Assaults on ICE, Border Patrol agents increase

Incidents have almost doubled amid surge in deportations and detentions

Immigration agents report being assaulted far more often in the first six months of 2017 amid a surge of deportations and detentions.

Immigration agents have reported being assaulted far more often in the first six months of 2017, as they carry out policies that have increased both detentions and deportations nationwide.

U.S. Border Patrol agents reported more than 550 assaults on law enforcement officials in the first part of the year, up from 300 last year, acting Chief Carla Provost recently told members of Congress.

Meanwhile, officers who patrol the interior of the United States for Immigration and Customs Enforcement have seen 20 assaults so far this year, compared to only six in 2017, according to information provided by ICE to the Houston Chronicle.

Last month alone, two immigrants were prosecuted in Texas federal courts in recent assaults on border patrol agents.

Miguel Cabrera Rangel, 54, was convicted in June of punching and striking a Border Patrol agent with a flashlight after the agent went to investigate a report of immigrants illegally in the U.S. living on a ranch near Hebbronville in 2016. The agent suffered a concussion and a broken nose, according to information released by the Department of Justice.

Cabrera Rangel fled but was later captured aboard a fishing boat in Copano Bay and convicted after a two-day trial in Laredo.

Separately, a 24-yearold woman from Matamoros was sentenced in June to 21 months in prison for 2016 assaults of Border Patrol agents and a detention guard.

Maribel Tejeda Fomperosa was arrested after wading across the Rio Grande into the United States in October 2016, federal prosecutor say. She was placed in a holding cell, where she assaulted one Border Patrol officer who was attempt-

ing to restrain her and spat at a second agent. She was arrested for those assaults when she assaulted a corrections officer, court records show.

Currently, agents assigned to Texas’ Rio Grande Valley sector are being told to take extra care while patrolling the border across from Reynosa, where stray rounds from Gulf cartelrelated gunbattles on the Mexican side have injured agents.

Further from the border, ICE agents too have seen violence increase, according to information provided by Houstonbased ICE spokesman Gregory Palmore. This year’s total of 20 reported assaults is far less than the Border Patrol’s — but even one bad incident can prove deadly, Palmore said.

“ICE leadership recently announced that administrative arrests have increased almost 40 percent, which expose officers to greater risks and threats, but the agency is dedicated to conducting immigration enforcement humanely, respectfully and with professionalism,” ICE officials added in an emailed statement.

At least twice this year, ICE agents have shot civilians during arrests — including a March shooting of an unarmed legal permanent resident in Chicago that has sparked controversy. In that incident, ICE reported the agent “attempted to make an arrest” when a second person “pointed a weapon toward agents.”

The agent fired his gun, wounding a 53-year-old legal permanent resident.