A Border Patrol union chief said Tuesday that the failure to punish people who assault border agents led to a significant increase in those assaults last year.
“Very few of those who assault our agents are prosecuted for assault of a federal law enforcement officer. When we do that, we send a clear message that our laws aren’t going to be enforced and it incentivizes individuals to try to assault our agents in an effort to get away,” Brandon Judd, national president of the National Border Patrol Council labor union, testified before the House subcommittee on border and maritime security.
Judd added that it was not a matter of federal prosecutors being indifferent to the issue, but a result of the “sheer numbers” of violent illegal immigrants being apprehended.
“I think the U.S. attorneys want to see justice brought to those who assault our agents, they just don’t have the resources to do it … If you look at the number of U.S. attorneys we have, we just don’t have enough,” Judd said. “As we’ve seen border crossers drop, our agents understand that it’s going to be a little bit more violent out there because they’re going to try to get away.”
The number of assaults against Border Patrol’s parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, was 847 in fiscal year 2017, which ended Oct. 31, 2017. Previous totals over the past five years were between 373 assaults and 584 assaults.
CBP includes Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations, and Office of Field Operations.
