Security at the southern border has deteriorated into what one person described as a “catch and release” program of often dangerous illegal aliens. But agents guarding the northern border are somewhat more vigilant. They successfully nabbed a pair of bagpipes owned by two American teens.
Plattsburgh, N.Y., NBC affiliate WPTZ Channel 5 News reported Friday that agents had seized and turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bagpipes owned by New Hampshire teens who were crossing the border from Canada. At issue was the instruments’ ivory content.
According to WPTZ:
A spokesman for the service said Friday they recognize musicians have unique circumstances.
The discord started Sunday when Campbell Webster and Eryk Bean were driving back from Canada after a competition that served as a tuneup for next weekend’s World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
Because they crossed at Highgate Springs, Vermont, a “non-designated” crossing, they needed extra permits and inspection fees totaling $576. They didn’t have the paperwork and the pipes were confiscated.
There are no “designated” land crossings in the Northeast; the nearest designated crossing is Boston’s Logan Airport
The boys eventually got their instruments back.
Also on Friday, an official for the union representing U.S. Border Patrol agents appeared on Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom to describe the chaos at our southern border.
“we have two political parties that are unwilling to take real enforcement action,” Shawn Moran, a vice president of the National Border Patrol Council told Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer. “And we’ve had two administrations in a row that have gutted enforcement actions by the U.S. Patrol, by ICE agents, and that do not allow us to actually go out there and do our job. We are handcuffed at every single turn.”
Moran also put responsibility for the recent death of Border Patrol agent Javier Vega squarely on a border enforcement he described as “catch and release.”
Shortly after Vega’s murder, the union tweeted:
Border Patrol Agent Javier Vega: MURDERED by two illegal aliens. Victim of lax border enforcement. Blood on hands of Congress and President.
— NBPC (@BPUnion) August 5, 2014
Moran noted that many of the illegal aliens caught and released are “coming here to do horrible things,” and not simply to find employment. “I think the murder of agent Vega shows what these people are capable of,” he said.
At least we got those rotten teenagers and their bagpipes.
Watch Moran’s full interview below.
http://youtu.be/5mb7NlAB_AQ
