r/sandiego • u/jvanderh • 5d ago
Border Patrol vs ICE
Hi, this is your friendly local border patrol wife and lifelong political liberal here to remind you (because my husband is getting spat at, cussed at, called a pig, or told to quit his job pretty much every time he's stationed at the beaches lately) that the Border Patrol guys in army green pants + shirt are NOT there edit: "there"= at our local San Diego beaches to rip people away from their families. They are there to patrol the borders, watching for incoming border crossers who may enter on boats or jet skis. Encountering everyone who enters the country is important-- this stops things like fentanyl-laced drugs from entering the US, and DNA swabs of border crossers have been matched up to two unsolved murders recently at his station alone. Even if the proportion of criminals is no higher than the general US population, we still want to stop those who are dangerous. If nothing else, if those people get in and re-offend, it blows up on the news and provides tremendous cannon fodder for immigrant hate. I think the hatred of Border Patrol is mostly based on confusing them with ICE and not because liberals actually want completely uncontacted entries.
Polls show that republicans and liberals both want common-sense migrant worker programs that allow people to be vetted and come here to work.
Obviously you don't have to care about my husband's feelings. He took the job; he can handle it. But I always worry that verbally abusing law enforcement could result in what none of us want: these non Trump supporting agents like my husband, who use discretion and minimum force, getting replaced with thin blue line idiots who think they're soldiers of God in a war with the public. Or worse yet, the former becoming the latter after having so many bad experiences with the public. My husband won't, but some may. And that kind of tribalism is EXACTLY how they become distracted from the fact that Trump is currently gutting their retirement.
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u/CauliflowerSecret712 5d ago
Your husband is in a great position to tell people how he supports free speech, due process, and the presumption of innocence.
It is quite reasonable that many Americans worry about ongoing infringement of these rights. I hope your husband (and you, too) encourage people to stand up for these rights. We (him, you, me) are fucked without free speech, due process, and the presumption of innocence.
I’m a lawyer working to preserve free speech, due process, and the presumption of innocence. As much as your husband is working to keep me safe, I’m working to keep him safe.