Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is lamenting the historic numbers of Latinos who are joining the Border Patrol.
In a Friday interview with Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room,” Blitzer asked Bass, “But first, let me get your reaction to that report from David Culver we just heard. What did you think?”
“Well in a way, I think it’s sad,” Bass responded. “I think that those Border Patrol agents are going to have a difficult time when they’re out in the field, and they see what actually happens in real life separate from their training, but I do understand that their primary incentive is financial. I think it just speaks to the financial situation that millions of Americans find themselves in. And I definitely am concerned about that report.”
Earlier on the show, Culver did a special report on “The Situation Room” talking to new Border Patrol recruits.
At one point, Culver asked Border Patrol recruit Juan Peralta, “How do you feel about arresting your own kind? And how do you answer that when you hear that?”
Peralta responded, “They didn‘t come in the right way. So they aren‘t my kind.”
According to CBP, applications are up 70% from one year ago and over half of the agents serving on the southern border are Hispanic.
In October, the Trump administration announced it closed out fiscal year 2025 with the lowest U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions since 1970, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reporting 237,565 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal year 2025 compared to 201,780 in fiscal year 1970.
