Smugglers Caught Using Fake Border Patrol Vehicle to Sneak Illegal Aliens Into US

Smugglers are attempting different methods to transport people across the border

A U.S. Border Patrol agent sits in a vehicle along a border wall near the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) San Ysidro Port of Entry at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, Calif., on Feb. 19, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

A scheme by smugglers to use a fake U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle to transfer illegal aliens across the southern U.S. border from Mexico was foiled by U.S. and Mexican immigration officials.

“El Centro agents stopped a cloned BP vehicle from entering the U.S. after observing a subject trying to breach the border fence w/ a cutting torch,” U.S. Border Patrol chief Jason Owens wrote in a July 26 tweet. “Mexican officials responded and arrested 17 subjects.”

El Centro is a city in California.

Photos that were uploaded with the tweet showed a truck with “Border Patrol” painted on the back as well as faked decals of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the side.

Mexican authorities discovered the vehicle on July 22, with the 17 migrants huddled inside. The smugglers were arrested at the border, while the illegal immigrants were transferred to police custody in Tijuana. U.S. authorities confiscated the pickup truck.

David Pérez Tejada, a delegate at the National Migration Institute, told NBC7 in an interview that the smugglers may have lied to the migrants by saying something like: “Hop on, we already have an agreement. This is a U.S. border patrol vehicle. With this, they won’t ask you anything before you cross the border.”

Relying on smugglers to cross into the United States is a dangerous proposition for illegal immigrants.

“If you are in the hands of smugglers, they can not only rape women, extort migrants, and steal their belongings, but even kill them,” said Victor Clark Alfaro, a professor of Latin American studies at San Diego State University.

The fake CBP vehicle incident comes as illegal immigrants continue to pour into the United States across the Southwestern land border under the Biden administration.

There have been 1.79 million encounters at the Southwest land border between October 2022 and last month, according to CPB data.

That figure exceeds the full fiscal year 2021 numbers during the first year of the Biden administration and more than three times the numbers encountered under the Trump administration in fiscal year 2020. Last fiscal year, there were 2.38 million encounters.

The smuggling scheme isn’t the first one to use fake CBP vehicles to bring illegal immigrants into the United States. In 2021, Homeland Security and Border Patrol agents stopped a vehicle carrying 10 migrants near Tucson, Arizona.

In addition, officials reported last month that fake FedEx vehicles were used to transport 26 illegal aliens into El Paso, Texas. The vans were customized to look like authentic company vehicles.

Illegal Entry Data ‘Misleading by Design’

In June, there were 144,571 encounters in the Southwest land border, which is the lowest in the past three years. This is also the lowest number since February 2021. The CBP credited the Biden administration policies for the low June numbers.

“Our sustained efforts to enforce consequences under our longstanding Title 8 authorities, combined with expanding access to lawful pathways and processes, have driven the number of migrant encounters along the Southwest border to their lowest levels in more than two years. We will remain vigilant,” CBP Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller said in a statement.

June was the first full month since Title 42 restrictions ended on May 11. Title 42, issued by the Trump administration in 2020, was used to block asylum claims from illegal immigrants.

Republicans assert that the post-Title 42 reduction is due to a change in how such entries are now being reported. During a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee last month, committee Chairman Clay Higgins (R-La.) insisted that the new method of calculating illegal entries is “misleading by design.”

People walk between razor wire and a string of buoys placed on the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 16, 2023. Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images

Specifically, the Biden administration now defines some illegal crossings as “those that have entered by legal pathway.” This is done by the CBP One app that allows illegal aliens to schedule an appointment with U.S. officials at the border and secure entry into the United States by seeking asylum.

“Despite what [Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas] and other officials at DHS are advising the American public regarding the numbers being down, what we’ve come to observe is rather a shell game in the way numbers are documented and reported,” Mr. Higgins said.

Public View on Illegal Immigration

As illegal aliens keep pouring in, most Americans see illegal immigration as a major issue. While 39 percent see the border situation as a full-blown “crisis,” another 33 percent think it is a “major problem,” a recent Gallup poll found.

Among Republicans, the view that illegal immigration is a “major problem” has largely remained unchanged since 2019, only increasing slightly to 91 percent from 88 percent during this period. But among Democrats, the “major problem” characterization dropped to 56 percent, suggesting their views on the issue may have shifted based on politics.

A swing-state poll (pdf) from Global Strategy Group in April showed that Republicans had an eight-point advantage over Democrats regarding who American voters trust more to handle the issue.

“A majority of voters think President Biden is ignoring problems at the border (52 percent) and the situation involving Dreamers and the undocumented (50 percent).”