By Steve Neavling

Federal and local law enforcement officials are investigating a Border Patrol agent’s fatal shooting of a man in a rugged area near the Mexico border in Arizona over the weekend. 

“Early indications are that one male subject, presumed to be an illegal immigrant, was fatally wounded by a Border Patrol agent who was on duty with additional personnel,” the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said, according to the Associated Press.

CBP is investigating along with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.  

The shooting occurred at about 10 p.m. on Saturday in the Skeleton Canyon area of the Peloncillo Mountains in Douglas , a few miles north of the border. 

Officials have not yet released the identity or nationality of the man who was fatally shot. Details of the shooting remained murky as of Monday evening.

By Steve Neavling

U.S. border officials are getting ready for a record number of arrests of undocumented immigrants. 

By the spring, as many as 9,000 migrants could be arrested per day, which would eclipse the 6,500 daily arrests at the peak of last year’s rise in arrests, two Homeland Security officials told Reuters.

In the last fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, the U.S. made a record-breaking 1.7 million border arrests.

At the time, the surge in arrests caused major problems, including an increase of unaccompanied children. 

The CBP “stands ready to address any potential increase in migrant encounters,” while at the same time “managing a fair and orderly immigration system,” an agency spokesperson said.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas received an icy reception from Border Patrol agents from the Yuma Sector in Arizona, partly because of the influx.

By Steve Neavling

CBP has its eyes out for more than just drugs. 

This month, the agency seized 243 pounds of prohibited pork bologna at the Texas border in El Paso on two separate occasions. 

The contraband bologna was “seized and destroyed,” CBP said in a news release.

The lunch meat is banned from entering the U.S. because of its potential to spread foreign animal diseases into the country, CBP said. 

 “Pork products have the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases that can have devastating effects to the U.S. economy and to our agriculture industry,” CBP Director Field Operations Hector A. Mancha said. “We ask travelers to declare any items acquired abroad so we can prevent the introduction of potentially harmful products.”

In the first incident, a 40-year-old Albuquerque resident was busted trying to enter the U.S. with the pork at the Paso Del Norte crossing in El Paso on Jan. 13. Agriculture specialists discovered 55 pounds of bologna hidden in several locations, including under bags of chips. 

“The driver informed CBP Agriculture Specialists that he resells the bologna in the U.S. for almost double the price he pays for them in Mexico,” the news release said.

In the second case on Jan. 21, a 40-year-old resident of Colorado tried to enter the Yselta border crossing in El Paso without declaring meat products. During an inspection of the vehicle, agriculture specialists found 19 rolls of bologna weighing 188 pounds. 

Both suspects were fined $1,000 for failing to declare commercial quantities of bologna.  

By Steve Neavling

The FBI is investigating the assault of a Border Patrol agent along Arizona’s border with Mexico. 

The assault occurred near Naco in southern Arizona on Wednesday, KOLD reports.

Details of the assault weren’t immediately clear, and no information was available about the condition of the agent. 

The investigation is ongoing, KOLD was told. 

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Oscar Hagelsieb has a unique perspective of life on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

A child of illegal immigrants, Hagelsieb became a Border Patrol official, a position that seemingly put him at odds with his father, who crossed the border several times.

Before taking the job, he talked to his father.

“My dad’s my biggest hero and I didn’t want to disappoint him or offend him. He had crossed illegally several times and I didn’t know what his opinion was of border control,” Hagelsieb tells Quartz. “My parents didn’t want better lives for themselves—for them it would have been more convenient for them to stay in Mexico with their home and family—but for their children, for us.”

To Hagelsieb’s surprise, his dad encouraged him to pursue his dreams of protecting the border.

“He said that the border patrol and federal law enforcement needed individuals like me to humanize the experience,”  Hagelsieb said of his father.

Hagelsieb’s unlikely story is featured in a recently released documentary, “Kingdom of Shadows.”

Hagelsieb began working as a border patrol agent in Fabens, Texas in 2000, which meant he had to stop people like his parents, who eventually legalized their immigration status.

Hagelsieb shied away from the debate over U.S. immigration laws.

I have no opinion one way or the other,” he says. “As a federal agent, I uphold the laws that lawmakers pass.”

Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

More than 2,000 immigrants were released from jail because of budget concerns, but the Homeland Security secretary was never notified, according to a critical report from the inspector general.

The Associated Press reports that ICE also poorly planned for the influx of immigrant arrests at the Mexico border and failed to accurately track spending.

Information on the massive release was never shared in advance with political appointees or other White House officials of the implications of the budget cuts, according to the report.

The Obama administration initially denied an AP report about the release of more than 2,000 immigrants, but that’s because there was no knowledge of the situation, the report found.

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Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Tunnel systems that run between the U.S. and Mexico border are used to transport drugs, people, weapons and other illegal material.

Now, Border Patrol agents are using robot technology to detect tunnels, the Associated Press reports.

Agents in Tucson, Ariz., plan to demonstrate the “tunnel robots” Tuesday.

According to CBP, tunnels are becoming increasingly popular for criminal organizations.

More than 75 tunnels have been found between the border since 2008, the AP wrote.

Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

 Border Patrol agents exchanged gunfire with a suspected smuggler on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

“Our agents are not going to tolerate this,” Border Patrol spokesman Henry Mendiola said Tuesday. “They’re well-trained, they’re well equipped, and they will respond to neutralize these threats.”

The Friday shooting began when agents spotted smugglers loading more than a half-ton of marijuana into an SUV, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Someone fired at agents who were pursuing the driver and smugglers,

Agents returned fire.

There were no reports of injuries.

The suspected smugglers, all Mexican nationals, were arrested on drug charges.