McALLEN, Texas – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul is “deeply concerned” about the impact the ongoing border crisis is having on the mental health of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. He said there was.
The Republican official spoke to Fox News Digital from the Texas border city of McAllen. The bipartisan Congressional delegation met with border and immigration officials and also toured facilities where migrants are brought and asylum claims are processed.
McCaul said the situation at the border is “getting worse” every time he sees it.
“Every time we come here, it gets worse: the lack of detention space, the human tragedy that we see here, the influx of migrants that Border Patrol has to deal with day in and day out. This sense of hopelessness is unstoppable,” the Texas Republican said.
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House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul spoke with Fox News Digital over the weekend in the Texas border city of McAllen. (Elizabeth Elkind)
“I'm very concerned about the mental health of Border Patrol agents. Suicide rates are going up. They don't have adequate resources.”
Chris Cabrera, vice chairman of the National Border Patrol Council, told Congress in March 2023 that 17 CBP officers died by suicide in 2022 alone. This is the highest number since CBP began tracking it in 2007. In 2022, there were 19,357 CPB employees working. .
Since then, the number of migrants encountered at the border has continued to hit historic highs, and as recently as last December, CBP has struggled somewhat to replace retirees.
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Border Patrol union officials said these discarded ladders were used by migrants to scale a 15-foot wall at the border, just a few feet from where this photo was taken. . (Fox News Digital)
McCaul said the cartels on the other side of the border, which bring in a constant flow of drugs and human trafficking, are in some ways better equipped than the federal agents patrolling on the U.S. side.
“For example, we only have 20 drones here in the Rio Grande Valley area, and the cartels far outnumber us. And that's just our eyes and ears on the ground,” McCall said. “So we are not providing them with equipment. But most importantly, more than money, there is simply a lack of policy.”
Cabrera told the media during a recent border visit that police officers are regularly overwhelmed.
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Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, said there are holes in the fence near the U.S.-Mexico border that migrants use after entering the U.S. illegally. (Elizabeth Elkind)
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“We have two or three agents on scene and sometimes 100 people are there,” he said.
“But then you also have medical emergencies: pregnant women, dehydration, sick children, people who break their legs on a journey. And then there are people who fall off walls. That's why we While you're dealing with two or three people, whether it's 100 or 50 people, you also have to deal with medical emergencies and things like that.”
