An illegal immigrant crossing the U.S. border bit a Border Patrol agent in the face while being detained, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed to Fox News on Friday.
The agency said an agent encountered a group of illegal immigrants who had crossed the border near Sunland Park, New Mexico, on Thursday.
While detaining them, an agent “was physically assaulted and bitten” by one of the illegal immigrants. The agency said one subject had been arrested for assault and taken to a hospital for medical evaluation.
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CBP later confirmed to Fox News that the agent had been bitten in the face by the illegal immigrant and that three of the four migrants in the group had crossed back into Mexico.
The agency says Mexican officials were nearby and grabbed the group as they crossed, taking them to the edge of the border for Border Patrol agents to identify them.
Texas National Guard troops monitor more than 1,000 migrants who crossed the Rio Grande overnight from Mexico on December 18, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Customs and Border Protection recently warned in a press release that it has detected “a significant risk of attacks on Border Patrol agents recently.” In the El Paso border sector, where the latest assault took place, 66 agents have been assaulted so far this fiscal year. Last fiscal year, 104 agents were assaulted.
Sunland Park has been a key crossing point for migrants on the southern border. But apprehensions there have declined this year compared with last year, something agents have attributed to increased technology and surveillance as well as existing border barriers.
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Immigration and border security have emerged as top-of-mind issues in the United States ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The Biden administration has pointed to a recent drop of more than 50% in border apprehensions since President Biden signed an executive order in June limiting arrivals. It has also called on Congress to pass a bipartisan border security bill to provide additional funding and resources to the border.
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A Border Patrol agent guides migrants who had crossed into Shelby Park into a Border Patrol van to be taken to a processing center on Feb. 4, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. ((Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images))
Republicans have accused the administration of causing the historic border crisis in the first place, arguing that the end of Trump-era policies and the expansion of “catch and release” encouraged millions of migrants to travel to the border and be released in the interior.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from Fox News' digital immigration hub.
