Assaults against U.S. Border Patrol officers more than doubled in the first six months of fiscal year 2017 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to new statistics released by the Homeland Security agency.
CBP reported 462 assaults against its officers from Sept. 31, 2016 through March 31, 2017 compared to 190 at the same time a year earlier.
This year is on track to surpass the 585 total assaults Border Patrol agents reported during fiscal year 2016, possibly as soon as next month, which was itself the highest number of the past five years. If the current trend continues, CBP would see 924 assaults by the end of the fiscal year.
The total number of attacks against the organization’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO), Office of Field Operations (OFO) and U.S. Border Patrol totaled 492 in the first six months. The Border Patrol made up 90 percent of the total.
In the first three months, 215 total assaults were reported.
President Trump took executive action on immigration in late January, ordering the completion of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. He also ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain all criminal aliens rather than just illegal immigrants with serious criminal records, in contrast with the Obama administration.
DHS has not offered an explanation for the rising in assaults. However, border officials said last year that the presidential election was driving more illegal immigration, and that volume could have played a role in the rising number of assaults.
