Border bribery: A year's salary in one day to let in drugs, illegals, terrorists
By PAUL BEDARD • 11/18/16 1:45 PM
Drug cartels and human trafficking operations south of the border have become so rich and brazen that they are bribing U.S. border agents a year's salary in just one day, according to a new report.
"Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson" on Sunday reports that bribery is so bad that U.S. Customs and Border Protection are instituting new hiring practices and the FBI has 22 Border Corruption Task Forces targeting corruption.
On her show, which appears on Sinclair stations and streams live Sunday, top officials describe how criminal gangs enlist weak or financially troubled agents. It was previewed with Secrets Friday.
She interviewed FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jeffrey Veltri who said, "They spot and assess individuals who would flirt with women who come through their lanes or potentially have financial distress in their lives, gambling debts, and then they target those vulnerabilities."
The payoff: "They could in theory make more in an evening than they, in their annual salary, would garner," he added.
The report cited some examples, including one former agent who was given $36,000 for waving in a van full of illegals. Others detail drug deals. And the story suggests that terrorists get in too.
Attkisson reports, "The vast majority of the men and women who work the border are honest, but the impact of even a few bad apples could be devastating. They could allow in terrorists. In November of last year, days after terrorist attacks overseas, eight Syrians were caught illegally crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. So were five Pakistanis and a man from Afghanistan with alleged terrorist ties. Over several years, Border Patrol caught nearly 2,000 illegal immigrants from 35 countries designated as states that could harm the U.S. with terrorism."
From 2004-2014, 168 border agents have been arrested, indicted or prosecuted on corruption charges and insiders believe the number of crooked agents is much higher.
Former Border Patrol internal affairs chief James Tomsheck added that it is not just a few bad apples spoiling the agency.
"I think it's possible that 1,500 to 2,000 of them have either historically been involved with corruption, or may today be actively involved with corruption," he told Attkisson.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bo...rticle/2607779
