A Border Patrol agent was bloodied in an attack by a migrant cartel informer who had the word “RAT” carved into his forehead, a former Texas Republican lawmaker said.
Former Rep. Mayra Flores, 37, the wife of a Border Patrol agent, shared the gory image of the fed after the southern border attack in her social media accounts Sunday, and described what she claimed led to his injuries.
“This is the type of violence that is being exerted on Border Patrol Agents by those who don’t want to be apprehended,” she wrote, adding that agents encountered the alleged attacker near McAllen, Texas.
“The suspect was labeled a rat by the cartels and fought against the agent until backup arrived,” Flores wrote. “Please pray for our men and women in uniform.”
The former lawmaker and current candidate, who was the first Mexican-born woman to serve in the House, also posted an image of the wounded migrant, whose forehead apparently bore a marking etched by a Mexican drug cartel.
Cartels have been known to carry out public acts of violent revenge – including beheadings, hangings and acid baths – against traitors, but they also have branded those who dared to cross them with body paint.
In 2021, the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación — or the New Generation Jalisco Cartel, one of the largest drug-trafficking organizations on the planet — gunned down a North Carolina charter school teacher when he tried to rob one of their stash houses.
Earlier that year, a former lieutenant for the cartel — who broke away to start his own gang — was found dead on a park bench, wrapped in plastic, with a sign pinned to his body with knives displaying the words “the traitor El Cholo.”
Flores launched a comeback bid in July after losing her seat to Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.
She is running on a platform to empower agents, strengthen border security and better protect children being trafficked.
“Our values align with the Republican Party. Our values align. I am pro-God, pro-life, pro-family. The Democrat Party stands against everything we stand for,” she said at her campaign launch, according to Politico.
Meanwhile, video posted by the Associated Press showed about 5,000 mostly Venezuelan migrants jumping into action when a train arrived on the outskirts of the central Mexican city of Irapuato.
“Come up! Come up!” some migrants atop the train shouted at those below who hoped to catch a ride to Mexico’s border with the US.
The country’s biggest railroad, Ferromex, had said it halted 60 freight trains amid safety concerns because migrants were hitching rides that led to a “half-dozen regrettable cases of injuries or deaths” in a span of a few days.
When the train arrived Saturday, “Ferromex” was painted on many of the cars.
Police were stationed around the area where the migrants had been waiting, but when the train stopped for a half-hour, there was no attempt to stop the migrants from jumping aboard.
The freight trains — known collectively as “The Beast” — have long been used by migrants despite violence from drug cartels and the peril that comes with riding atop them.
Venezuelan migrant Mayela Villegas, her partner and their six kids had spent three days sleeping on the ground before the train arrived.
”The more days we are here, the less food we have. Thankfully people here have helped us, have given us bread,” Villegas said. “We’re sleeping here because we don’t have anything to pay for a room or hotel. We don’t have the funds.”
In August, the US Border Patrol made 181,509 arrests at the border, up 37% from July but little changed from August 2022 and well below the high of over 220,000 in December, according to figures released Friday.
The Biden administration has called on Mexico and Central American nations to control migrants and now requires the asylum seekers to register through an app known as CBP One.
On Thursday, the administration announced it would grant temporary protected status to nearly a half-million more Venezuelans already in the country.
SOURCE: New york post
