New wall to stop assaults against border patrol agents

Border Patrol El Centro Sector officials said there have been 21 assaults against agents this fiscal year along the area where the new enhanced border wall is being built. They said it’s the highest number of assaults against agents along the state’s southern border.

BPECS Official David Kim said, “We have a high volume of crossings in this area. There’s a lot of cross border illicit activity that occurs here in this two-point-two-five mile stretch. It tends to be one of our more violent areas as far as agents being assaulted.”

Kim said the area from the Calexico east port of entry to about one mile west of the outlets is the most dangerous one.

“If you look at the border in sections, this section that would account for the most assaults in any one particular area. It would range anywhere from rocks being thrown at our agents to physical altercations,” Kim said.

Kim said the enhanced wall is in direct response to the threats faced by agents. They hope the enhanced wall gives agents the upper hand.

“We believe that’s going to make our agents safer. They’ll be able to see some of the threats. As you can see the differences in the old wall compared to the new wall. Combined with the technology of the agents that we have here and the new infrastructure, we believe that’s going to help us secure this area a little bit more and probably calm the area down,” Kim said.

The project started nine years ago, but work began last year because of funding issues.

“This is actually a local tactical infrastructure project that was initiated by us back in 2009,” Kim said.

The project is scheduled to be completed in October. The agency said it isn’t part of President Trump’s border wall project.