Video: Students Harass Border Patrol Agents Giving Talk at University of Arizona

A patch on the uniform of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Two border patrol agents giving a talk at the University of Arizona were harassed by students calling them “racists” and “killers.”

The incident occurred during a campus event held in Tucson on Tuesday, March 19, to provide criminal justice majors an opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of law enforcement efforts in border regions.

Student protesters seen in several videos shared on social media could be seen heckling the agents, calling them an “extension of the KKK.”

“This is supposed to be a safe space for students but they allow an extension of the KKK into campus, an extension of the KKK into campus,” a voice on one of the videos could be heard saying.

(Warning: some readers may find the content of the videos offensive.)

The university’s College Republicans issued a statement on the incident, as reported by The Daily Wire.

“As fellow Americans, we fully support the First Amendment right given to all U.S. citizens, but there comes a point where it’s harassment rather than an open dialogue with opposing views,” the organization’s statement read. “The incident towards the two border patrol agents was disrespectful and disruptive to an educational meeting about Border Patrol.”

‘Murder Patrol’

Students from the U of A’s Criminal Justice Association invited the agents, who were from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, according to the Daily Wire.

“I don’t know who allowed the murder patrol,” a student filming one of the videos can be heard saying. “They allow murderers to be on campus where I pay to be here. Murderers! On campus. Murderers! On campus.”

“There are students that pay to be here, pay to be here, that need this to be a safe space for them and we have the KKK and their supporters right here at the U of A,” the protester said.

Warning: The following videos contain language that viewers may find offensive.

A female student inside the classroom listening to the talk invited the protester to sit in rather than stand outside the room and hurl abuse.

“Great, I can sit in the entire time, I’ll just be saying that they’re murderers the entire [expletive] time because it’s the truth. They’re murderers and you as a club should be more conscious of the rest of the students on this campus,” the protester said, adding that she does not “feel safe with them here.”

The female student suggested she could call the university police if the protester did not feel safe, to which the protester responded: “Of course, a white woman calling the cops.”

“If you don’t feel safe,” the female student reiterated, “I will call UAPD,” to which the protester replied, “Do you think UAPD is going to make me feel safe?” “White woman and white man calling the police,” the protester added.

When the border patrol agents finished their presentation and left the classroom, the protesters followed them across campus, chanting, “Murder patrol, murder patrol.”

The agents did not engage with the hecklers as they walked to the parking garage, got into their vehicle, and drove away.

One of the protesters was heard yelling, “We won’t stop until you get off our campus!” Footage then showed a larger group of students holding various signs and intoning, “Police, ICE, the same [expletive] twice!”

The university’s College Republicans said in their statement to the Daily Wire that “being able to have an open dialogue is extremely important to us between people of different views as we want to talk about difficult issues, especially as the 2020 election is approaching. However, behavior reflected in the video is something we discourage as we are all residents of the United States.”

Kamala Harris Rebuffed for Comparing ICE to KKK

In November, now-presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris sparked outrage after she drew a comparison between ICE and the Ku Klux Klan during a Senate confirmation hearing.

Harris’s comments brought charges of “disgusting” partisanship when she likened the way some people perceive ICE wielding its power to how the KKK used “fear and force” to effect political change through terror.

The presidential hopeful made the remarks when questioning Ronald Vitiello, the acting director of ICE, at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Nov. 15, 2018.

Harris asked Vitiello if he was aware that there’s a perception the ICE employs similar fear tactics to the KKK.

“I see no perception that puts ICE in the same category as the KKK,” Vitiello answered. “I do not see a parallel between the power and the authority that ICE has to do its job and the agents and officers who do it professionally and excellently with lots of compassion.”

“Sir, how can you be the head of an agency and be unaware of how your agency is perceived by certain communities?” Harris asked.

“There’s a lot of perceptions in the media and in the public that are incorrect about the agency and what it does,” Vitiello responded.