Assaults on Border Patrol agents on the rise in New Mexico

EL PASO, Texas ( Border Report ) – Federal prosecutors have charged several individuals for allegedly assaulting U.S. Border Patrol agents in New Mexico during separate incidents in the past year.

U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez of Las Cruces, El Paso Border Patrol Chief Agent Scott Good, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda of Albuquerque made the announcement on Wednesday.

“These cases highlight the risks faced by federal officers and the Department of Justice’s commitment to their safety and security,” the officials said in a statement. “The FBI and U.S. Border Patrol continue to work together to address such incidents.”

The two most recent assaults took place last month in New Mexico communities just across the state line west of El Paso.

On Sept. 19, three border agents spotted a group of men illegally crossing over from Mexico at Mount Cristo Rey, a mountain straddling the border near Sunland Park, N.M. One agent caught up to Ricardo Prieto Simental, 25, who allegedly ran, stopped, attempted to break a cell phone on a rock, and hurled it at the agent’s head.

Federal court records show an agent attempted to detain Prieto and put handcuffs on him, but the man punched, kicked, and bit the agent. Records show that the Mexican national also grabbed the agent’s radio so he could not call for assistance.

A second agent arrived on the scene and helped his colleague subdue Prieto, who had been charged with assault on a federal agent engaged in the performance of his duties. Prieto remains in the custody of the U.S. Justice Department pending trial.

Records show Prieto had a previous arrest dating back to July for illegal entry into the U.S. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail on July 12 and ordered removed from the country.

Taken to the hospital with a damaged cornea

On September 26, surveillance camera operators notified a Border Patrol agent in Santa Teresa, N.M., that a man had just climbed over the border wall at 4:20 a.m.

A Mexican national, later identified as Enrique Rodriguez Salazar, 26, laid on the ground as if to hide from the agent and allegedly began to resist when the agent tried to take him into custody, documents filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico show.

During the struggle, Rodriguez allegedly grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the agent’s face, hitting him in the eyes. Records show the agent pulled out a Taser and stunned the undocumented migrant as he was trying to flee.

The agent was taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a corneal abrasion of his right eye. Rodriguez is scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge Thursday in Las Cruces, N.M.

Woman bites female agent trying to protect children from heat

On May 29, a Border Patrol agent spotted two adults and three minors walking along the border wall and approached to apprehend them. The agent told the group to get inside her transport vehicle, but a Salvadoran woman identified as Erika Jasmin Lobato Melendez allegedly told her, “We are not coming with you.”

Court records show the agent tried to persuade Lobato to protect the children from the noon summer heat, but the woman refused. When the female agent tried to handcuff Lobato, the woman allegedly struggled and bit the agent on the forearm.

Lobato, on September 5, pled guilty to a charge of assaulting a federal officer and faces up to eight years in prison at a sentencing hearing.

Another Salvadoran and two Mexicans recently also pled guilty to assaulting Border Patrol agents.

Agent was almost shot him with his own gun

Juventino Reyes Fuentes, 30, and Jose Maria Reyes Fuentes, 24, were sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for the August 2023 assault of a Border Patrol agent from whom they took a service firearm and a government-issued all-terrain vehicle.

Court records show the agent patrolled the desert near Santa Teresa when he spotted a group of five to seven migrants who tried to conceal themselves in the brush. The agent approached one of the migrants and told him to come up. But as the agent attempted to handcuff the 220-pound Juventino Reyes, he began to resist and shouted towards another man.

The second subject, Jose Maria Reyes, allegedly ran toward the agent with a stick, which caused the agent to draw his service Glock 9mm. As the agent shouted, “Stop or I’ll shoot,” the first subject tackled him from behind. Court records show the agent discharged his gun as Juventino Reyes sat on top of him; the bullet hit a wallet and a cell phone in the man’s pants pocket, and then the gun jammed.

Records show the brothers punched and kicked the agents, and one allegedly grabbed his gun and pointed it at him. The agent later told FBI investigators Jose Maria Reyes made a motion as if to shoot him with his weapon but then tossed it away when it didn’t work.

The brothers rode off with the agent’s ATV, and the agent was able to use his radio to call for help. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter tracked down the suspects, and several border agents took them into custody.

Also in May, Salvadoran national Edwin Esau Fuentes Galea was sentenced to 12 months in prison for resisting arrest, throwing dirt at and biting a Border Patrol agent who tried to apprehend him near Santa Teresa back in January.

Fuentes was among a group of migrants fleeing apprehension from approaching Border Patrol agents who fell on his stomach during the flight and got upset after an agent got on top of him to place a handcuff.

Records show Fuentes dug his hands in the sand to avoid the cuffs and, on two occasions, threw dirt at the agent’s face. The agent called for backup after the migrant allegedly bit his right forearm.

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