DRASTIC MEASURES

Border Patrol Is Sending Tactical Agents to Make Arrests in Sanctuary Cities

One hundred members of the SWAT-like team will be deployed across the country to assist in immigration arrests.

The Trump administration is deploying an elite tactical Border Patrol unit from the southern border to take part in arrest operations in sanctuary cities across the nation. One hundred members of a team called BORTAC, which is essentially a SWAT-equivalent team of the Border Patrol, will reportedly be dispatched to cities like Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, and others from February through May. A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection told The New York Times that BORTAC agents were being deployed to “enhance the integrity of the immigration system, protect public safety, and strengthen our national security.”

Rather than raiding stash houses or confronting drug smugglers near the border, the agents will be supporting typical immigration arrests when in sanctuary cities. The newspaper reports the agents will be limited in their abilities during the arrests, meaning they will not be allowed to forcibly enter homes or engage in shootouts. In a statement, ICE’s acting director Matthew Albence said when sanctuary cities release criminal immigrants from jails, they increase the “occurrence of preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims.”