Two wives of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents appeared on "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Sunday to share the impact and toll that their husbands' work at the southern border is taking — not just on the men themselves, but on their families' well-being, too. (SEE THE VIDEO at the top of this article.)
Alison Anderson (at far right in the video and in the image shown below) said that her husband, a Border Patrol agent, recently had to act as "a first responder to an infant that was drowned in the river — and he desperately was trying to breathe life back into that little baby girl's body," she added.
The Border Patrol later learned that the young child "had been brutalized and savagely abused — and, I mean, all he could think of in that moment was our little girl."
BORDER PATROL WIVES SHARE BORDER CRISIS' IMPACT ON AGENT FAMILIES
"We have — our [own] little girl, our youngest daughter, was the same exact age as this little girl that drowned in the river. And, I mean, it's devastating."
"Those are images that they [the Border Patrol agents] never forget — [the images] come home with our agents," she said.
Said Ashley Di Bella, "The [things] that they see — they bring home. A lot of these agents do have families. So they get to see what goes on at the border and then they come home, and the only thing they can think of is what if their kids were going through this?"
BORDER OFFICIALS SEEING MASSIVE MIGRANT NUMBERS, LARGE GROUPS AHEAD OF TITLE 42'S END
Di Bella added — with emotion catching her voice as she spoke — "It's just hard. It's hard for anybody to separate that home and work … They see things at work, they bring it home."
"Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Will Cain emphasized that this is a "very real" side of Border Patrol work that most Americans don't hear or see about very much today.
The number of encounters in the last fiscal year at the southern border indicate that "there is an increasing crisis" at the border, added Cain.
Commented Di Bella on this issue, "We've seen the influx in numbers over the past couple of years. It definitely takes a toll on these agents."
She added, "They care about their jobs so much — and they want to go out there and do their job. But with these numbers, it's hard for them to do their job and come home and feel like they've done a good job."
So far this year, 14 Border Patrol agents have taken their own lives, the program noted.
Di Bella added that the crisis at the border is "staggering … It's a humanitarian crisis going on at the border."
Noted Anderson, "Things within the Border Patrol itself — it's gotten worse under this administration. I mean, the Border Patrol agents — they used to have an identity at work. They loved their careers."
She said further, "And this administration has basically subjected them to everyday exposure to death, abuse, disregard — and then they deal with the aggression and the non-compliance from the illegals in the detention centers and out in the brush."
She added, "This administration has made them look powerless in the eyes of those that are breaking our laws."
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
And "it's not right."
To learn more, watch the video at the hop of this article, or click here to access it.
This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
