Amid the vast influx of illegal immigration, smugglers have started to use school zones to escape Border Patrol pursuit, the Washington Examiner reported.
As drugs and illegal immigrants pour across the border, smugglers have increasingly decided to try to shake their pursuers rather than pull over.
“They’re not wanting to stop,” a senior Border Patrol official said. “If they approach a school zone, we terminate our pursuit. … We’re just not going to put the public at risk, so they do it on purpose. Now they’re exploiting, you know, now they do it during school time.”
The smugglers have determined the most effective time to speed through school zones is during drop off and pick up—times of heavy foot traffic.
“They do it at 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. when it’s school drop-off time. They do it at 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. when it’s pick-up time,” the official added as he spoke with visiting members of Congress.
The official also suggested that the smugglers do not feel bound by concerns for human life, and this has helped them escape Border Patrol agents, who will not speed through school zones.
“Life, it’s not precious to them, right? And they know it’s precious to us,” he said.
“[The smugglers] are going to be on pavement hauling butt out of here, and we’re gonna have to be chasing them,” the official said.
