User:Pensadora956/United States Border Patrol

United States Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol (USBP), was officially created on May 28th of 1924, is the United States Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) largest federal law enforcement arm within the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The USBP consists of armed and uniformed federal police that secure the Nation’s borders by detecting and preventing dangerous people, trafficking, weapons, and illegal substances from entering the United States. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, “The Border Patrol is specifically responsible for patrolling nearly 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian international land borders and over 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida Peninsula and the island of Puerto Rico.”

The Border Patrol enforcement grew in employment since 2019. The nationwide staffing went from 19,648 to 19,740 in the 2020 fiscal year. The budget for Border Patrol in 2017 was $3,805,253,000. In 2021 $49.8 billion was requested for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by Chad F. Wolf, Acting Secretary of Federal Protective Services.

The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is the United States Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) largest federal law enforcement arm within the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that  was officially created on May 28th of 1924.

The USBP consists of armed and uniformed federal police that secure the Nation’s borders by detecting and preventing dangerous people, trafficking, weapons, and illegal substances from entering the United States. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, “The Border Patrol is specifically responsible for patrolling nearly 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian international land borders and over 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida Peninsula and the island of Puerto Rico.”

The Border Patrol enforcement grew in employment since 2019. The nationwide staffing went from 19,648 to 19,740 in the 2020 fiscal year. The budget for Border Patrol in 2017 was $3,805,253,000. In 2021 $49.8 billion was requested for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by Chad F. Wolf, Acting Secretary of Federal Protective Services.

History
In May of 1924, The United States passed the Labor Appropriations Act of 1924, an act where congress approved funding for the Border Patrol to manage borders and border crossings. At the time, 450 patrol inspectors were paid $1,680 per year, provided with food for their horses, and given uniforms. In 1925, Border Patrol duties expanded from securing ports of entry on land to also patrolling seacoast areas.

The expansion of duties for Border Patrol Inspectors, who are commonly known as Border Patrol Agents, also came with extensive recruitment from institutions such as, Texas Rangers, local sheriff deputies, appointees from Civil Service Register of Railroad Mail Clerks, and Mounted Inspectors from the Chinese Division of the Department of Labor’s Immigration Services. In addition, many of the early Border Patrol officers were working-class white men who were against Mexican immigration into the United States or Mexican American men who were forced to assimilate as “Spanish-Americans” in order to be fully participating citizens. It became clear that with the growth of Border Patrol authority, also came an increase of enforcement of white and nonwhite.

In the 1930s, Ruel Davenport and George J. Harris were two Chiefs that led the Border Patrol. Given that the United States was under the Prohibition Era, one of their main concerns was liquor smuggling.

As the Border Patrol agency continued to grow, so did the training practices. In 1934, El Paso established the El Paso District Training School for officers in their area. The school taught officers the Spanish language, immigration law, officer conduct, search and seizure laws, evidence and court procedures, firearms, Morse code, patrolling techniques, and sign cutting. In December of 1937, the Immigration Service renamed the school the Border Patrol Training School (BPTS) and required all recruits, nationwide, to attend.

In the next decade, the U.S. Border Patrol was moved from the Department of Labor and into the Department of Justice, and their Border Patrol officers went from 773 in 1939 to 1,531 in 1941. In the 1940s, incoming recruits went from being mostly Texas Rangers and sheriff deputies to war veterans. In fact, in 1943 almost half of the new applicants were vets from World War II.

In 2021, Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas responded with whips while riding on horsebacks to an influx of Haitian refugees crossing into the Mexico–United States border.

In 2021, Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas responded to an influx of Haitian refugees crossing the Mexico–United States border riding on horsebacks and whips as a tool for harm.Several photos and videos were published of that response which clearly showed Border Patrol agents using whips to deter Haitian Migrants back into Mexico. The press and community commented on Homeland Security’s misconduct by stating “many Americans have likened the images to historical representations of slavery - which was abolished in 1865 - and other dark periods for black people in the US.”

In terms of Border Patrol accountability, “An internal disciplinary board at CBP found that 60 agents committed misconduct, and recommended firing two dozen of them. But only two were ultimately fired, according to a recent report by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Most of the other agents are now back at work.”

Strategy
“Operation Wetback”

In June of 1954, the Immigration Law Enforcement launched “Operation Wetback,” where hundereds of USBP officers (aside from the ones already stationed) were flown out or bussed to California, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, and the Missippi Delta to deport unsanctioned immigrants. USBP used military-style strategies and transportation machines provided by the government such as trains, planes, and boats.

During Operation Wetback, the Border Patrol arrested approximately 1.3 million people, most were Mexican nationals, making it the largest mass deportation of undocumented workers in American history.

USBP received a lot of pushback from the community not only because of their militrized tacits, but also because of their use of the term “wetback.” “Wetback” is a racially discriminatory and derrogtray slur used against immigrants who allegedly entered the United States by swimming across the Rio Grande River. In addition to the racially discriminatory connotations attributed to the title of the operation, those who were deported, along with the community, criticized how a larger percentage of the people who were forced back to Mexico did not have relational ties or economic stability in the country. Therefore, deportees were left stranded without jobs, housing, or food.

Capabilities
Many techniques were tested with no official training or supervision, in the preliminar formation of the U.S. Immigraion Law Enforcement. One technique was “line watches,” which is the activity of patrolling at or near the border, surveilling unauthorized immigrants,  responding to electronic sensors, television systems and aircraft sightings, and interpreting and following tracks, marks, and other physical evidence. Major activities include traffic check, traffic observation, city patrol, transportation check, administrative, intelligence, and anti-smuggling activities.

In 1926, Chief Patrol Inspector Chester C. Courtney of the Border Patrol’s subdistrict office, discovered that line watches were not an effective method since USBP officers were focused on policing Mexicans or those they deemed as Mexican. Despite Courtney's discovery, line watches continued to be used by Border Patrol agents.