Border Patrol Agent killed in southern Arizona

The federal government is suing the state of Arizona for trying to do the job the Obama administration refuses to do: control illegal border crossings.

This is the result of federal abdication:

The U.S. Border Patrol says that one of its agents has been shot to death after a confrontation in southern Arizona.

Border Patrol spokesman Eric Cantu confirmed the agent’s death to The Associated Press on Wednesday morning.

Cantu tells KTVK-TV the agent is identified as Brian Terry. Cantu says Terry was shot and killed after confronting several suspects near Rio Rico north of Nogales.

At least four people are in custody and possibly one more remains at large.

There are no details about the arrested people, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Agent Terry had come across drug smugglers, who are often heavily armed — and even maintain bases inside US territory.

Earlier this year, a rancher in Arizona was gunned down on his own property, perhaps by a cartel scout. A few months ago, a man enjoying some sightseeing with his wife on Falcon Lake in Texas had his head blown off by cartel gunmen. Now a Border Patrol agent has been shot dead.

While it would be an overstatement to say the situation in our southern borderlands is a war, it is increasingly lawless and dangerous. There are even areas of American parklands that Americans are warned not to enter, for fear of Mexican drug smugglers.

Local and state law enforcement agencies are being overwhelmed, as is the undermanned Border Patrol. Rather than trying to take over whole swathes of the economy, shouldn’t the President of the United States be doing the job he’s been assigned?

Oh, wait. I forgot the guy in the Oval Office doesn’t really want the job.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

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