Mad At Trump For Using Tear Gas? Obama Used It Over FIFTY Times in Just 2012-2013!

Breitbart puts the number at 80 uses by the Obama Administration:

Under the Obama Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) law enforcement officials, including Border Patrol agents, utilized tear gas against migrants at or near the border at least 80 times between FY2012 and early FY2017.

CBP officials reported the use of tear gas and pepper spray to push back “assaultive” caravan migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally on Sunday. The agency began using these particular sprays during the Obama administration in 2010.

Breitbart News confirmed the CBP began using tear gas (2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile – CS) in 2010, though the available usage data initiates in FY2012.

CBP Use of Tear Gas Report – FY2012 through FY2018 (Source – U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

The agency also reportedly began using pepper spray (Pava Capasaicin) at about the same time.

CBP Use of Pepper Spray Report – FY2012 through FY2018 (Source – U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

“CBP takes Sunday’s employment of use-of-force very seriously. CBP reviews and evaluates all uses of force incidents to ensure compliance with policy,” a CBP spokesman told Breitbart News in response to an inquiry. “Over 1,000 individuals who were part of the so-called caravan attempted to cross illegally into the U.S. by breaching sections of the fence and using vehicle lanes in and near the San Ysidro Port of Entry. This group ignored law enforcement agencies in Mexico and assaulted U.S. Federal Officers and Agents assigned to respond to the situation in San Diego.”

“As a response to the assaults and to defuse this dangerous situation, trained CBP personnel employed less-lethal devices to stop the actions of assaultive individuals attempting to break into the U.S.,” the spokesman continued. “CBP has been preparing for weeks for events like the one on Sunday. We have seen the use of violence by members of this so-called caravan who have attacked law enforcement personnel in Guatemala, Mexico and now the U.S. CBP will consider using all approved and available resources to protect travelers, caravan members, and our agents and officers.”

The CBP use of force reports show CS tear gas used 126 times since 2012. Officials utilized pepper spray a total of 540 times during that same period.

The current CBP Use of Force Policy handbook (dated May 2014) requires all officers and agents to be trained in the use of all weapons utilized in operations, including less than lethal devices, such as these types of sprays. It also requires the officers and agents to be exposed to the sprays as part of the course of instruction.

During a telephone conference call with news media on Monday, CBP Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan said, “Yesterday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers in San Diego effectively managed an extremely dangerous situation involving over 1,000 individuals who sought to enter the U.S. unlawfully in large groups. They did so safely and without any reported serious injuries on either side of the border.”

“As we’ve articulated for several weeks, we have been concerned about the size of the caravan, its primarily single-adult composition, and the aggressive and assaultive behavior at both the Honduras-Guatemala border and the Guatemala-Mexico border,” the commissioner continued. “U.S. government officials have noted the presence of criminals in the group, and the Government of Mexico has arrested over 1,000 caravan members for criminal violations in Mexico.”

“In the course of these events, individuals engaged in active assaults, throwing dozens of projectiles at CBP law enforcement personnel,” McAleenan explained. “Our Border Patrol agents were able to counter this activity, address the attempted group entry, and resolve the assaults with presence and less-lethal device deployments. Elements of the group then staged west of the port of entry and sought to press into the United States in the area of the Tijuana River channel. This group again became assaultive, with rocks and other projectiles thrown at our agents. Again, four agents were struck by projectiles in these assaults.”

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The Daily Wire said this:

The Washington Times, relying on data gleaned from the Department of Homeland Security, noted that during some of the years of Obama’s tenure, the same tear gas agent that the Trump administration used was utilized more than once a month. The Times wrote:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has used 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, or CS, since 2010, and deployed it 26 times in 2012 and 27 times in 2013. The use dropped after that, but was still deployed three times in 2016, Mr. Obama’s final full year in office. Use of CS rose again in 2017, which was split between Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump, and reached 29 deployments in fiscal year 2018, which ended two months ago, according to CBP data seen by The Washington Times.

The Times added that pepper spray was used by border authorities 151 times; it has been used 43 times in fiscal year 2018.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, fired back at Trump’s critics, telling CNN, “This policy that we use was an Obama-written policy and it was used in 2013 at the same port of entry. The facts are, the policy written under President Obama allows us to use tear gas to disperse a crowd that was very dangerous.”

The Washington Times reported:

 The same tear-gas agent that the Trump administration is taking heat for deploying against a border mob this weekend is actually used fairly frequently — including more than once a month during the later years of President Barack Obama’s administration, according to Homeland Security data.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has used 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, or CS, since 2010, and deployed it 26 times in fiscal 2012 and 27 times in 2013. The use dropped after that, but was still deployed three times in 2016, Mr. Obama’s final full year in office.

Use of CS rose again in fiscal 2017, which was split between Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump, and reached 29 deployments in fiscal 2018, which ended two months ago, according to CBP data seen by The Washington Times.

Border authorities also use another agent, pepper spray, frequently — including a decade-high record of 151 instances in 2013, also under Mr. Obama. Pepper spray, officially known as Pava Capsaicin, was used 43 times in fiscal year 2018, according to the CBP numbers.

The data poses a challenge to the current anger over the Border Patrol’s use of tear gas Sunday to prevent a mob from busting through sections of old border fence in California.

Critics, including Latin American leaders, immigrant-rights advocates and congressional Democrats, have said use of tear gas is “un-American.”

“It’s horrifying to see tear gas used on mothers and young children as they seek refuge in the United States. That’s not what America should be,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat.

Other Democrats complained about threats of “deadly force” against the border incursions, which saw migrants punch through fencing, and launch rocks and bottles at agents who responded to stem the intrusion.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, took umbrage at the outrage, questioning where the critics were when tear gas was deployed under Mr. Obama.

“This policy that we use was an Obama-written policy and it was used in 2013 at the same port of entry,” he told CNN, wondering in particular about the intense media interest now versus then.

“The facts are, the policy written under President Obama allows us to use tear gas to disperse a crowd that was very dangerous,” he told the network.

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Meanwhile, President Trump has repeatedly defended the practice as very safe: