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Former Border Patrol Agent's 'Nacho' Response to Warranted Tear Gas Attacks Is Pure Gold

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Outrage of the day involving the migrant caravan: The fact that the government used deterrent gas after a group of individuals from the migrant caravan tried to storm the U.S. border.

I think the general media atmosphere over this whole thing can be best summed up from a headline from the Huffington Post: “Celebrities Torch ‘Heartless S**twad’ Donald Trump Over Border Tear-Gassing Of Kids.” Because clearly, that’s who we need to be hearing from on this delicate issue.

The story (I know this will come as a surprise) doesn’t question the kind of parents who would put their child in a situation where they might be tear-gassed. And, as former Border Patrol agent Ronald Colburn pointed out on “Fox and Friends” on Monday, what was used was basically something you could put on your food if you wanted to.

As The Daily Caller and Colburn noted, what was used was actually pepper-based gas, something that the Obama administration deployed in a similar incident back in 2013. (One which remains curiously unmentioned in most media outlets, we must note.)

Colburn was asked whether or not he thought that the use of the gas was warranted.

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“Absolutely,” he said.

“To clarify, the type of deterrent they used is OC pepper spray. Literally water, pepper with a small amount of alcohol for evaporation purposes. It’s natural. You could actually put it on your nachos and eat it. It’s a good way of deterring people without harm.”

Check it out here, in a video from the U.K. Express: (Note: the title incorrectly identifies Colburn. He is a member of the Border Patrol Foundation’s executive board) :

Colburn also noted that while the caravan itself was “well-organized and supported from outside sources,” it also had a “core of violence.”

This is necessarily true: You don’t rush the border to illegally enter a country through force if you aren’t willing to resort to violence. This clearly isn’t about seeking asylum, since border rushes generally don’t help asylum claims — particularly if you bring children near a violent act that’s bound to end badly. But that’s not what got reported.

And how is the left taking Colburn’s logical analysis of the incident? Check out the Colburn clip again, with a bonus conniption from The Young Turks’ talking (well, screaming) heads Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur:



Well, you see, Ana, the reason you wouldn’t spray his face is because he’s not committing a crime.

He’s not crossing any border illegally or anything like that. The point he was making, apparently missed on the outrage-fest that is The Young Turks, is that the spray is harmless enough to be eaten on nachos, but is still a deterrent.

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In other words, the Border Patrol certainly wasn’t bringing the full force of law enforcement to bear upon the migrants.

Do you think that this use of force against the caravan members was called for?

But we on the right wing are evil for even thinking this was justified.

“They get a kick out of this, some on the right wing,” Uygur said, shortly after declaring Colburn’s use of “nachos” to be racist. “It’s like porn to them.”

No, I don’t enjoy seeing this. I think it’s a horribly unpleasant thing to see. But it’s possibly the tamest reaction to a minatory border incursion we could have seen.

I can also think of one way that this never would have been an issue in the first place: If authorities had stopped this caravan before this problem presented itself. I bet you can, too. I doubt Ana and Cenk would support it, though.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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