U.S. Border Patrol is increasingly seen far from the border as Trump ramps up deportation arrests

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Immigration arrests seen on video are showing an emerging trend: More Border Patrol agents are doing their jobs far from the borders with Mexico or Canada.

A Border Patrol agent was seen hitting a Southern California landscaper on the head and neck as he was pinned to the ground during an arrest Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security said the man swung his weed trimmer at agents. The man’s son, Alejandro Barranco, a Marine veteran, said his father was scared but did not attack anyone.

With border arrests at the lowest levels in about 60 years, the roughly 20,000 Border Patrol agents are showing up elsewhere.

Here are things to know about the trend:

Why is the Border Patrol working away from the border?

President Donald Trump’s House-approved “big, beautiful bill” proposes $8 billion to increase U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff by 10,000 people. Until then, the agency primarily responsible for interior enforcement is relying on other federal agencies as it struggles to meet a daily arrest target of at least 3,000 set by Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of immigration policy.

ICE, with only about 6,000 deportation officers, has found a ready partner in the Border Patrol, which is also part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It comes at a time when border arrests plunged to an average of 282 a day in May after peaking at more than 8,000 a day in December 2023.

Agents in the Border Patrol’s Yuma, Arizona, sector assisted ICE officers last week in Philadelphia, Justin De La Torre, the sector chief, said in a social media post. His sector averaged only four arrests a day on the Arizona border last month after peaking at more than 1,100 a day in May 2023.

Greg Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, sector, appeared alongside U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a news conference this month in Los Angeles during which U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla was forcefully removed, pushed to the ground and handcuffed.

“We’re here and not going away,” Bovino said, introducing himself to reporters as his agency’s top representative during ICE-led operations in Los Angeles.

Few see any reason to doubt the Border Patrol will remain.

“So long as the border remains relatively quiet, we will continue to see the Border Patrol deployed to act almost as if they are ICE agents,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group.

What is the 100-mile border zone?

Agents are granted by federal law the ability to stop and question people within 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the border, including the coasts. They have heightened authority to board and search buses, trains and vessels without a warrant within the zone.

That encompasses vast swaths of the country that include about two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Los Angeles is well within 100 miles of the Pacific Ocean.

Beyond that zone, agents are still authorized to work within the United States.

“The Border Patrol can still operate fully in the interior. It’s just that they have less authority to stop and question people,” said Reichlin-Melnick.

What can the Border Patrol do beyond the 100 miles?

Past the 100-mile enforcement zone, Border Patrol agents, like officers working for ICE or the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, are classified as immigration officers who are authorized to carry out arrests and detain people on suspicion of violating immigration law. There are some limits.

“They could only search somebody’s car on probable cause that the person has violated the law,” Reichlin-Melnick said. “And so people have somewhat heightened rights against search and seizure outside of the 100-mile zone than they do inside of the 100-mile zone. But each individual case will vary depending on the specific circumstances.”