Chief says Border Patrol's job is not policing the border
The Border Patrol's job is no longer to stop people from sneaking across the border. Its exclusive role is to fight terrorism rather than stopping illegal immigration and the flow of narcotics. Carlos X. Carillo, Chief Patrol Agent of the Laredo Sector for the US Border Patrol, said this in a Laredo town hall meeting. From the Laredo Morning Times:
"The Border Patrol is not equipped to stop illegal immigrants," Carrillo said, noting that illegal narcotics are also not on the agents priority list.
"The Border Patrol mission is not to do any of those things," he emphasized. The Border Patrol's mission is to keep the country safe from terrorist and terrorist weapons, he said. Carrillo added that when and if terrorists come into the country, the agents will be ready.
So the Border Patrol has altogether abandoned the fight to secure the US borders against the flow of illegal immigration. Rather they will fight an impossible task: to prevent the flow of terrorists into the US. How will they tell the terrorists from the illegals? If they accidentally apprehend a Mexican, Guatemalan, or Ecuadorian national sneaking across the border at Laredo (mistakenly thinking they are terrorists), will they let them go? How do they tell the difference?
Okay, I need the terrorists over in this line, and the immigrants can just keep right on going...
And if watching the borders isn't the Border Patrol's job, whose job is it? The BP resented the Minutemen coming to their aid and claim they don't need the National Guard's assistance. Yet they have completely shrugged off the responsibility to secure the borders themselves -- part of their mandate and quite a clear violation of their own name.
I guess I just don't get it. Are we totally out of line in asking the Border Patrol to... GASP... patrol the border?