our readers write

Chronicle subscriber Tim Houghtaling, a former Border Patrol Agent, sent this from Mark Hall, a retired Border Patrol Agent who spent 33 years with the agency.

T he men and women of the Border Patrol are sworn to protect this nation. They do so with courage and compassion. There are those who don’t tell the entire story. Border Patrol is under federal court order not to let children be photographed or interviewed unless the lawyers representing the children agree. When people say Border Patrol didn’t allow them to take cameras in to the detention area or didn’t allow them to talk to the children... that is only half the story. This disinformation brings down morale ... being compared to Nazis as they change diapers, feed babies, provide medical attention, jump in swift rivers to rescue those drowning, providing lifesaving IVs to those abandoned in the scorching deserts and arresting gang members, rapists, murderers and narcotics and human traffickers. When people who have never spent a minute with us, start blaming us for allowing children to die, those reckless, false comments make my blood boil. Next time you hear of outrageous conduct by my fellow agents, such as forcing women and children to drink out of toilets, ask yourself if that even sounds feasible?