USBP History, Part 7
The Great War in Europe and its aftermath diverted
America's attention for several years but soon, Mexico would again
be seen as an even larger threat to America's security.
It is unfortunate that Mexican citizens
legally and illegally in the United States today are responsible
for as many deaths and as much total property damage in our country
on a daily basis as Pancho Villa's raid on the town of Columbus
in 1916.
The total deaths within the United States due
to illegal aliens alone exceeds 4,000 per year. Yes, that is more
than died on 9/11 and more than have died in combat in Afghanistan
and Iraq to-date combined.
Yes, today and yes, every single day.
And the reaction in 1916 to this invasion was a half million men
under arms sent to protect the border. Today we have less
than 8,000 on the line and the magnitude of the crime is ignored.
Prohibition
At midnight January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment
to the United States Constitution went into effect prohibiting
the importation, transport, manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages.
With the coming of prohibition, all of our borders
were under attack. Smuggling of this contraband became rampant.
Even Joseph P. Kennedy, father of former president John F. Kennedy,
was deeply involved in this "enterprise". On May 28,
1924 the Labor Appropriation Act officially established what we
now know as the United States Border Patrol. Officers were quickly
recruited for the new positions. The Border Patrol quickly expanded
to all of 450 officers.
At
first these 450 men were tasked with protecting just our Canadian
and Mexican borders. In 1925 their orders were amended to include
the protection of the gulf coast and Floridas shoreline.
