{"id":2063,"date":"2025-03-31T19:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/?p=2063"},"modified":"2025-03-31T19:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T00:31:34","slug":"former-border-patrol-agent-on-immigration-and-trumps-cruelty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/2025\/03\/31\/former-border-patrol-agent-on-immigration-and-trumps-cruelty\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Border Patrol Agent on Immigration and Trump\u2019s Cruelty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a <strong>former Border Patrol agent on immigration<\/strong>, I\u2019ve seen firsthand how the system works \u2014 and how far it&#8217;s fallen. I wore the uniform for nearly a decade. Back then, we weren\u2019t perfect \u2014 but we had a moral compass. What\u2019s happening now? It\u2019s cruelty, plain and simple. And it\u2019s time we say it out loud.<\/p>\n<article>I used to be a Border Patrol agent. Almost ten years in law enforcement \u2014 seven of those with federal agencies. Back then, I wore the uniform with a sense of duty. Not because I believed every part of the system was right, but because I thought I could serve with integrity, treat people with decency, and maybe do some good. But watching what&#8217;s happened to that agency in the past decade? I don\u2019t even recognize it anymore.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"border-left: 4px solid #0073aa; padding-left: 15px; margin: 30px 0; font-style: italic;\"><p>\u201cBack then, we didn\u2019t treat people like criminals just for trying to survive. What happened?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let me say this upfront: racism has always existed in law enforcement. Anyone who tells you different is lying or hasn\u2019t been paying attention. But there was a time when open, blatant racism \u2014 especially toward undocumented immigrants \u2014 was at least <strong>frowned upon<\/strong>. It wasn\u2019t tolerated out loud, and most of us understood the difference between enforcing the law and dehumanizing people.<\/p>\n<p>And most of the people we encountered out in the desert weren\u2019t criminals. They were desperate. Parents and kids, teenagers trying to find work, entire families running from cartel violence or poverty. Crossing the border without documentation? It\u2019s a <strong>civil violation<\/strong>. Legally, it\u2019s on par with running a red light. It doesn\u2019t make you a dangerous person.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I Used to Be Proud to Wear the Uniform. Not Anymore.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jsTumBhFv5I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I never felt good arresting those folks. If I ever felt justified, it was when we caught traffickers or known violent criminals. But regular people just trying to live? I never saw them as the enemy. And I wasn\u2019t alone. Even the \u201cold patrol\u201d guys \u2014 crusty, conservative agents from the &#8217;60s and &#8217;70s \u2014 showed them respect. They used outdated language, sure, but their actions were guided by human decency. That was the culture we were brought into.<\/p>\n<p>As a <strong>former Border Patrol agent on immigration<\/strong>, I never expected to be speaking out publicly. But silence now feels like complicity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today, that moral compass is gone.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen what\u2019s happening in ICE detention centers. The abuse. The cruelty. The cold indifference. That doesn\u2019t happen unless the people in uniform have stopped seeing the people in front of them as human. And it didn\u2019t just happen \u2014 it was fueled by Trump\u2019s rhetoric and policies. He gave permission for cruelty and stripped away accountability.<\/p>\n<p>I used to be proud of my service. But when I see how undocumented immigrants are being treated now \u2014 with contempt, with disregard for due process \u2014 I feel ashamed. What was once a flawed but human system has become something else entirely.<\/p>\n<h2>The Truth About Immigration from a Former Border Patrol Agent<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Being undocumented is <strong>not a crime<\/strong> \u2014 it\u2019s a <em>civil immigration violation<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Undocumented immigrants are statistically <strong>less likely<\/strong> to commit crimes than U.S.-born citizens.<\/li>\n<li>They <strong>contribute<\/strong> more to the economy than they take.<\/li>\n<li>They come here to <strong>live<\/strong>, not to harm.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We\u2019ve allowed a whole population to be demonized over lies and fearmongering. We\u2019ve replaced decency with politics. And it has to stop.<\/p>\n<h2>We can fix this<\/h2>\n<p>We can secure our borders <em>and<\/em> treat people like human beings. But we have to reject the lies. We have to speak up. Because if we don\u2019t, we become complicit in the cruelty. And that\u2019s not a legacy I\u2019m willing to carry.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"margin: 40px 0;\" \/>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.2em;\">If this resonated with you, share it. Subscribe. Talk to someone. We don\u2019t need more silence. We need each other.<\/p>\n<p>If you value honest voices \u2014 especially from a <strong>former Border Patrol agent on immigration<\/strong> \u2014 share this post. It\u2019s time to face the truth.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org\/research\/immigrants-in-the-united-states\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this report from the American Immigration Council<\/a>, undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about how <a href=\"\/index.php\/our-mission\/\">The America Project\/a&gt; is fighting back against authoritarianism and injustice.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/2025\/03\/29\/project-2025-tracker-lunch\/\">Project 2025 Tracker Launch | The America Project<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>#BorderPatrol #ImmigrationReform #EndICEAbuse #HumanizeNotCriminalize #DeportRacism #BlueDotVoices<\/em><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a former Border Patrol agent on immigration, I\u2019ve seen firsthand how the system works \u2014 and how far it&#8217;s fallen. I wore the uniform for nearly a decade. Back [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration"],"_wp_page_template":null,"_form":null,"_mail":null,"_mail_2":null,"_messages":null,"_additional_settings":null,"_locale":null,"_hash":null,"_wp_attached_file":null,"_wp_attachment_metadata":null,"_menu_item_type":null,"_menu_item_menu_item_parent":null,"_menu_item_object_id":null,"_menu_item_object":null,"_menu_item_target":null,"_menu_item_classes":null,"_menu_item_xfn":null,"_menu_item_url":null,"_wp_attachment_context":null,"_thumbnail_id":"2065","newscrunch_views":"1007","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_schema_article_type":null,"_wp_attachment_is_custom_background":null,"_wp_desired_post_slug":null,"_customize_restore_dismissed":null,"_edit_last":"3","_edit_lock":"1743467652:3","newscrunch_site_layout":"","newscrunch_page_sidebar":"sidebar-1","newscrunch_page_left_sidebar":"left-sidebar","_wp_trash_meta_status":null,"_wp_trash_meta_time":null,"newscrunch_post_video_embed":"","_custom_header_image_id":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"4","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - 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I wore the uniform for nearly a decade. 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