Senators heard from witnesses who live and work near the border this week during the, “Securing the Southwest Border: Perspectives from Beyond the Beltway” hearing.
As Bill Theobald writes in the Arizona Republic
Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent testifying on behalf of the 16,500 agents represented by the National Border Patrol Council, said he estimates only 35-40 percent of illegal immigrants are caught crossing the border, despite estimates of 75 percent from Customs and Border Protection officials.
“I want to be crystal clear – the border is not secure,” he said.
He said agents who report more than 20 illegal border-crossers at a given spot, based on counting footprints, are punished and learn to keep their counts artificially lower.
“I raise this issue with you because before we can start to address our problems, we have to acknowledge the extent of them,” Cabrera said.
Agent Cabrera joins The Texas Standard on Thursday.
