In three short days, Kern County, California, residents were provided a glimpse of what new interior immigration operations may look like in the coming weeks and months. According to a CBP employee, not authorized to speak to the media, the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector initiated a targeted interior enforcement operation around the farming community of Bakersfield, California, that resulted in nearly 80 migrant arrests. The arrests included several sex offenders, some with existing criminal warrants and others involved in drug trafficking.
The source told Breitbart Texas the action — “Operation Return to Sender” — was based on intelligence that focused on apprehending specific individuals in the United States illegally and suspected of being involved in criminal activity.
“The operation achieved its goals of negatively impacting Transnational Criminal Organizations and sending the message that Border Patrol agents from the border region can move inland and operate away from their home stations in support of enforcing current immigration laws,” the source emphasized.
In a social media post by Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, one migrant with an existing warrant for weapons charges was pictured being arrested by the Chief himself. The caption in the post read, “Looks like this undocumented criminal’s plan backfired!! During Operation Return to Sender, agents from the Premier Sector wrangled up a felon in Kern County who had a weapons charge warrant out of Tulare County. Locked and loaded-justice is served.”
In another post on Wednesday, Bovino highlighted the arrest of two migrants associated with sex offences. In that post, the caption below an arrest photo read, “Here in the Premier Sector, we go the extra mile-or 500 of them-to protect our nation and the communities from bad people and bad things. Two child rapists were caught the first day with more to come.”
The reactions to seeing Border Patrol agents in Kern County were varied. Several hundred residents protested the immigration enforcement operation on Sunday. In a report by the Fresno Bee, residents in Fresno were shown waving Mexican flags in protest of the operation. One demonstrator told the Bee:
I know a lot of people see a lot of the (Mexican) flags and say “Well, they don’t respect this country. No, it’s not that. This is a culture. This is people. They built this country. Who’s going to pick the crops? Who’s going to mow the lawns? Who’s going to be the nannies to these people’s kids?” Every one of these people matter.
The report included an assertion that some migrants who the Border Patrol arrested were not on the original target list. The source from CBP told Breitbart that that is likely to occur during future interior enforcement operations. “The mass deportation operations that will occur after January 20 might target specific individuals, criminal gangs, or others who have outstanding removal orders, but if you are nearby and in an illegal status, you can expect to be arrested as well,” the source emphasized.
A poll by Fox58 KABK in Bakersfield showed that 65 percent of nearly 1,000 respondents were not nervous about the recent Border Patrol arrests in Kern County. In a similar survey conducted by Fox58, 93 percent of those polled support deporting migrants with a criminal record.
On Friday, Customs and Border Protection provided a statement that read, Border Patrol Agents with the El Centro Sector Border Patrol conducted an operation in and around the Bakersfield area in Kern County. Our operation focused on interdicting those who have broken U.S. federal law, trafficking of dangerous substances, non-citizen criminals, and disrupting the transportation routes used by Transnational Criminal Organizations. The U.S. Border Patrol is no stranger to operations in places like Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, and Sacramento, as the now-closed Livermore Border Patrol Sector regularly conducted enforcement operations over this area up to the mid-2000s.
“The El Centro Sector takes all border threats seriously,” said Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino. “Our area of responsibility stretches from the U.S./Mexico Border, north, as mission and threat dictate, to the Oregon line.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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