Earlier this month, a Boy Scout troop had an unforgettable experience while traveling across the Alaska-Canada border that has at least one U.S. Senator up in arms.
The incident didn’t involve wildlife or forest fires, but instead occurred as a result of a run in with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, who appeared to go all Gestapo on them as they were passing through, local media reports.
The boys of Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111 were in their vans moving through a checkpoint when one of the youngsters snapped a pic of an agent. Suddenly, the entire group was ordered to pull over and the agents closed in on the youngster.
“The agent immediately confiscated his camera, informed him he would be arrested, fined possibly $10,000 and ten years in prison,” Jim Fox, the leader of the troop, told Des Moines television station KCCI.
As the agents began searching the vans, one of the scouts attempted to grab his bag from the roof carrier, which prompted an agent to draw his weapon and point it at the teen.
“He heard a snap of the holster, turns around, and here’s this agent, both hands on a loaded pistol, pointing at the young man’s head,” said Fox.
The agents then threatened the troop saying that the next scout to leave the van would be “handcuffed and detained.” After four hours at the border, in which the scouts were asked why they were carrying “excessive amounts of lighters, matches and knives,” they were allowed to cross.
No charges were filed.
“The boys were unnecessarily frightened and intimidated,” Fox wrote about the incident on his Facebook page. “When do we Americans decide enough is enough? The TSA and border guards are a valuable asset to the safety of this country, but to have such Gestapo tactics against a teenage scout is uncalled for.”
Upon hearing of the incident, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) said, “It’s outrageous that a border patrol agent would point a gun at a boy scout just for taking a picture. It just doesn’t make sense.”
There are assholes in every organization, he had to be one of them
the border patrol agents are sensitive to people taking their photographs because there have apparently been incidents where cartel members use those photos to target the agents and their families for blackmail. while i am not saying that this quick draw agent was doing the right thing but there is a reason that they don’t want you to take their pictures.
Border Patrol agents are tired of reporters calling the Customs or Immigration agents Border Patrol. Different functions. It’s giving the public the wrong impression of who is doing what.
Clarification of the differences between the agencies identities and function needed.
Something else is going on here. I’m not one to support the TSA but I know that border patrol agents are more honest and trustworthy than they were 30 years ago and I can’t imagine they weren’t provoked or angered in some way to display this kind of attitude. Having said that, I can’t imagine what a van load of scouts could have done to provoke the agents. We are hearing one side of the story and it doesn’t add up.