An illegal immigrant coming across the U.S. border bit a Border Patrol agent in the face while being taken into custody, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed to Fox News on Friday.
The agency said that on Thursday an agent encountered a group of illegal immigrants who had crossed the border near Sunland Park, New Mexico.
While taking them into custody, one agent “was physically assaulted and bitten” by one of the illegal immigrants. The agency said that 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 that Mexican officials were nearby and grabbed the group as they came across, taking them to the edge of the border for the Border Patrol agents to identify.
Texas National Guard troops watch over more than 1,000 immigrants who had 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 seen “a significant risk in attacks on Border Patrol Agents recently.” In the El Paso sector of the border, 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 area for migrants at the southern border. But apprehensions in the sector are down this year, compared to last year, something agents have put down to an increase in technology and surveillance, as well as existing border barriers.
Immigration and border security have become top issues in the U.S. ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The Biden administration has pointed to a recent drop by more than 50% in border apprehensions since President Biden signed an executive order in June limiting arrivals. It has also called for 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 February 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 ending of Trump-era policies and expansion of “catch and release” encouraged millions of migrants to travel to the border and be released into the interior.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.