US

Ten Mile Stretch Of US Border Unguarded For Days, Cartels Roamed Freely

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Ten miles of the U.S. border with Mexico went unguarded for two days, the Head of the union for U.S. Border Patrol agents told Congress Wednesday, allowing Mexican cartels easy access to the country.

“Criminal cartels were able to go to the fence, cut a hole in the fence, drive two vehicles through that hole and escape,” Brandon Judd, head of the National Border Patrol Council, testified before the House oversight subcommittee on national security. Judd learned of the breach from a border patrol agent who emailed him.

“There was a 10 mile stretch for two days, and this is documented on the reports from the Border Patrol management, ten mile stretch of border that was unmanned for two days,” Judd said the agent recounted.

Judd has been working in border security for 18 years. “The border is not secure, and the situation is getting worse, not better,” he told the subcommittee. “Arrests are not the only factor in determining whether the border is secure. We have to look at the totality of the situation such as violence, the number of persons evading arrests and whether organized crime continues to turn a profit.”

Judd also told the Subcommittee that criminal cartels control the border like inmates control some prison facilities. “The cartels are extremely well-organized, pathologically violent, and have an entire infrastructure on both sides of the border,” he said.

Judd’s testimony comes amid increasing concerns over border security in the wake of the Brussels terror attacks Tuesday. Problems with Mexican cartels also came to light yet again this week with the upcoming release in June of the former head of El Chapo’s cartel.

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