A Border Patrol agent was attacked and even bitten by a migrant who was part of a group trying to illegally cross into the United States at the southern border Thursday afternoon, federal officials said.
The agent was confronting the migrants crossing the border at Monte Cristo Rey, near Sunland Park in New Mexico, around 12:50 p.m. when the skirmish broke out, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. according to Nexstar Media's Border Report.
One of the migrants allegedly attacked and bit the agent, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The law enforcement officer was taken to a local medical facility for evaluation, while the suspect was arrested for assault, the federal agency said.
The Sunland Park area is often one of the busiest corridors along the border for migrants trying to sneak into the country. Local dispatchers receive frequent emergency calls when asylum seekers fall off the border wall near the Monte Cristo Rey monument and stumble onto the rocks below, according to Border Report.
Three of the four migrants in the group that tried to enter through the corridor on Thursday returned to Mexico after the violent encounter and were detained by Mexican authorities, the outlet reported.
One of the migrants was later taken to U.S. Border Patrol agents so he could be identified, the report said.
So far, 413 border agents have been assaulted this fiscal year, according to data from the United States Customs and Border Protection Office.
