A 27-second video released last week by a U.S. Border Patrol sector chief has gone viral, exposing millions of Americans to the unrelenting real-life crisis across the nation’s southwest border.
The video was shared on Twitter by Chief John R. Modlin, head of USBP’s Tucson Sector. It shows nearly three dozen people attempting to breach the border fence near Douglas in hopes of unlawfully entering the country. At one point, a pickup truck backs up to the fence on the U.S. side but speeds away as a USBP vehicle approaches.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
Tucson Sector agents continue to encounter large groups, including this one near Douglas, AZ. #DYK In Fiscal Year 2021, U.S. Border Patrol encounters totaled 1,662,167. Fiscal Year to date, encounters total 1,219,920. Visit https://t.co/KYZ14mi26E for additional information. pic.twitter.com/2OGvkPYmEP
— John R. Modlin (@USBPChiefTCA) June 15, 2022
https://twitter.com/USBPChiefTCA/status/1536870928226861056?s=20&t=F4gpEQcNl2Nkx_tz835pEw
Modlin has become a savvy user of social media platforms to spread awareness of the dangerous situations -and dangerous people- his Tucson Sector agents encounter around the 262 miles of border from the eastern Yuma County line to the western New Mexico state line, and several thousand square miles of land in between.
Earlier this month, he shared the U.S. Attorney’s announcement that federal charges had been filed against a Mexican national accused of assaulting to USBP agents near Newfield in Pima County.
A 25-year-old Mexican citizen was arrested on two counts of Assault on a Federal Officer and Assault on a Federal Officer with the Use of a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon. The incident involved two Tucson Sector agents near Newfield, AZ, on May 31. #HonorFirst https://t.co/y51ldraUQL
— John R. Modlin (@USBPChiefTCA) June 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/USBPChiefTCA/status/1534204176452014080?s=20&t=F4gpEQcNl2Nkx_tz835pEw
Just last week, Modlin shared information on a thwarted human smuggling effort involving 16 people got into the back of a U-Haul truck near the border.
Sonoita and Brian A. Terry Stations collaborated to thwart a U-Haul smuggling attempt.
The vehicle was stopped after border cameras spotted 16 suspected migrants enter the cargo area. One migrant was just 16-years-old. Two U.S. citizens face criminal charges. #HonorFirst pic.twitter.com/b2NMcWQ29J
— John R. Modlin (@USBPChiefTCA) June 13, 2022
https://twitter.com/USBPChiefTCA/status/1536378875558739968?s=20&t=F4gpEQcNl2Nkx_tz835pEw
But it is the video Modlin tweeted on June 14 of a large group of people attempting to illegally enter the U.S. which has garnered widespread attention and outrage. The video became public the day after former Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Cochise County with Sheriff Mark Dannels and several state officials.
Among those who have spoken out in response to the video is Juan Ciscomani, a Republican candidate for Congressional District 6, which covers most of Cochise County, parts of Graham, Pima, and Pinal counties, and all of Greenlee County.
“Joe Biden’s failed policies are leaving our border wide open to the drug cartels and human traffickers,” Ciscomani tweeted in frustration, adding that the White House has “completely lost control” of border security.
Ciscomani has made border security one of the cornerstones of his campaign.
“We must secure the border,” according to Ciscomani. “President Trump’s policies worked; Joe Biden’s have failed. That’s a fact, numbers don’t lie. We need an immediate, ‘all of the above’ approach.”
The release of the border fence video came shortly after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published updated new data about the number of people the agency has come into contact with across the country.
CBP is the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agency charged with securing the nation’s borders. It includes CBP’s Office of Field Operations, whose officers and federal agents are responsible for more than 300 ports of entry, as well as 20,000 USBP agents who secure America’s borders between the ports of entry.
The year-to-date data for the current fiscal year shows CBP enforcement actions are expected to far exceed any numbers seen along America’s borders in years. In fact, the number of “encounters” in May were the most in the agency’s history, breaking a record set only the month before.
In Fiscal Year 2021, there were 1,662,167 total USBP encounters in FY21 while there have already been 1,444,886 as of the end of May. When added to CBP’s Office of Field Operations encounters, the total encounters across the agency 1,956,519 in FY 21 compared to 1,753,754 with four months left in FY22.