Border Patrol, by Kyle Tansley

Our Time with the Border Patrol

Kyle Tansley

When we left Carbo, our first stop on the way back to the US was at the Border Patrol headquarters of the Tucson sector. When we rolled in we saw a very large amount of border patrol trucks. Our guides greeted us when we walked in, and we spent some time in the lobby looking at patches on the wall. We saw multiple agents with automatic weapons walking through the halls. It was a rather intimidating place. Over the few hours that we were there we asked many questions, and the agents were able to answer most of them. I could tell that they weren’t telling the exact truth the whole time, and I asked questions to confirm that suspicion.

I had talked to an immigrant in Nogales who had been held for 4 days by the border patrol. They had taken a medication he needs to live, and when they deported him they didn’t give it back. I asked the border patrol agent if they were supposed to give everything back to the immigrants when they left, and he said yes, so either he or the immigrant were lying, and I believe the immigrant.

We also saw a few agents walking around with decked out M4’s and other automatic weapons. I asked the agent if they were allowed to walk around with magazines in their weapons, and he said that no, they were supposed to have the magazines out inside the headquarters. I know he wasn’t lying about that, but that means that many agents we saw were in violation of protocol, which isn’t good either.

Overall, I thought the border patrol had their game down. They had very impressive numbers and technology, and we even got to see them in action working with immigrants near the holding cells. There were definitely holes in what they told us, but it was very good to hear their side of the story.