U.S. Border Patrol is increasingly seen far from the border as Trump
ramps up deportation arrests
[June 24, 2025]
By VALERIE GONZALEZ
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Immigration arrests seen on video are showing an
emerging trend: More Border Patrol agents are doing their jobs far from
the borders with Mexico or Canada.
A Border Patrol agent was seen hitting a Southern California landscaper
on the head and neck as he was pinned to the ground during an arrest
Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security said the man swung his
weed trimmer at agents. The man’s son, Alejandro Barranco, a Marine
veteran, said his father was scared but did not attack anyone.
With border arrests at the lowest levels in about 60 years, the roughly
20,000 Border Patrol agents are showing up elsewhere.
Here are things to know about the trend:
Why is the Border Patrol working away from the border?
President Donald Trump’s House-approved “big, beautiful bill” proposes
$8 billion to increase U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff by
10,000 people. Until then, the agency primarily responsible for interior
enforcement is relying on other federal agencies as it struggles to meet
a daily arrest target of at least 3,000 set by Stephen Miller, White
House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of immigration policy.
ICE, with only about 6,000 deportation officers, has found a ready
partner in the Border Patrol, which is also part of the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security. It comes at a time when border arrests plunged to
an average of 282 a day in May after peaking at more than 8,000 a day in
December 2023.
Agents in the Border Patrol’s Yuma, Arizona, sector assisted ICE
officers last week in Philadelphia, Justin De La Torre, the sector
chief, said in a social media post. His sector averaged only four
arrests a day on the Arizona border last month after peaking at more
than 1,100 a day in May 2023.
Greg Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, sector,
appeared alongside U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a
news conference this month in Los Angeles during which U.S. Sen. Alex
Padilla was forcefully removed, pushed to the ground and handcuffed.
[to top of second column]
|
“We’re here and not going away,” Bovino said, introducing himself to
reporters as his agency’s top representative during ICE-led
operations in Los Angeles.
Few see any reason to doubt the Border Patrol will remain.
“So long as the border remains relatively quiet, we will continue to
see the Border Patrol deployed to act almost as if they are ICE
agents,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American
Immigration Council, an advocacy group.
What is the 100-mile border zone?
Agents are granted by federal law the ability to stop and question
people within 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the border, including
the coasts. They have heightened authority to board and search
buses, trains and vessels without a warrant within the zone.
That encompasses vast swaths of the country that include about
two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to the American Civil
Liberties Union. Los Angeles is well within 100 miles of the Pacific
Ocean.
Beyond that zone, agents are still authorized to work within the
United States.
"The Border Patrol can still operate fully in the interior. It’s
just that they have less authority to stop and question people,”
said Reichlin-Melnick.
What can the Border Patrol do beyond the 100 miles?
Past the 100-mile enforcement zone, Border Patrol agents, like
officers working for ICE or the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Office of Field Operations, are classified as immigration officers
who are authorized to carry out arrests and detain people on
suspicion of violating immigration law. There are some limits.
“They could only search somebody's car on probable cause that the
person has violated the law," Reichlin-Melnick said. “And so people
have somewhat heightened rights against search and seizure outside
of the 100-mile zone than they do inside of the 100-mile zone. But
each individual case will vary depending on the specific
circumstances."
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
