Attacks on Border Patrol Agents are increasing.  Desperation among criminal aliens and other illegal aliens is at record levels as the crackdown on illegal aliens continues.  Democrats are, of course,  silent as illegal aliens are their constituency.  It will likely get worse before it gets better as prosecutions of criminal aliens, smugglers, family members who pay for smuggling, and illegal aliens themselves increase.  While previously the war on Border Patrol Agents was led by Barack Hussein Obama and his minions, things have changed and the Trump Administration is at least talking about prosecuting these attackers.  (This correspondent covered the Obama war, in collusion with the press, on the Border Patrol extensively. )

According to U.S. Border Patrol data, FY 2017 saw a remarkable 678 assaults against agents compared to 403 the previous year, a 68 percent increase. It all came while the USBP is at its lowest staffing level in nearly a decade, a deficit President Donald Trump vowed to alleviate through an Executive Order immediately after his inauguration.

[Dramatic Spike In Violent Attacks Against US Border Agents Provokes Outrage, by Joseph Kolb, Fox News, December 5, 2017]

Desperation appears to be the problem, as criminal aliens are increasingly captured and deported, interrupting the cycle of deportation and immediate re-entry, which annoys the criminal alien and increases his antipathy to Border Patrol Agents.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said one explanation for the dramatic spike in attacks is that agents are effectively doing their job, with the support of the new administration to lock down the border. With illegal crossings at the lowest levels in years, Judd said there is a sense of desperation, especially among criminal border crossers, to make it across and they are becoming more violent when they are apprehended, often in remote areas along the border.

“When we make it more difficult to cross, assaults go up,” Judd said. “This should be a barometer for the general public to see these are more violent and dangerous people attempting to enter the country.”

Judd also said agents are apprehending more criminal aliens than last year. Then there is the perception to some, but what seems reality to USBP, that there is a sense of impunity created by dismally low prosecution rates against those who attack agents.

This sense is further amplified among juveniles who are typically recruited by cartels since they face minimal prosecution, if any at all.

Hopefully the lack of prosecution, a legacy policy of  Obama and the holdovers in the Justice Department, will end under Jeff Sessions.

In April, Attorney Jeff Sessions said he would not tolerate assaults against federal agents.

“I have directed that all 94 US Attorneys’ Offices make the prosecution of assault on federal law enforcement officers—that’s all of you—a top priority. If someone dares assault one of our folks in the line of duty, they will do federal time for it,” Sessions said. According to information provided to FoxNews.com by the Department of Justice, there has been a steady increase in prosecutions filed over the last three years of assaults against federal agents, but nowhere near the total of assaults reported by USBP.

The other issue is that  the numbers reflect assaults against all federal agents, not just USBP, which further dilutes the rate of prosecutions. The DOJ data reveals 118 cases filed in 2015; 122 in 2016; and 191 in 2017.

According to the data, it appears that less than a third of assault cases against agents are prosecuted.

Judd points his finger at lingering holdovers in the DOJ from the Obama administration who allegedly continue to refuse to uphold immigration laws and those intended to protect federal agents.

Sabotage by #DeepState operatives is suspected and this writer agrees.  The various U.S. Attorneys' Offices are not on board with immigration prosecutions, nor with prosecuting those who assault or interfere with ICE agents or Border Patrol Agents.

“Attorney General Sessions is finding it more difficult to get the job done with these career employees,” Judd said.

In the face of erratic federal prosecutions, the agency has had to rely on state level prosecutions to address cases, Texas being one of the strongest states with laws dealing with assault on law enforcement.

It’s sad to see that Assistant U.S. Attorneys are not doing the job they were hired to do and agencies have to go to local prosecutors for justice.  One of the problems is that Sessions has allowed Obama holdovers to remain as U.S. Attorneys in key districts, like Portland, San Francisco and Sacramento. Time yet again for Jeff Sessions to clean house at the Department of Justice.