When Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered by drug smugglers in Arizona last December, Tom Tancredo revealed that Terry’s BORTAC unit (the Border Patrol’s equivalent of a SWAT team) were armed with bean-bag rounds in their weapons:
Here’s the part Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Border Patrol management are trying to hide: Border Patrol Agent Terry and the BORTAC team were under standing orders to always use (“non-lethal”) bean-bag rounds first before using live ammunition. When the smugglers heard the first rounds, they returned fire with real bullets, and Agent Terry was killed in that exchange. Real bullets outperform bean bags every time.
At the time, the government denied such “bizarre Internet-fueled rumors”:
“There was no order given to CBP law enforcement personnel – now or in the past – that dictates the use of less-than-lethal devices before using deadly force,” stated CBP’s Southwest Border Field Branch Office of Public Affairs.
Oops:
Records show agents fired beanbags in fatal border gunfight
Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011 12:00 am
Border Patrol agents shot beanbags at a group of suspected bandits before the men returned fire during a confrontation in a remote canyon, killing agent Brian Terry with a single gunshot, records show.
And an illegal immigrant wounded in the gunbattle who is now the only person in custody linked to the slaying contends he never fired a shot, according to FBI search warrant requests filed in the U.S. District Court in Tucson.
The documents provide the most detailed version yet of what happened in the deadly gunbattle Dec. 14 in Peck Canyon, northwest of Nogales.
The documents say the group of illegal border entrants refused commands to drop their weapons after agents confronted them at about 11:15 p.m. Two agents fired beanbags at the migrants, who responded with gunfire. Two agents returned fire, one with a long gun and one with a pistol, but Terry was mortally wounded in the gunfight.
Border Patrol officials declined to answer questions about protocol for use of force, citing the ongoing investigation.
But Terry’s brother, Kent Terry, said the other agents who were there that night told him that they were instructed to use the non-lethal beanbags first. It’s a policy that doesn’t make sense to Kent Terry.
“You go up against a bandit crew that is carrying AKs, and you walk out there with guns loaded with beanbags – I don’t get it,” Terry said in a phone interview from Michigan. “It’s like going to the Iraqi war with one knife. It boggles my mind. … These guys (Border Patrol agents) are professionals; they should be able to use their judgment call on their own.”
On the night of the deadly encounter, agents were trying to apprehend at least five suspected illegal immigrants. One agent, using thermal binoculars, spotted two men carrying rifles. When the group came close, at least one agent identified himself as police and ordered the men to drop their weapons.
Here’s how the rest of the events are described in the FBI document:
“When the suspected aliens did not drop their weapons, two Border Patrol agents deployed ‘less than lethal’ beanbags at the suspected aliens. At this time, at least one of the suspected aliens fired at the Border Patrol agents. Two Border Patrol agents returned fire, one with his long gun and one with his pistol.
“Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot with one bullet and died shortly after. One of the suspected illegal aliens, later identified as Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, was also shot.”
Where is the outrage at this? This is absurd.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat makes me think that if you follow this back far enough you'll find Janet Napolitano and Eric Holder at the genesis of this brilliant law enforcement policy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSimilar to what happened to the Marines in Lebanon.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@ Funeral Guy -- The logical extension of your reasoning is this: Barack Obama is ultimately responsible. Did he expressly order this policy? Probably not. Is he in full accord with it? Sadly, I think the answer has to be "yes."
To Obama, like Bush before him, the health, welfare and happiness of corrupt Mexico trumps Americans' lives and sovereignty, every time.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI like how these guys are described as "migrants" and "suspected illegal aliens". Does that conjure up people toting AK-47s? How about "alleged drug gangsters"?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMaybe its me, but I don't have a problem with considering an illegal entry that involves a weapon as an invasion. Instant state of war until the matter is resolved.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere's many turn of phrase that could be used here but why? This was an absolutely avoidable tragedy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy would anyone, ever, shoot beanbags at someone holding a real gun?
What am I missing here? At some point, you need to tell your boss: "No."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUnitary executive.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd at least one of the guns involved was allowed to "walk" to Mexico by the BATFE.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePeople in the Bureau should be fired and/or tried and jailed for that.
And don't forget, ATF was walking these guns across the border with the approval of the Justice Department. Bizarre, bureaucratic self-promotion and one-upmanship aggrandizement by Eric Holder et al.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe one illegal caught should have already been charged as an accessory to the murder of a federal officer, as should the people who ordered the officers to use bean bag ammunition first and last but not least the BATF officials who decided it was a good idea to allow firearms to be illegally sold to Mexican drug gangs. IE
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHolder and Nopolitanio.
Business as usual, nothing to see here folks, go on with your merry lives. Next!
ATF hurry up and get Operation Fast and Furious moving hose guns south double time, this is awesome!
Border Patrol retrieve those spent bean bags, gotta save money and not run up the deficit.
Justice Dept. Let a few million more migrants come north so we can get more votes in 2012.
Nothing to see folks, move along...
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"And don't forget, ATF was walking these guns across the border with the approval of the Justice Department. Bizarre, bureaucratic self-promotion and one-upmanship aggrandizement by Eric Holder et al."
This cannot be be emphasised enough. This shows the complete systemic corruption of that organization(BATF).
We have one government agency in charge of weapons laws, that turns a blind eye to weapons smuggling to foreign organized crime syndicates so that they can be used against innocents in two countries for the purpose of citing statistics in support of removing the rights of Americans that are needed to defend against these criminals with illegal guns that they have due to this agency.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTell us that you are just reprinting a satire from The Onion. This cannot be real.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJoeP - good point, but if you think about it, what you are really saying with government employees is... at some point you say to your boss, "Fire me, default my pension, force my kid to drop out of college, and audit my taxes to back when I was in high school." Uncle Sam doesn't like uppity servants.
Then think about the implications of that the next time you read about the surveys which claim large majorities of police would oppose firearms confiscation, and overwhelming numbers of military personnel would disobey orders to use force on US citizens. A guy who would obey an order to put his own life in danger by bringing a beanbag to a gunfight, probably wouldn't hesitate too much if ordered to rubber hose a confession out of you.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBarney Fife would do a better job as attorney general. These people (Napolitano, Holder, and Obama) have blood on their hands.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMike@s,
Slow down there, bud. I had this very discussion a couple weeks ago with a few folks, some were very adamant about government takeover of our lives, the military will disarm us, shoot us, etc.
NO. THEY. WON'T.
The members of the Armed Forces of the United States swear to defend the Constitution. They don't do a "we love Hitler" type of fealty oath. This promise is taken very seriously. They also promise to obey the orders of the President and the officers appointed over them. The LAWFUL orders. Everyone understands the difference between lawful and unlawful orders. If the President orders the military, through the chain of command, to do what you suggest, the only way it would actually happen is if the noncommissioned officers corps allowed it to. And that, my friend, would never, ever, happen.
Never.
Yes, I know, isolated incidents of criminal wrongdoing have happened (My Lai, Abu Ghraib, etc), and I'm sure they'll happen again. But what you suggest? Nope.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"CBP" is "Customs and Border Protection." It is a different agency than "Border Patrol." Both agencies are part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but work independently. It may in fact be correct that no such order was given to "CBP," and that would have nothing to do with policies or directives within Border Patrol.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse1776 says that Barney Fife would do a better job than Holder, but that's probably unfair to Barney. At least he meant well. I'm thinking that Eddie Haskell is a closer fit.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse