Shawn Moran has been a U.S. Border Patrol Agent for 17 years. In that time, he and his fellow agents along the U.S.-Mexico border have been subjected to countless unprovoked attacks from across the border.
Assailants often hurl rocks over the barbed wire fences as a diversion tactic, clearing the way for drug and human traffickers to cross the border in nearby locations. Once, Shawn was almost struck in the head by a large rock while his attention was focused on two groups attempting to cross the border simultaneously from different locations.
“A softball size rock just sailed inches from my face. I never saw where it came from, never saw the person who threw it,” Shawn says. “Somebody that was on the south side of Mexico saw an opportunity to take a shot at me. Luckily they missed, because it would have done some serious damage.”
Shawn, who also serves as vice president of AFGE’s National Border Patrol Council, shared his story while standing outside Roberto’s Gate, a vehicle gate at the Chula Vista Station in the San Diego Sector. The gate is named for Border Patrol Agent Roberto J. Duran, who was killed in the line of duty in 2002.
Shawn’s interview is the first in a series of videos AFGE will be issuing in the coming weeks highlighting Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agents, specifically the often harsh realities of securing the southern U.S. border.
Subsequent videos in the series, entitled “Walking the Line,” will address:
Watch this and other AFGE videos at www.youtube.com/afgeonline.