President Joe Biden may like to claim he supports law enforcement, but his actions have routinely shown otherwise and the disdain felt by agents in the field could be posing a security risk to the nation.
The president’s job approval numbers have remained at dramatic lows and with inflation and gas prices setting record highs and store shelves running empty, there are no indicators of a favorable recovery happening anytime soon. While the average American may be feeling the crunch of Biden’s failed policies, at least they haven’t endured the outright attacks from the commander-in-chief as U.S. Border Patrol agents reported having to the Washington Examiner.
The outlet spoke with eight agents and managers posted along the southern U.S. border who detailed frustration, guilt, and anger in the face of illegal immigrant encounters that have topped 200,000 in some months with no signs of slowing down.
“Under Biden, things are the worst they have ever been by far,” one agent based in Arizona expressed. “Agents are calling in all the time. You always hear, ‘It doesn’t matter,’ or, ‘What’s the point?’ in reference to doing our job. Agents are afraid of ending up on the news for doing their job or getting in trouble for doing their job. There is no morale.”
According to Washington Examiner, “the biggest factor in the demoralization of the Border Patrol has been the feeling that Biden has demonized agents for enforcing immigration laws that lawmakers like him passed in Congress.”
With the heavily publicized hoax of agents whipping border crossers, one agent explained, “Del Rio pissed us all off.”
‘He just started a war’: Border Patrol agents blasts Biden over false ‘whipping’ allegations https://t.co/NOCNAblKFS pic.twitter.com/xQYTv7GGGX
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) September 26, 2021
However, it didn’t stop there. The agent added that though the tragic massacre at Robb Elementary School was a national story, and Border Patrol agents were credited for their intervention, Biden hasn’t made any gestures to show his thanks.
“Uvalde just adds to it. I think at this point, we are beyond pissed. We expect Biden to continue to attack us,” he added. “Making a concerted effort to ignore what we did is expected.”
“All they have done is basically stomped on us from the get-go,” a second agent told the Examiner. “And they’ve condemned us on every turn. People are pretty much fed up with how this administration is treating Border Patrol agents because all we’ve been doing this whole time is what they’ve told us to do, which is really bad policy.”
An estimated 800,000 illegal immigrants were released in the U.S. in 2021 and because of the massive influx, the agents reported that they are regularly confronted with safety issues. “We’re getting overwhelmed, then we’re locked inside with these people in processing, leaving the line,” a reference to a position along the border, “way open or with only one or two agents out there, which is an officer safety issue.”
With agents at risk and gaps in coverage exacerbated along the porous border because agents are choosing to stay home when they can, there’s no telling who may be getting into the country. And that has added guilt to some for collecting a paycheck while, as one agent put it, “it feels like we’re committing a crime by allowing all these people into our country.”
“When I joined under the Bush administration, my morale was an all-time high, and so were my peers,” one of the agents recounted of how times have changed. “We did our job. Then Obama/Biden came around. The morale sunk due to that administration’s policies, but we were still able to somehow do our jobs.”
As Biden continues to push for an ending of Title 42 which allowed agents discretion in expediting deportations, the agents are bracing for further increases in encounters and for their efforts to only grow more fruitless.
The Examiner reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment on the anonymous agents’ dejection but reported no response.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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