Customs and Border Protection (CBP) insists that they are not keeping record border detention numbers secret ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election; however, the Border Patrol agents who went on record making the claim are defiantly doubling down and directly accusing the agency of “cooking the books” to help Hillary Clinton win.

A recent Breitbart Texas exclusive gave voice to two Border Patrol agents’ concerns that politically-appointed leadership within CBP were hiding record border detainee numbers prior to the 2016 election. CBP’s public information office fired back via email to this reporter and insisted that the numbers were “less than half of what they were in 2014.”

The matter becomes complicated due to the history of CBP insisting that Border Patrol agents with the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) are lying, only for time to reveal that the agents were telling the truth. In other words, CBP has a history of lying to the public and attacking both Border Patrol agents and reporters for telling the truth, only to be later forced to admit they were wrong.

Border Patrol Agent Brandon Judd, President of the NBPC, spoke again with Breitbart Texas and reminded this reporter of the history of “CBP lies.” He stated, “Look Darby, this is the same agency that publicly called you a liar on social media. They said one of your previous reports based on our words was erroneous. We were later proven to be correct. CBP is lying again. They are hiding the fact that we have record numbers in Border Patrol custody in the Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV). This only serves to help Hillary Clinton by diminishing the reality on the border. They are cooking the books.”

Agent Judd is indeed correct that CBP used Twitter to attack this reporter, only to later delete the tweet and admit that my information was correct.

In defense of the media workers for CBP, they often do not realize that they are being made to lie for their agency’s officials. The same held true when this reporter published another report from the agents in the NBPC about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allowing illegal aliens to fly on commercial aircraft without proper photo identification. In that case, the TSA spokesman sent multiple tweets out on Twitter to discredit me and insist that the Border Patrol agents were lying. TSA later admitted in a letter response to a Texas House Rep that the report had, in fact, been true. Again, the agents from the NBPC made a claim, were called liars by a federal agency, the agency attacked this reporter, and then the information in my report turned out to be true and the federal agency was lying.

Agent Judd also pointed to his own Congressional testimony from this year when he informed the Judicial Committee that CBP was approximately 50 percent effective in apprehending those who crossed the border illegally between ports of entry. “CBP publicly refuted those numbers saying that Border Patrol was 80 percent effective and Commissioner Kerlikowski, in testimony given before the House Appropriations Committee, when asked about my testimony, said the NBPC isn’t always the best source.”

Agent Judd continued, “The Commissioner was later challenged to provide specific examples and he admitted that he misspoke. Both the Associated Press and Fox News reported that they had seen an official report by CBP showing that the Border Patrol is 54 percent effective at apprehending those who cross the border illegally. CBP has yet to release this report to the public.”

Once again, the agents in the NBPC were correct and it appears managers within CBP were caught lying.

Breitbart Texas is currently processing official documentation provided by other Border Patrol agents that indicate the concerns over CBP “cooking books” and manipulating data are more widespread within the agency.

Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

DISCLOSURE: Breitbart News sponsors the National Border Patrol Council’s radio program, The Green Line. The author of this article received an award from the Laredo chapter of the National Border Patrol Council for his “being a voice and staunch advocate for Border patrol agents.” Breitbart News previously covered the costs of a slain Border Patrol agent’s funeral. The National Border Patrol Council endorsed Donald Trump for President after the candidate vowed to give veteran Border Patrol agents a voice in what is needed to properly secure the U.S.-Mexico border.