TEMPE, Ariz. (NewsNation) — The U.S. Border Patrol has issued an appeal for agents to volunteer for redeployment to part of the northern border to help manage an influx of migrants illegally entering from Canada.
For the first time in years, Border Patrol leadership is calling to move agents to the northern border, to provide backup in the Swanton Sector, which covers New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of eastern New York.
Despite temperatures dipping below zero, the sector has reported an 846 percent increase in illegal crossings, so far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2022, compared to the same period a year ago. It also reported experiencing seven straight months of “encounter increases.”
Agents apprehended 115 subjects from 12 countries, mostly Mexican nationals, in the first week of February.
Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert N. Garcia noted that agents are coming across more family groups with young children and infants crossing the border.
In an internal email asking for volunteers, a top Border Patrol agent said the increase is primarily Mexican nationals crossing from Canada. The agent added that there are more people evading law enforcement and pedestrian and vehicle incursions because agents are “task saturated” responding to large groups.
Agents would be volunteering to deploy from March 1 until April 1, according to the internal CBP email.
The National Border Patrol Council said moving agents around to do administration roles creates more vulnerabilities, and that’s not a solution.
“We already have a threat right now. We have a very porous border. We have an administration that you know, pretty much has turned their back on the American public and turn their back on the agents that are out there putting their lives on the line,” said Art Del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.
This all comes as the chief of the Border Patrol’s Tuscon, Arizona sector said he already has 20 to 30 agents farmed out to other sectors, as his sector is leading the nation in gotaways, or people evading law enforcement.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is still struggling to hire agents, even doubling the hiring incentive from $10,000 to $20,000.
Sources told NewsNation agents are no longer encouraging family and friends to join Border Patrol because they don’t feel supported in their roles and they wouldn’t want their loved ones taking the position.