A report published this week reveals that assaults on U.S. Border Patrol agents during the first half of the current fiscal year are up 143 percent over the same period in FY 2016. Since the fiscal year began on October 1, 462 Border Patrol agents have been assaulted.

Border Patrol agents are the most assaulted law enforcement officers in the federal government, former Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in November. Since his testimony, the numbers have skyrocketed.

In March alone, illegal aliens, human smugglers, foreign nationals, and American criminals assaulted 49 Border Patrol agents, according to an April 10 CBP report. Breitbart Texas has reported on many of those incidents, some involving serious injuries.

Since October 1, 2016, 462 Border Patrol agents have been assaulted. During the same period in FY 2016 190 agents came under assault. These numbers reflect assaults through March 31, 2017. During that same period, only 30 CBP officers were assaulted.

Many agents believe they are assaulted frequently due to lack of prosecution in many cases.

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he is putting an end to that and directed the Department of Justice to aggressively prosecute assaults on agents. “I have directed that all 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices make the prosecution of assault on a federal law enforcement officer — that’s all of you — a top priority,” the Attorney General told a group of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Nogales, Arizona. “If someone dares to assault one of our folks in the line of duty, they will do federal time for it.”

In a memorandum to U.S. Attorneys Offices across the country, Sessions ordered, “Prosecution to the extent practicable cases of assault, resisting, or impeding officers engaged in the performance of their duties in administrative and criminal immigration enforcement.”

Border Patrol agents told Breitbart Texas in the past that agents practically had to be hospitalized before the DOJ would bring charges.

Border Patrol agents are frequently assaulted by rock throwers from Mexico, Breitbart Texas Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Brandon Darby reported in April 2014. Many of these assaults lead to serious injury or even death. “The reality being far from the false narrative of ‘kids throwing pebbles’,” Darby reported, “the life-threatening rock attacks against Border Patrol agents often occur in remote areas when a solitary Border Patrol agent may be up to a 90-minute drive from their nearest backup.” The article reveals photographic proof of many of the injuries received by agents during these assaults and the size of the “rocks” used in the assaults.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.