The U.S. Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector was declared a “High Risk Enforcement Area (HREA)” due to an alarming increase in the number of assaults on our Border Patrol agents. The declaration came in March of 2013, but the numbers have continued to rise, according to Stu Harris, Vice-President Local 1929 of the National Border Patrol Council.
The Local 1929 serves BP agents in the El Paso Sector, which covers the entire state of New Mexico and the two western most counties in Texas, totaling 125,500 square miles, 121,000 square miles in New Mexico and 4,500 square miles in Texas. There are 268 miles of international boundary, according to the U.S. Homeland Security official website.
“The total numbers of apprehensions of illegal aliens from Mexico are down, but the number of criminal aliens being apprehended are on the rise since FY 2011,” said Vice-President Harris in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News. “The physical assaults on Border Patrol agents are increasing in numbers and in frequency this year”
Harris added that the lack of Border Patrol coverage due to Sequestration, coupled with comprehensive immigration reform becoming a central issue in U.S. political dialogue, has become a perfect storm scenario that leaves the men and women who serve with Border Patrol less safe and U.S. borders unsecured. “Sequestration is putting our agents at more risk than is needed,” he said. “Our Border Patrol agents are less safe now and the dangers are increasing as they are more often working alone in isolated areas.”
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