吃瓜大本营

Last month, the National Border Patrol Council 鈥� the union representing 16,500 of the Border Patrol鈥檚 21,000 agents 鈥� issued a full-throated of presidential candidate Donald Trump, who notched another primary victory last night in my fellow border state, New York. So I thought this was as good of a time as any to break down why several statements in NBPC鈥檚 endorsement exemplify the agency鈥檚 reputation as the nation鈥檚 most 鈥溾�� law-enforcement agency.

1. 鈥淥ur own political leaders try to keep us from doing our jobs.鈥�

Since 2005, the Border Patrol has been showered with resources 鈥� including $8.4 million 鈥� that allowed it to expand its ranks at a breakneck pace. This trend has continued under the Obama administration. Unfortunately, recruitment surges by law enforcement agencies have historically led to 鈥� at best 鈥� the hiring of unqualified officers and 鈥� at worst 鈥� widespread and . The Border Patrol is .

According to CBP鈥檚 former head of internal affairs, thousands of the Border Patrol鈥檚 agents are to carry a badge and a gun. They are also routinely for their excessive use of force, and then the agency to make that number look smaller than it is. Agents at times fire out of rather than out of fear for their own lives, and occasionally those shots hit on the other side of the border, which in most places in the world would be considered an act of war.

In worst-case scenarios,

The problem isn鈥檛 that politicians are trying to keep the Border Patrol from doing its job, but that they aren鈥檛 doing enough to ensure that the Border Patrol is doing its job .

2. 鈥淚f we do not secure our borders, American communities will continue to suffer at the hands of gangs, cartels, and violent criminals preying on the innocent.鈥�

The Border Patrol union鈥檚 graphic fearmongering offends border residents and mocks crime statistics gathered by another federal agency, the FBI, that consistently demonstrate that . And how about the rhetoric claiming that immigrants who live here are violent criminals? .

In truth, when Texans in Laredo or El Paso or McAllen fret about threats to their safety, it鈥檚 not simply the cartels they have in mind, . Residents suffer a of daily indignities at the hands of these forces who occupy rather than protect our communities all across the U.S.-Mexico border, here in Texas and in , , and too. And while the majority of Border Patrol officers get dispatched to join us in the Southwest, our Northern brothers and sisters are in no way exempt from the same routine indignities perpetrated by these federal law agents, from the East to the .

(By the way, if the Border Patrol is so concerned about the threats posed by cartel members? Perhaps it should stop .)

3. 鈥淎merica has already tried a young, articulate freshman senator 鈥� under whose watch criminal cartels have been given the freest border reign ever known.鈥�

The has always been a staunch ally to the Border Patrol. See the budget chart above. Thirty-five percent of its officers wouldn鈥檛 have jobs were it not for Obama鈥檚 rapid expansion of this out-of-control police force.

And in the Obama administration鈥檚 quest to double-down on border enforcement, it has more undocumented immigrants than any administration that preceded it, locked up asylum-seeking Central American women and children in dismal and privately run detention centers as a and rang in the 2016 New Year by announcing a of undocumented immigrants.

4. 鈥淭here is no greater physical or economic threat to Americans than our open border.鈥�

Ask any border resident down here 鈥� , , and veterans alike 鈥� forced to endure interrogations at the hands of Border Patrol within the sweeping 100-mile zone just how freely we can travel, commute, and move through our homeland. In addition to its 21,000 agents, the Border Patrol also has access to 鈥攊ncluding tower radars, underground sensors, infrared sensors, mobile video surveillance systems, and on and on 鈥� and in a pinch can even call in from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (the agency overseeing them), which boasts an air force the size of Brazil鈥檚.

So for the sake of my fellow border residents at the border, let鈥檚 cut through the misinformation and false, political rhetoric: Border Patrol鈥檚 excess and tactics have transformed our communities into theaters of war. But for the millions of Americans who live, work, and play here, we don鈥檛 have the luxury to exit stage left, nor do we want to. This is our home, marked by safe and tranquil cities, where cultural and economic exchange with our neighbors across the border fuels economies in America鈥檚 heartland. (The U.S. Chamber of Commerce .)

The NBPC鈥檚 statement reveals yet again its inability to take this into account 鈥� not to mention a willful and shameful ignorance of the facts.