If you are one of many reporters writing about the US Border Patrol who doesn't know a damn thing about it, you might be thinking of writing a piece this week as others have done about the cartel using a "new tactic" of spiking Border Patrol vehicles. It's exciting; is dangerous according to the agency, and agents may be killed. Writing such a piece will certainly get you clicks if that is what you are after, and we all know that is what you are after.
This is an old tradition. It is not new, and it is not happening in response to Donald Trump becoming president and cracking down on illegal immigration. Reporters choosing to write about this now are ignoring the documented history. This is not something you need to be a former agent to know, though yes it occurred back in my day as well. A quick check will lead you to stories over a decade old like these from the last time the press covered it in 2010:
Articles about cartel using homemade spikes against Border Patrol vehicles from 2010.
The most interesting thing about this coverage aside from that it lets you know which reporters are part of the migration "invasion" farce, is that Border Patrol loves to claim these spikes are dangerous to their agents. That's odd because the agency claims that when they spike vehicles, there is no danger. They claim it is a safe way to stop a vehicle, although crash after crash proves otherwise. Agents are trained to repeat this mantra constantly; their spikes are controlled tire deflation devices and the drivers could simply stop.
But it is not true.
Again, a quick search of what automobile and crash experts recommend when you get a blowout is to let off the gas and slowly try and come to a safe stop. Why? As even the US Department of Transportation states in this 2012 report "Tire-Related Factors in the Pre-Crash Phase," driving on a flat or severely low tire can cause difficulty in steering, roll overs and unintended crashes. Then there is the fact that in 2023, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) published through the Department of Justice, "Vehicular Pursuits: A Guide for Law Enforcement Executives on Managing the Associated Risks." PERF is the most respected organization in policing and policing reforms, and is frequently used by the Department of Justice to analyze federal policing policies. They admit that spike strips used by police often result in crashes, deaths and injuries that would have not otherwise occurred had the tire(s) not been spiked.:
Note that they say there is little guidance on using spike strips (TDDs) and how factors such as speed and weather can injure and kill officers, those fleeing and those innocents who just happen to be around. That there is little guidance is on purpose. This 2023 PERF report was on the Department of Justice's website before Trump took office in January this year. It has since been erased because they no longer want you to know that they know spike strips kill, and they kill often.
Search results before Trump took office for PERF report. (2024)
Search results after Trump took office. (2/3/2025)
If you have ever been a law enforcement officer and had spike strip training, you have been taught that vehicles can flip when you spike at high speeds or on a curve. You know that you should not spike in bad weather or in areas with innocent people around. If you have spiked a car as a law enforcement officer, then you know how many people it kills and kills and kills.
Border Patrol is not wrong when they say these homemade spikes could injure and even kill agents. They know this because they have killed hundreds with their own spike strips.
None of this is new.