That publication fossil--Time Magazine--selected singer Taylor Swift as its Person of the Year. The pop diva narrowly beat out stuffy King Charles III and Barbie, a plastic doll. Apparently, there is a dearth of humans who met the magazine's news-maker criteria.
How hard can it be to select the person who shook up the world's news? In 1938, the magazine chose Germany's Adolf Hitler. In view of the conceited editors' shallow standards, it's surprising Time overlooked the Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, who dominated worldwide news.
Since Time bungled its selection, the Diatribe is offering a nominee that few appreciate.
The top news makers arguably are the 16,878 Border Patrol Agents stationed along the 1,954-mile border between Mexico and the United States. These courageous men and women are on the frontlines of an ongoing war with Mexico's human and drug smuggling cartels.
Their bravery and service is ignored by most Americans who consume news from The Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press, ABC, NBC and CBS News. Cartels use social media to peddle fentanyl, so these disinformation platforms are blind to the role of border agents.
The agents are the last line of defense against criminal syndicates that rake in billions of dollars annually by controlling the tide of drugs and migrants flowing from Mexico into the U.S. Their jobs are made harder by a lack of resources, technology, manpower and support from Homeland Security.
This year in particular has been the most challenging in the 20-year history of the U.S. Customers and Border Protection. Agents were swamped by 2.4 illegal immigrants who crossed the southern border from Mexico. September saw the highest number of crossings, an 86% increase from June of this year.
Encounters, a sanitized word used by the government, increased 4% over 2022, but it represents a 40% hike since fiscal year 2021. The numbers are staggering: 7.5 million encounters since January, 2021, at the southwest border. The data does not include 1.7 million getaways.
Just this year, agents arrested 35,433 immigrants with criminal convictions, 598 known gang members, including 178 were members of the notorious MS-13 gang, risking their lives to catch these law breakers. Agents also apprehended 169 illegal immigrants on the terror watch list.
Agents and their partners in Air and Marine Operations seized 27,293 pounds of deadly fentanyl that was smuggled across the southwest border. That's enough fentanyl to kill more than 6 billion people. A total of 73,654 Americans died of fentanyl overdoses in 2022, according to the most recent data.
Fentanyl wasn't the only dangerous drug exported into the country. Agents seized a total of 241,000 pounds of illicit drugs this fiscal year. In a drug bust in Temecula, California, Border Patrol agents stopped a gray sedan, driving suspiciously.
When the agents inspected the cedar, they discovered 62 bundles of the blue fentanyl pills concealed inside its door panels and seats. The pills weighed 81.4 pounds with an estimated street value of $3.6 million. Often, seizures follow dangerous high-speed car chases as the drug mules flee from agents.
Agents are in harm's way every day on the job. In two separate instances, Customs and Border Protection agents were shot at by cartel members on the Mexican side of the border. In May agents tended to a four-year old child dropped from a border barrier by smugglers.
As agents rushed to aid the injured boy, cartel members opened fire on the agents. Fire and rescue first-responders on the scene were forced to take cover. An Air and Marine Operations helicopter came to the rescue, providing cover for the agents transport the boy to the helicopter.
In another incident, agents patrolling the San Isidro Mountains at nightfall came under heavy fire. Remote surveillance camera operators captured video of an individual, armed with a rifle. The shooter was firing from the Mexico side of the border.
One border agent was killed in 2023. Since January 2021, 43 Customs and Border Protection agents have died in the line of duty, according to Homeland Security. Likely, this may be the first time you are reading about this tragic death toll.
The media cabal only covers the border patrol if there is an activist group accusing an agent of abuse. The deaths of agents apparently don't warrant a mention on the national news. Perhaps, it's because Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas keeps assuring Americans the border is secure.
The unprecedented flood of drugs and immigrants is overwhelming the agents, who protect Americans. They are the unsung heroes of 2023. The women and men of the Border Patrol deserve to be recognized as the Persons of the Year, despite the lack of news coverage.
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