Border Patrol Agents Smuggling Migrants

One of the frequent comments in regards to the DP World deal was that those shifty Arabs would be more easily infiltrated than an American owned and staffed enterprise. The idea that Americans can be corrupted and do things that are a detriment to this country either didn’t register or are discounted. Frankly I found such arguments naive and stories like this one reinforce this view:

SAN DIEGO — Two supervisory U.S. Border Patrol agents who helped establish a successful cross-border anti-smuggling program have been charged with smuggling migrants for a Mexican trafficking organization.

The agents, both stationed in the Imperial Valley, released apprehended illegal immigrants in exchange for cash, pulling in about $300,000, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

There is a long history of foreign groups, be they government or private (such as drug cartels or the like) corrupting Americans in the very positions that are to protect us from such groups. Yet we are to worry about a cargo terminal operator instead of making sure that the people actually doing the security aren’t selling us out?

FILED UNDER: Borders and Immigration, National Security, Terrorism
Steve Verdon
About Steve Verdon
Steve has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and attended graduate school at The George Washington University, leaving school shortly before staring work on his dissertation when his first child was born. He works in the energy industry and prior to that worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Division of Price Index and Number Research. He joined the staff at OTB in November 2004.

Comments

  1. John Burgess says:

    There’s a long history of American groups corrupting American officials. Corruption is a human flaw; some can control it (or have higher minimum demands) than others.

    I know I could be bought, but it’d take a lot of zeros–say eight or nine–after the first significant digit.

  2. Mark says:

    John’s right. I keep thinking of Chicago in the Capone-era as an example. And, it is possible it could happen at our ports too – with or without Dubai running some terminals.

  3. Steve Verdon says:

    I know I could be bought, but it�d take a lot of zeros�say eight or nine�after the first significant digit.

    I know what you mean. :-/