Ariz. Sheriff: Border Patrol Told Not to Make Arrests

Are US Border Patrol agents intentionally avoiding arresting illegal immigrants on orders from higher-ups? That’s the rumor being spread by Arizona sheriff Larry Denver, who tells Fox News that he heard it from a top Border Patrol official. “The senior supervisor agent is telling me about how their mission is now to scare people back,” Denver said. “He said, ‘I had to go back to my guys and tell them not to catch anybody, that their job is to chase people away.’”

Denver is set to testify as much under oath before the Senate Homeland Security committee next month. But one US Customs and Border Protection commander says Denver’s claims are “unequivocally false,” adding, “I took an oath that I take very seriously, and I find it insulting that anyone, especially a fellow law enforcement office, would imply that we would put the protection of the American public … in danger just for a numbers game.” (More Arizona stories.)