal year in October 2023, 413 border patrol officers have been assaulted in the line of duty. According to federal government data.
A total of 610 officers were assaulted during fiscal year 2023, which ended at the end of September, according to the data.
last month, CBP warned that it has seen a “significant increase in attacks on Border Patrol agents.” Remind the attacker of the consequences of attacking a Federal officer.
Earlier this month, a Border Patrol agent was dragged off his horse by an illegal immigrant near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, according to an agency memo obtained by The Washington Post.
Agents in the besieged El Paso sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes New Mexico and West Texas, said they have been subjected to attacks almost “nightly” in recent months.
One officer said they were “completely attacked” by a group of people who came down from the mountain, punching and kicking officers as they desperately tried to cross into the US.
Another law enforcement official operating in the region said illegal border crossings were “on the rise” and causing more “violence.”
Meanwhile, migrants often go unpunished, with one frustrated Border Patrol source fuming to The Washington Post that “agents don't prosecute them half the time unless they're bleeding.”
In one case in which a Border Patrol agent was forcibly removed from a horse, prosecutors charged the migrant with illegal entry but declined to file assault charges, according to a leaked memo.
The U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
The El Paso area in question is also a favored entry point for members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang to smuggle themselves into the United States and commit crimes across the country.
More than 100 people suspected of being members of a Venezuelan prison gang who took part in the El Paso migrant riots covered exclusively by The Washington Post in March, when hundreds of migrants stormed the border wall and attacked National Guard troops who were trying to quell the unrest.
Tren de Aragua recently “authorized” its members to shoot and kill U.S. police officers, further escalating an already tense situation on the border.
