By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Assaults on Border Patrol agents are significantly on the rise this year.
In the first 11 months of fiscal 2017, 671 assaults on Border Patrol agents were reported, a 67% increase during the same period last year, Officer.com reports.
Worried about the increase in assaults, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed prosecutors to make attacks “a top priority” during an April 11 speech in Nogales.
“If someone dares to assault one of our folks in the line of duty, they will do federal time for it,” Sessions said.
The good news is, prosecutions for assaults on agents also are increasing. During the first 11 months of this fiscal year, 48 new cases of assault were prosecuted, up from 34 in each of the two previous fiscal years.
It’s not entirely clear why assaults are increasing.
