US Border Patrol agents feel “abandoned” by the Biden administration as they deal with record numbers of migrants crossing the border every day, members of Congress said Wednesday.
As a result, 14 Customs and Border Protection agents took their own lives in 2022 and six agents died in the line of duty, according to a bipartisan group in Washington demanding answers.
The Border Patrol is dealing with an unprecedented migrant crisis — a record 2.4 million encounters with people trying to enter the country in fiscal year 2022 — as well as demoralization.
“I am the wife of a border patrol agent who is standing up for those who cannot speak,” Republican Texas Representative Myra Flores said at a news conference outside the US Congress. “Abandoned are words that many border patrol agents speak to me. Abandoned by this administration.
“How many more lives do we have to lose before the administration takes the border crisis seriously?”
Flores’ comments came a day after President Biden addressed the issue when he traveled to Arizona to discuss semiconductor manufacturing deals.
Asked why he wouldn’t visit the border during the trip, Biden replied, “Because there are more important things going on.”
Flores countered: “That’s ridiculous and it’s disrespectful to our Border Patrol agents. I ask him to come to South Texas and see what our agents are going through.
Flores and seven congressional Republicans and Democrats will meet Wednesday to introduce the suicide prevention measure, or TAPS, to be formally announced Thursday.
Border Patrol agents are seeing a large influx of asylum-seekers fleeing failed governments in Central and South America, particularly Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba, across the southern border.
The border crossing in El Paso, Texas, has become a flashpoint – and now more than 1,500 people a day are trying to cross into the country, many seeking asylum.
Those who are processed and released to the US are often sent to El Paso’s shelters, which are sometimes so overcrowded that migrants are left to fend for themselves on the streets.
Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, a Republican, talked about the invisible side of Border Patrol agents, such as “the brave men and women who wake up early and make extra sandwiches to feed the abandoned migrant children they encounter, ” explained how officers in remote areas find children smuggled across the US border abandoned by cartels.
Border Patrol agents have to deal with heartbreaking episodes like children left alone with nothing but the details of a family friend in the US written on their shirts.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican, added: “When [agents] Look at what’s going on – to see the tragedy of not only fentanyl killing 100,000 Americans, but the hundreds of immigrants who have died… It must seriously hurt these officers who know all of this. preventable.”
Texas Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez, who has warned of an “epidemic” of Border Patrol agent suicides, said he feels the ongoing immigration crisis is taking its toll. “I don’t care what your job is.” … When you’re overworked, it affects your life,” he said.
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