Although some government employees might feel threatened by President-elect Donald Trump's victory Tuesday, many Border Patrol agents said they are eagerly anticipating his return to the White House.
"We have hope. We can take care of our country and our citizens. Do what we took an oath to do. Bring pride back to our agency," a senior Border Patrol agent in Texas wrote to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. "We felt like we were forced to turn our backs on our country! No more!!!"
Another senior official employed at the Border Patrol's headquarters in Washington, D.C., wrote in a text message to the Examiner: "Personally, I'm relieved and hopeful that we will get back to securing the border the way we have always been meant to secure the border. My friends/colleagues are all feeling grateful and are ready to get to work to fix the border."
The immigration crisis became a top campaign issue this election cycle. Customs and Border Protection data indicated more than 10 million illegal immigrants were encountered by federal police attempting to enter the country since President Joe Biden took office.
Trump has long positioned himself as a border hawk and promised if elected he would conduct a mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
"We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," Trump said in September during a speech in Los Angeles. "And we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora [Colorado]."
Paul Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council union, said in a text to the Examiner that he expects Trump to end the controversial "catch and release" border policy, where illegal immigrants are immediately set free into the U.S. after being apprehended.
"Trump's win means a return to a more secure border which we experienced during his first term, but also the end of catch and release, an end to the influx of criminals from around the world, a notice to the cartels that they're not going to be allowed free reign of our borders and a voice to the victims of illegal alien crime," Perez wrote.