(NewsNation) — Strong rhetoric from Border Patrol agents and ICE officers forcefully arresting individuals is due to “antagonists” protesting the federal agencies, according to Paul Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
Perez and Juan Proano, CEO of civil rights group The League of United Latin American Citizens, joined “CUOMO” Tuesday night to discuss ICE and Border Patrol arrests of both migrants and protesters in recent days and weeks.
“A lot of people get angry and upset because of what they’re seeing, but what the story doesn’t show is that these agitators, these antagonists, are not the people that we’re going after to arrest,” Perez told NewsNation.
“These are people who are impeding, they’re interfering with our lawful right to enforce the laws that are on the books, and that’s why the optics that you’re talking about are showing that we’re in a riot situation almost everywhere and almost every day,” he added.
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Perez explained that because of these individuals, federal agents are “having to battle every single day.”
Proano acknowledged there are some “agitators” present during ICE and Border Patrol operations, but argued that the Trump administration’s efforts are “tearing apart our country,”
“It’s tearing apart the fabric of our country, and it’s really trying to separate our communities. What you see in Chicago, you see people standing up for their neighbors, for their brothers, for their sisters, for their children,” Proano said.
“The fact of the matter is, most of the immigrants are … honest people, they’re earnest people, they’re hard-working people, and they serve a very particular and important function that helps drive this economy,” he added.
On Tuesday, federal Judge Sara Ellis warned a top Border Patrol official about using chemical agents while children are trick-or-treating this week. Ellis will meet with Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino daily until Nov. 5 as a means of holding federal agents accountable.
