Training helped Border Patrol agent de- escalate situation while being attacked
CALEXICO — When a Border Patrol agent was physically assaulted by presumed illegal immigrants entering the United States Tuesday night, he was able to de- escalate the situation and did not resort to the use of his service firearm, said David Kim, El Centro Sector Border Patrol assistant chief patrol agent.
“Our agent was able to diffuse the situation, subdue one subject, and discourage the other individuals from continuing the assault against him without using a firearm,” Kim told Imperial Valley Press via email Wednesday evening.
“As a law enforcement agency, we are thankful our agent did not have to resort to deadly force in this situation. Each situation is dif- ferent, however, and it’s the agent on the ground who will determine the appropriate level of force to be used.”
It all comes down to rig- orous training each agent undergoes before being sent into the field, Kim said.
“Agents are well trained to defend themselves, others and effect arrests in volatile situations,” he said. “Additional training is periodically conducted at regular intervals yearly throughout an agent’s career.”
The agent reportedly was accosted Tuesday night by a group of presumed illegal immigrants attempting to free a person who had been taken into custody.
The agent, whose identity has not been publicly released, suffered minor injuries.
The incident happened at about 10 p. m. after the agent, who is assigned to the Calexico Border Patrol station, observed a group crossing into the United States near the Calexico- West Port of Entry and the New River, which is one of the most dangerous areas for agents to work in the El Centro Sector, Kim said.
“There were a total of six individuals that were part of the group assaulting our agent,” Kim said. “One attempted escapee and five individuals attempting to aid him.”
The agent reported detaining one man in the group — identified by Kim as a Mexican citizen — and placed him into custody in the rear seat of his service vehicle before turning his attention to the rest of the group.
“It is common for one agent to arrest large groups of people engaged in illegal cross- border activity,” Kim said. “There is no policy dictating how many agents are needed to arrest a large group of people. It is the agent on the ground who makes that call.”
While the agent was trying to arrest others in the group, an unidentified man who had been in the New River approached the agent’s service vehicle and opened the rear passenger door in an attempt to free the detained man already in custody.
“People typically enter the U.S. at the New River by wading [or] swimming northbound,” Kim said. “After one individual was arrested and placed in the back of the Border Patrol vehicle, another individual who was still in the water exited the river and attempted to free the person who was arrested and placed in the back of the Border Patrol vehicle.”
The detained man was able to exit the service vehicle and, along with the man who had opened the door, fled on foot toward the river.
The agent pursued both men, and reported being assaulted by them. At the same time, other members of the group began throwing unspecified objects at the agent.
“Although assaults on agents don’t occur every day in El Centro Sector, they are not uncommon,” Kim said.
As other agents responded to assist the agent, the majority of the group fled back into Mexico and were able to avoid arrest. The man who had initially been detained in the rear of the service vehicle was prevented from escaping and placed under arrest.
The unidentified man currently is in federal custody pending criminal charges. Border Patrol policy dictates that the identities of individuals it arrests are not publicly disseminated pending prosecution and charges.
Hot spot
The location where the New River enters into the United States currently is not barricaded.
“Currently … there is no barrier in place where the New River physically crosses the U.S./Mexico border,” Kim said.
The gap in fencing makes the location a natural funnel for illegal crossing attempts, Kim said, although the exact numbers of recent attempts are not currently available.
“I don’t currently have information on how many people have been arrested in this location or how that number may compare to previous time periods,” Kim said.
The new fence should help alleviate pressure at the location, Kim said.
“Eventually the new border wall system will address the gap in barriers at the New River,” he said.
Border wall
The Trump Administration has been keen to promote the construction of the new border fence, with Vice-Presi- dent Mike Pence stating during a lateApril visit to the Calexico border that the White House has not wavered on a promise to fortify the border wall system.
During lengthy remarks to Customs and Border Protection officials during his visit earlier this year, Pence spoke of the importance of the El Centro Sector’s efforts to impede the flow of both illegal immigration and contraband into the United States and the need to keep local agents safe.
The new border wall system will be “a physical manifestation of the determination of the American people to protect our border and protect our sovereignty, and we will complete it,” Pence said.
Resources allocated
“The president, his administration, and Congress have provided El Centro [Sector] with the resources needed to replace [the] old fence with a new border wall system,” Kim said.
According to Kim, the new 2.25-milelong border wall system should be completed in October 2018 at an estimated cost of about $18 million. It will replace old landing mat fencing with 30-feethigh Bollard-type fencing west of the downtown Calexico port of entry.
Landing mat is the oldest border fence still in use, according to Popular Mechanics magazine, and is constructed of corrugated steel, usually about 10- feet- high. The corrugated steel was used as portable touchdown pads for helicopters operating in Vietnam, which is how it got its name. Landing mat fencing can be easy to foil because Border Patrol agents can’t see what’s happening on the other side, and cutting a hole in the landing mat with a power saw is relatively easy.
A similar project to replace landing mat fencing with bollard-style fencing in Nogales, Ariz., in July 2011 saw positive results, according to an Aug. 17, 2012, article by Nogales International.
That $ 11.8 million project replaced 2.8 miles of landing- mat fence separating Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Sonora. The bollard- style fencing is taller than the landing- mat fencing, and includes an underground footer and uses steel rods instead of a solid panel as a barrier that allows agents to see through to the other side.
For Border Patrol, that visibility allows agents to respond to threats more quickly and to stop people while they are still in Mexico, Leslie Lawson, the patrol agent in charge of the Nogales Station in 2012, told Nogales International.
That increased functionality will now be brought to the Calexico border. Opposition to fence
While the new fence is intended to increase border security, some environmentalists groups say its current design will harm the environment.
The Center for Biological Diversity — a non-profit based in Tucson, Ariz. — was a co-plaintiff in a federal lawsuit brought against the federal government by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra that sought to have future border wall construction comply with health and environmental laws.
Ultimately, a federal judge sided with the federal government’s proposed use of waivers for expedited construction.