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Person

Chris Cabrera

Nationality:

American
Occupation:

National Border Patrol Council

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 Chris Cabrera is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas who concurrently works as the vice president and spokesman of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), the labor union representing border agents. He also co-hosts “The Green Line,” the NBPC’s radio talk show.

Political Views

Chris Cabrera has expressed his political views in interviews and on “The Green Line,” the National Border Patrol Council’s radio talk show. The first guest of the program was then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. 1

Border Security

Cabrera holds right-of-center political views regarding immigration. He has said: “We’re for the immigration system — just against the illegal part.” 2

In 2011, Cabrera testified before the U.S. Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on border security. He recommended increasing the number of border agents by almost 25%, increasing border agent coverage farther into the interior, and to increase training for border agents. 3

While Cabrera supports the construction of a wall on the Mexican border, he has stated that a continuous wall across the entire border is counterproductive. Rather, he supports building walls in “strategic locations” with the highest concentrations of illegal immigrants. 4 5

Cabrera was a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, whom he considered to be the only candidate in the 2016 presidential election to take border security seriously. 6 In 2018, Cabrera said the NBPC is “100 percent” behind President Trump. 7

Cabrera opposes “catch-and-release” policies which release detained illegal immigrants shortly after detainment. Cabrera claims he once arrested the same woman three times during a single 10-hour shift. 8

In a 2018 interview with National Public Radio, Cabrera expressed support for enhancing security along the Mexican border with a wall, ground sensors, cameras, and infrared technology to spot potential border violations. 9

In a November 2021 interview with U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Cabrera criticized President Joe Biden’s immigration policies for being too lax. 10

Black Lives Matter

Cabrera has called Black Lives Matter a “terrorist organization” and a “radical organization…  trying to spread hate.” 11

COVID-19

Cabrera has advocated for increasing border security during the COVID-19 pandemic to stop the spread of the virus by illegal immigrants, including among border security agents. 12

Death of Rogelio Martinez

In November 2017, border agent Rogelio Martinez was found badly wounded near the border and died soon afterward. The National Border Patrol Council declared that Martinez had been killed by migrants. President Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) used the claim as an example of why the United States needed increased border security. Contradicting the claim, U.S. Customs and Border Protection found no evidence of struggle and labeled the cause of death as “undetermined.” 13 14 15

Some sources, including the U.S. Borders and Customs, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carillo claimed that Martinez likely fell to his death in a culver. Chris Cabrera, representing the union, spoke out in numerous venues including on the union’s talk show to promote the theory that Martinez had been murdered by migrants. He claimed that border agents are often under attack from migrants and that it was highly unlikely an experienced agent would fall to his death in well-known terrain. 16 17 18

Allegations Regarding Pressure from Superiors

In March 2015, while testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Chris Cabrera claimed that border patrol agents were forced to systematically understate the number of illegal immigrants entering the country by their superiors. Allegedly, agents who repeatedly reported detaining groups of immigrants larger than 20 were reprimanded. This effort is supposedly led by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which claims that 75% of illegal immigrants are stopped at the border, while Cabrera estimated the true figure was around 40%. 19

References

  1. Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  2. Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  3. “Testimony of Chris Cabrera Before Senate HSGAC Meeting.” National Border Patrol Council. March 18, 2011. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://bpunion.org/legislative-affairs/congressional-testimony/testimony-of-chris-cabrera-before-senate-hsgac-committee/.
  4. Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  5. Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  6. Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  7. [1] Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/
  8. Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  9. [1] Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  10. “Border Patrol Agent Blasts Biden Administration On Plan to Pay Illegal Immigrants.” YouTube. November 12, 2021. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SmUJnZL_rE.
  11. Graff, Garrett M. “Donald Trump’s Army on the Border.” Politico. July 18, 2016. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-donald-trump-mexico-us-border-patrol-immigration-undocumented-illegal-customs-texas-rio-grande-214060/.
  12. Shaw, Adam. “Border Patrol union official warns COVID-positive migrants being released into US ‘day in, day out’.” Fox News. July 31, 2021. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/border-patrol-official-covid-migrants-released-day-in-day-out.
  13. Hennessy-Fiske, Molly. “Autopsy only adds to mystery of Border Patrol agent’s death. FBI has found no evidence of an attack.” Los Angeles Times. February 7, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-patrol-autopsy-20180207-story.html.
  14. Moore, Robert. “Speaking Truth to Power.” Texas Monthly. May 2018. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/border-patrol-agent-mysterious-death-political-agenda/.
  15. Aslup, Dave; McLean, Scott; Simon, Darran. “The FBI hasn’t found any evidence that border patrol agent was murdered.” CNN. February 8, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/08/us/border-patrol-agent-death-investigation/index.html.
  16. Hennessy-Fiske, Molly. “Autopsy only adds to mystery of Border Patrol agent’s death. FBI has found no evidence of an attack.” Los Angeles Times. February 7, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-patrol-autopsy-20180207-story.html.
  17. Moore, Robert. “Speaking Truth to Power.” Texas Monthly. May 2018. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/border-patrol-agent-mysterious-death-political-agenda/.
  18. Aslup, Dave; McLean, Scott; Simon, Darran. “The FBI hasn’t found any evidence that border patrol agent was murdered.” CNN. February 8, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/08/us/border-patrol-agent-death-investigation/index.html.
  19. “Border Patrol Agent says 6 in 10 Illegal Aliens Cross Border Unabeted.” Numbers USA. March 18, 2015. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.numbersusa.com/news/border-patrol-agent-testifies-senate-committee-indicated-6-10-aliens-cross-border.
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