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As President Donald Trump steps up border security and deportation efforts, agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are finding themselves under alarmingly sophisticated threats to their safety, an expert tells Fox News Digital.
"The cartels are losing business. The encounters at the border are the lowest they’ve been in decades, and the cartels are not just going to give up that business quietly," Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital.
The comments come after it was reported over the weekend that CBP agents will no longer wear body cameras during field operations, a response to a post on Reddit that claimed it could help people track agents wearing the cameras with an application called BLE Radar, which uses Bluetooth to scan for such devices within a 100-yard radius.
BORDER PATROL AGENTS TO STOP WEARING BODY CAMERAS AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA POST REVEALS ‘SECURITY RISK’
"Pending completion of investigation and risk mitigation, all Agents will stand down the use of their BWCs [body worn cameras] until further notice. Additional guidance and information will be disseminated as it is received," a directive over the weekend announced.
While the tracking of agents was presented as a way to help immigrants find soft spots on the border, it also opened up agents to threats to their safety, including from improvised explosive devices.
Cartels could also make use of the tracking information to threaten the lives of agents, Ries noted.
"It is possible that they could use the cameras… the low-level frequency interception to track the agents, harm the agents, and attack the agents," Ries said.
Ries also noted that the cameras played an important role in protecting field agents from false claims of abuse, providing key evidence they now won't have after encounters with migrants.
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"I anticipate the number of claims of abuse are about to jump to exploit this lack of camera use," Ries said.
When it comes to cartels, Ries noted that there have been warnings sent out that cartels could use shooters on the other side of the border to target agents.
"I just saw a memo about potentially using a shooter on the Mexican side to shoot at our agents and our military, so we have to assume that’s being planned and use countermeasures against it," Ries said.
Ries also noted that cartels have in the past effectively used drones to track CBP agents, though that threat could now be lower with the increased military presence at the border.
Aside from the threats from cartels, CBP and ICE agents also face dangers from inside the borders of the U.S., Ries noted, pointing to leaks of ICE raids as an example of something that has recently endangered agents.
"That subjects ICE agents to an ambush," Ries said. "It’s one thing for aliens to flee, so when ICE shows up there’s no one there… worse would be if aliens stay here and attack ICE agents, that is a risk."
Such leaks of planned operations and technological vulnerabilities could continue to be a threat to the safety of agents as those opposed to Trump’s enforcement-driven agenda seek to undermine those plans, Ries said.
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Countering such threats will not only take awareness and smart tactics during operations, but also help from Congress in order to secure funding to equip agents with enough resources to combat the dangers.
"It’s technology, it’s equipment, it’s intel, and personnel… they can’t be out patrolling alone, they need to work together," Ries said. "Congress is working, although too slowly, getting resources to CBP and ICE to continue to carry out these mass deportations. Congress needs to hurry up."
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