Laura Ingraham: Killing of Border Patrol Agent Proves We Need a Wall

The fatal beating of a U.S. Border Patrol agent shows that President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall is needed now more than ever, LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham said Monday on her Fox News show, “The Ingraham Angle.”

Ingraham was reacting to the death of Rogelio Martinez, a 36-year-old Border Patrol agent, who died of blunt force trauma to the head on Sunday in the Big Bend Sector of West Texas. The border patrol agents’ union has said it believes illegal immigrants ambushed him and another agent and beat Martinez to death with rocks. His partner has not yet been identified.

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Trump himself renewed his call for a border wall on Monday, Ingraham concurred.

“This is just another sickening example of the violence at the border, and people think it’s just at the border itself, but as we know, these cartels and other thugs and criminals are operating within 18 miles inside the United States with assault weapons,” she said. “In this case, presumably, they pelted the victim with rocks and other things.”

“I am so done with Congress’ not doing its job here,” Ingraham added.

Contractors have built eight prototypes of the wall in San Diego, each standing between 18 and 30 feet. Four are made from concrete. Others use metal poles and other materials. One has a gray, textured surface with bricks of varying size and a steel plate with metal spikes.

The Senate so far has not acted on a bill passed by the House appropriating the money for a down payment on the border wall.

Before the government could actually build the wall, however, Congress must first fund the construction. And the Senate so far has not acted on a bill passed by the House of Representatives appropriating the money for a down payment.

Ingraham is losing patience. She mocked former President Barack Obama after playing a video montage of him and other administration officials claiming that the border was under control.

“Oh yeah, lots of success at the border,” she said. “No human trafficking; no drug trafficking; no tunnels under the border.”

Art Del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, acknowledged that many illegal immigrants die making the dangerous journey across the border.

“But the big thing is, let’s remember they died breaking our laws and that these agents that have died have died protecting our country and enforcing the laws,” he said. “It is very, very unfortunate what happened to our fellow agent. We are heartbroken over this whole situation. We don’t want to make it, you know, political, but it’s hard not to. And it just, it breaks all of our hearts. I’ve been talking to a lot of the people out there in that area of Texas. They’re heartbroken.”

Robert Heyer, chairman of the Brian Terry Foundation, told Ingraham that Martinez’s death should be a wake-up call.

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“Enough is enough,” he said. “We have to secure the borders.”

Heyer, whose organization is named for a Border Patrol agent who died during the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ failed “Fast and Furious” gun-running operation, said the border area is a violent, dangerous environment.

“In this case, we believe that Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez was ambushed by individuals,” he said. “He was then violently beaten, and thank God his partner survived who was also gravely, badly injured. But it’s a very, very violent environment on the border, and I think Americans have had enough.”

“His family deserves justice here. I’m just so infuriated at this,” said Ingraham. “This should never be happening in the United States of America.”

“This better be the final straw for these members of Congress,” she added. “Build the wall. Get this done.”