The U.S. Border Patrol has warned its officers to prepare for possible gunfire after reports that Mexican cartels attacked its personnel.
Thursday's Border Patrol memo obtained by. news nationsaid the San Diego District Intelligence Bureau received an alert on Dec. 4 “regarding a possible threat” to personnel stationed at the Imperial Beach and Chula Vista Border Patrol stations.
“They are no longer afraid of anyone, especially U.S. law enforcement.”
“According to information received, the top leaders of the cartel ordered the shooting of agents in response to and retaliation for the incident,” it read.
The memo referenced a Nov. 27 incident in which a Border Patrol agent hit an illegal immigrant with his patrol car. The agency said the man was a member of a cartel.
Video footage of the incident showed a group of men attempting to scale the border wall. NewsNation reported that the men were assisting another person to cross the border illegally when a Border Patrol agent responding to the violation struck the alleged cartel member.
The agency said that when the driver hit the man, his attention was focused on two other people who were actively climbing the wall.
“The cartel leaders are therefore furious, claiming that the incident occurred without reason or remorse,” the Border Patrol memo said. “According to information received, the shooting may occur in the coming days.”
The agency advised its staff to remain vigilant.
NewsNation's Ali Bradley reports that activists are calling for the firing of a Border Patrol agent who beat a suspected cartel member. The case remains under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office and Customs and Border Protection's Office of Professional Responsibility.
“Sources in Border Patrol leadership say that when a cartel threatens to shoot an agent, it should be taken seriously and the San Diego area should be on high alert,” Bradley posted. ×.
The man who was hit “got up and ran back to Mexico,” Bradley said.
CBP confirmed that two of the individuals were arrested in connection with a “human smuggling incident.” It is unclear whether the man who was hit by the police car was one of those detained.
The Sinaloa Cartel previously ordered its members to shoot and kill Border Patrol agents in Texas after co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was arrested.
Victor Avila, a former Department of Homeland Security official, told NewsNation, “That's the difference in how cartels have evolved. They're no longer afraid of anyone, especially U.S. law enforcement.”
“We know that they don't care about anything in Mexico and do whatever they want, but they run a parallel government over there,” he said. “The fact is, they have the resources, they do have the ability, and they will use that against us.”
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