The U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector commemorated fallen agents ahead of Memorial Day weekend and the anniversary of the founding of the agency.
The solemn ceremony on Thursday, May 21, remembered the 161 agents killed in the line of duty since the agency was founded on May 28, 1924. Of those, 28 were from the El Paso sector, Jesse D. Muñoz, the border sector chief patrol agent, pointed out in his brief discourse ahead of the keynote speeches from Border Patrol leaders.
The commemoration was attended by the families of several Border Patrol agents who died, religious leaders, representatives from federal agencies and by U.S. Customs and Border Protection leadership. Rodney S. Scott, the current U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Victor Avila, an El Paso native and the Assistant Director of National Drug Control Policy, and Jason Owens, a former chief of the Border Patrol, gave the keynote address to over 100 attendees.
“We work in hope every day that we don’t have a 162nd line-of-duty death,” Owens said during his address. “We pledge to keep your memory alive. We pledge to remember you, always remember everything that was you, not just the work that you did. Not just the sacrifice that you made, but everything about you.”
The deadliest year for border patrol agents was in 2021, with 16 agents dying, with at least 13 dying from contracting COVID-19 on duty or in vehicle accidents. Two agents died in 2025, marking it as one of the safest years in the agency’s history, as the Cato Institute noted.
The ceremony was held at the Socorro Independent School District Student Activities Complex. The memorial began with Border Patrol Tactical Unit agents parachuting in from the sky and landing on the football field, a performance by the sector’s drill team and the presentation of the flag by the sector’s honor guard.
The names of the agents who were killed in the line of duty were read by four acting agents, with each of the agents ringing a bell after reading dozens of names. They were then given a 21-gun salute, before two border patrol agents preformed taps — the song of military funerals preformed on the trumpet — and a riderless horse was led past attendees in remembrance of the fallen agents.
“We honor those that have fallen so that the family members of the agents and officers … is really to send the message to all those family members that what your family member … what they’re doing matters,” Scott said. “It matters to the safety of the country.”
The El Paso sector stretches from the New Mexico border with Arizona through El Paso to Hudspeth County. The sector and the entire southern border with Mexico are currently experiencing the lowest levels of immigration in over a decade, according to CBP data.
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@usatodayco.com; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Border Patrol El Paso sector commemorates fallen agents in ceremony
Reporting by Jeff Abbott, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
