Border Patrol chief says Border Patrol’s job doesn’t include stopping illegal crossings or narcotics

Simply unbelievable:

A Border Patrol chief at one of the nation’s most dangerous Southwest border crossings says the agency’s mission doesn’t include apprehending illegal aliens or seizing narcotics — perplexing front-line agents and angering a congressional critic of illegal immigration.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Carlos X. Carrillo, Border Patrol chief of Laredo, Texas, told guests at a town-hall meeting Thursday. “The Border Patrol’s job is not to stop illegal immigrants. The Border Patrol’s job is not to stop narcotics. … The Border Patrol’s mission is not to stop criminals.

“The Border Patrol’s mission is to stop terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the country.“

Emphasis mine, at least in the text of this blog. The emphasis on denying the responsibility for halting illegals from crossing our borders and for halting the illegal importation of illicit drugs belongs solely to Mr. Carrillo. And that emphasis should, frankly, be considered a tender of resignation from the Chief, effective immediately.

The head of the Border Patrol, David Aguilar, says that Mr. Carrillo’s comments were “taken out of context.” If that’s true, perhaps Mr. Aguilar can either provide the transcript of Mr. Carrillo’s comments in total so the rest of us can actually see the context he’s saying is missing or explain to the rest of us what context there could possibly be that make Mr. Carrillo’s comments less emphatic than they appear. Because when I read those comments, it seems clear that Mr. Carrillo is saying that stopping illegal immigrants ain’t his job. It seems clear that he’s saying that because, you know, he said that.

“Our mission is to protect our country’s borders from all threats,” Mr. Aguilar said. “Our highest priority is keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering our country.“We have never, nor will we ever, decrease or minimize our aggressive efforts in enforcing the rule of law.”

That’s good to hear, but that is most certainly not what Mr. Carrillo had to say on the subject. He didn’t say that the CBP’s job was to do all that with priority given to terror-related operations. He said that CBP’s job was terror-related operations, period, with those other activities falling into the “not my job” category. But we’re supposed to trust that he’ll really give “aggressive efforts in enforcing the rule of law” real attention?

Taken from the CBP’s web site, here’s their mission statement:

Perhaps Mr. Aguilar should send a copy of this to Mr. Carrillo and ask that he read more than just the 3rd paragraph. The citizens of the United States deserve Border Patrol Chiefs that are committed to their mission – their whole mission. If Mr. Carrillo can’t find that within himself, then he should seek employment elsewhere and let someone who can take the lead that he appears to abdicate.

Meanwhile, a more serious response from Homeland Security than a dismissive “oh, he was taken out of context” is in order. I would hope they provide one, and soon.

HuffPo author calling for US military to initiate coup against President Bush

No, that headline’s not a joke. Ed Morrissey over at Captain’s Quarters has the details.