Lawrence Jones, editor-in-chief of Campus Reform, who was reporting from the US southern border for Fox News' "The Sean Hannity Show", has responded to those who criticised him for allegedly exaggerating the drama regarding crime levels by wearing a bulletproof vest on air. He explained that the vest was given to him by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents for his own safety.
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As the CBP clarified to Jones, while the American part of the border is controlled by Border Patrol agents, the other is controlled by drug cartels — which don't like being seen during their operations and could therefore open fire.
"What people don't understand is we control this side of the border, but the cartel controls the other side of the border. So there's been gunfights. I'm going in danger with these Border Patrol agents to report on this story", he said.
The Campus Reform editor explained that CBP agents have recently been facing an upsurge in violence directed at them, with a roughly 200% increase over the last 2.5 years. In Jones' opinion, this alone should serve as enough reason to build the border wall that US President Donald Trump has been calling for.
"This is why we need the border wall system. Not only the wall but funding for the technology as well as more boots on the ground in order to help these guys", he said.
Trump has been struggling against Congressional Democrats to secure funding for the wall's construction, which was proposed during his election campaign. The dispute over funding for the wall and for border security led to a record-long government shutdown and to Trump announcing a state of emergency on the US southern border to allocate funds for his project.
READ MORE: Trump Says Ready to Close Border With Mexico if He Has to
The US president argues that the wall would reduce crime rates and help combat human and drug trafficking from Mexico into the US. Despite his arguments, Democrats have vowed to prevent giving Trump a single dollar for the wall.