AP: Border agents using firearms at a lower rate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Firearms use by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and agents is declining, and less-lethal force is also down, according to data obtained today by The Associated Press.

The decrease comes as fewer people are crossing the border illegally and after the agency overhauled how force should be deployed at the border.

There were 15 instances where officers and agents used firearms during the budget year 2018, down from a high of 55 was reported during the 2012 budget year, and down from 17 during 2017's budget year and 25 the budget year before.

Despite high-profile instances in recent months where agents used tear gas on groups of migrants that included children, use of less-lethal force like tear gas, batons or stun guns are also down, to 898. That's a decrease from the high in 2013 of 1,168, according to the data.

There are high-profile exceptions, like the shooting death by agents of a 19-year-old Guatemalan woman who crossed the border near Laredo, Texas, last May, but the firearms low comes as Border Patrol agents and Customs officers face an increase in the number of assaults, according to the data.

Fewer people are being apprehended crossing the border illegally each year – about 400,000 last year compared with more than 1 million in 2000.