(NewsNation) – NewsNation followed officials at the southern border to show the situation there like no other news network can.
An anonymous Border Patrol agent said on a special edition of “Dan Abrams Live” that cartels “control the border,” not the United States and its agents.
“Everything we do is a reaction to things they have planned,” the agent exclusively told NewsNation’s Ali Bradley. “Normally, we are chasing pawns while the kings and queens do what they want.”
The agent asked to remain anonymous to avoid any government ramifications.
“I’m afraid to talk to the media because I’m afraid of what, you know, the government would do, which would obviously be losing my job, right? …They don’t want you to speak on their behalf without their permission,” the agent said.
“Our border is in no way secure, and even if it were, we don’t have the manpower to deal with the situation that’s happening now.”
The agent also warned that “no one will come to protect him” because law enforcement “has been understaffed and overwhelmed.”
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‘Border Crisis’ reveals the truth about politics
NewsNation reporters fanned out across the country and reported live on the border crisis and its impact on communities, education and crime rates.
Additionally, NewsNation teams accompanied law enforcement using night vision technology and a specially equipped NewsNation border truck.
The special broadcast featured a live panel of border agents and police chiefs from Texas to New York to discuss how the border crisis is affecting their own communities.
NewsNation tracks ‘brush teams’ patrolling the border
So-called “brush teams” help patrol the country’s southern border and are popping up across the US. Local law enforcement teams comb the stretch of land where migrants sometimes hide and flee. If everything is lined up correctly, brush teams will be in the right place at the right time, catching those on the run.
NewsNation’s Ali Bradley joined combat teams along the southern border to see authorities’ efforts to capture migrants entering the United States without authorization. People have been fleeing other countries, many avoiding legal U.S. border crossings. Sometimes they receive help from cartels.
“Are they part of a gang?” asked the sergeant. Such. Parker with SABER Special Operations. “Are they coming here to do something else?”
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‘Smuggler’s Highway’: A look at the popular border migrant route
Local authorities are cracking down on a stretch of highway connecting Arizona to California, nicknamed the “Smuggler Highway,” that has become a hot spot for people smuggling from the southern border to Phoenix.
Sheriff’s deputies in Pinal County, Arizona, say it’s not just cartels that smuggle migrants, but also American citizens trying to make money.
The so-called “Smuggler Highway” runs along the US-Mexico border, turns north to Phoenix and then connects to California. As a result, Pinal County authorities created an anti-smuggling unit along the route.
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Live from ‘Whiskey 8’: Migrants injured when border barrier collapses
Correspondent Salvador Rivera reported live from San Diego along a stretch of border fence known as “Whiskey 8,” offering a closer look at the crisis.
Rivera spoke with Jaime Zapata and his family about their challenges at the border.
“This is a scene that repeats itself many times throughout the week. Sometimes you have 300 people. This is just one of several hot spots along the border here in the San Diego sector,” Rivera said.
Zapata told NewsNation that two of the women in his family were injured after falling from a border barrier and said it is ultimately up to border paramedics to help them.
