Illegal Immigrant Attacks Border Patrol Agent in Texas as Venezuelans Attempted to Cross Into U.S.

On Monday, a violent attack by an illegal immigrant on a Border Patrol agent caused his fellow agents to fire pepper balls to disperse a large crowd of Venezuelans. A line of about 30 Border Patrol agents had to move the Venezuelans back toward the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez to comply with DHS’s new policy of immediate expulsion of Venezuelans back to Mexico. The scene was tense and initial reporting on social media was wrong.

Initially, it was reported by a photographer on the scene that Border Patrol agents were firing rubber bullets at the illegal aliens.

Customs and Border Patrol agents fire rubber bullets on migrants as migrants retreat on the north bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. pic.twitter.com/3dvzFo458R

— J. Omar Ornelas (@fotornelas) October 31, 2022

Not only was that incorrect but the agents were using pepper balls to move the crowd back and protect themselves. What wasn’t initially reported was that the illegal aliens were throwing rocks at the Border Patrol agents. That seems like an important piece of information, right? Otherwise it sounds like the agents were the aggressors in a violent episode, which they were not.

Fake news: They were NOT firing “rubber bullets”. And the video clip doesn’t show what happened prior…the crowd throwing rocks at agents. Agents were using pepper ball launchers which are designed to disperse large crowds of unruly people. Facts matter, so does the whole story. https://t.co/bADyok0o8D

— Border Patrol Union – NBPC (@BPUnion) October 31, 2022

This commenter explained that this was not abusive behavior on the part of the Border Patrol.

Venezuelans who refuse to accept being sent back to Mexico are protesting daily in Juarez, Mx (border city with El Paso). This group crossed the river to the US side where the CBP agents are. They aren’t always peacefully protesting either so don’t feel they’re being mistreated.

— Melissa (@Silkypearls) November 1, 2022

It is being reported that a large group of Venezuelans illegally crossed the border and approached agents outside a station under the international bridge.

El Paso Times photojournalist J. Omar Ornelas claimed on Twitter that he had witnessed agents fire “rubber bullets” at one person in an effort to push the group back across the canal and into Mexico. Video shared by Ornelas did not show the events that precipitated the incident, which federal authorities told the Washington Examiner came after an assault on an agent.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman later said one illegal immigrant in the group struck an agent with a flagpole, prompting agents to take action. The spokesman said agents responded by using pepper balls — not rubber bullets.

“On October 31, at approximately 12:20 p.m., a group of Venezuelan nationals attempted to illegally enter the United States while protesting along the Rio Grande River International Boundary near downtown El Paso,” CBP wrote in a statement. “One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flag pole, at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures. These measures included the use of the authorized less-lethal force pepperball launching system. The crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico.”

Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced a new policy that is very much like the Remain in Mexico policy that the previous administration used in agreement with Mexico. Biden did away with that agreement and Biden’s action was tied up in court challenges for months. Now they have tweaked the program to immediately expel Venezuelans at the border to have them wait in Mexico until their asylum claims can be processed or refused. Venezuelans are no longer simply released into the interior of the U.S. because their home country will not take them back, as has been the procedure for the past 20 months. Naturally, Venezuelans are frustrated because they expect to be welcomed and allowed to stay indefinitely once they cross over into the United States.

The group of illegal aliens carried a large Venezuelan flag and a Honduran flag as they approached Border Patrol agents below the international bridge in El Paso. That is where the Biden administration advised asylum-seekers to seek refuge from federal customs officers. Like clockwork, the ACLU is calling for an investigation and claiming CBP violated the Venezuelans’ rights and abused them.

“This footage is highly alarming,” Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at ACLU, said in a statement. “People seeking asylum on U.S. soil should be screened for protection, not pushed back, especially through use of force.”

Blazer said the Biden administration “must end its failed attempts to scare people out of crossing into the U.S. through tactics that have led to unnecessary death and suffering, and restore a humane process for seeking asylum.”

Scare people? The whole point is that illegal aliens are emboldened by the Biden border crisis. They know that immigration laws are not being enforced and they flood the border in record numbers. They’ve been allowed to remain in the U.S. and transported away from the border due to overcrowding. They aren’t scared of anything because there is no reason to be. There are no consequences for their illegal behavior.

The change in policy toward Venezuelans is a rare action taken by DHS. A funny thing is happening, now that action is being taken to expel them – the number of illegal immigrant apprehensions is falling.  Not overall, of course, but among apprehensions of Venezuelans, at least. It’s a start.

A group of illegal immigrants marched in Juárez, demanding an opportunity to cross the U.S. border.

They walked beneath an enormous cloth painted like a U.S. flag by U.S.-based artist Roberto Marquez but with the words “We the migrants built America” in the blue corner instead of stars. Several dozen migrants later crossed the U.S. border waiving a Venezuelan flag, before they were repelled back into Mexico.

The media and other Democrat operatives like to immediately accuse Border Patrol agents of wrong-doing when they are doing their jobs and trying to protect themselves. Remember Whipgate? It was a witch hunt and the unfairly accused agents were treated very unjustly. As far as I know, they never even received apologies. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Jen Psaki, Sec. Mayorkas, and other Democrats had the agents convicted of abuse they did not commit before an investigation was even launched. Blaming law enforcement over criminals is a default position for Democrats.