AUSTIN (Nexstar) – As a group of unaccompanied minors turned themselves in to federal authorities near the border wall in McAllen, U.S. Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera sighed in frustration. He grows weary seeing yet another set of migrant children making the dangerous journey on their own.
“We’ve pulled bodies out of the river. Young kids, men, women, and children,” Cabrera said. “It’s terrible to see. But we see it all too much. And it’s becoming a normal thing. People putting themselves and their kids’ lives at risk should not be a normal thing.”
Cabrera has been a border patrol agent for 22 years and currently serves as the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council. Giving a tour to reporters on behalf of the union, Cabrera told Nexstar that his job has never been more challenging than it is today.
“We care about what goes on,” he said. “The reason we’re so adamant that it needs to stop is the amount of suffering that we see.”
Over the course of two days, Cabrera showed reporters spots where U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents catch smugglers helping people enter the country illegally via holes in fences or gaps in the border wall.