Assaults on Border Patrol increasing

By Jacques Billeaud
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Matt York / The Associated Press

SAN LUIS — The metal grates over the windows of some U.S. Border Patrol trucks protects agents from rock-throwing smugglers who are becoming more violent in their attempts to sneak immigrants past this fortified stretch of Arizona border.

Some smugglers are throwing softball-sized rocks, hunks of concrete and whole bricks at agents, either out of frustration or to try to get authorities to back off.

"We are slowing smuggling traffic down considerably. What we are experiencing because of that is what we refer to as a push-back," said Ben Vik, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector, which includes San Luis.

The business of immigrant smuggling has become more dangerous as the high profits of human trafficking prompt violent drug smugglers to get into the immigrant business.

T.J. Bonner, president of a union representing Border Patrol agents, said law-enforcement jobs have always brought some risk of assaults, but working along the border never seemed as dangerous as it does today.

"We are dealing with a much more ruthless type of enterprise now," Bonner said. "You are not dealing with many of the mom-and-pop smuggling operations."

The Yuma sector is on pace to exceed the 123 assaults on agents reported last fiscal year. It's not known whether the national total of assaults on agents will surpass last year's 778. The San Diego sector reported the most assaults last year, officials said.