EL PASO, Texas—Two Border Patrol vehicles stopped for a moment as they drove along the southern border, the only activity that could be seen from along the wall dividing Mexico and El Paso, Texas.
The border wall stretched far into the desert from the view of the helicopter.
There has been a decline in activity along the border in recent months, a Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations pilot explained, but the agents still patrol the skies night and day.
“Recently, obviously, we’ve gotten great operational control of the border,” El Paso Air Branch Director Efren Gonzalez told The Daily Signal.
“Stats are coming down, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that traffic is not coming through,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just we’re performing the job to a higher level and partnering up with the Department of Defense and other law enforcement agencies to be able to secure the border and do our job, contrary to [the] previous administration, where we felt like we, you know, were doing it halfway.”
CBP’s Air and Marine Operations works hand in hand with Border Patrol. When an agent sees a threat from any one of the Air and Marine Operations’ roughly 240 aircraft, they coordinate with Border Patrol, or other law enforcement officials on the ground, to respond.
There are areas along the border where Border Patrol cannot station personnel, Gonzalez explained, so “if we see an abnormality coming across the border, then we start communicating [with Border Patrol] on the radio.”
In addition to working to prevent threats from crossing the border, Air and Marine Operations also conduct rescue missions.
“It’s not safe to cross the border,” Gonzalez says, adding, “We have predators out in the desert, snakes, mountain lions, … black bears.” Temperatures can easily reach over 100 degrees in the summer, or drop very low in the winter.
The border wall can be up to 30 feet, but “smugglers don’t care,” he says. “They’ll bring them up with a rope on one side, and then there’s nothing on the outside, and they expect for them to … slide down, [but] it doesn’t always go that way.”
If a migrant gets hurt in the desert or can’t keep pace with the group he or she is with, human smugglers will leave him or her behind. Air and Marine Operations sometimes discover injured or abandoned illegal aliens before it’s too late, but that’s not always the case.
CBP Air and Marine Operations conducts rescue missions of hikers or other individuals who might find themselves stranded as well. Agents also respond to national disasters in the U.S., working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and they provide support and security during large events, such as presidential inaugurations or the Super Bowl.
There are about 1,800 Air and Marine Operations agents throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition to operating in the sky, the CBP branch also has about 300 marine vessels working to respond to threats and crisis situations across U.S. waters.
