An illegal immigrant allegedly assaulted a U.S. Border Patrol agent from the Rio Grande Valley Sector in an apparent effort to avoid arrest for unlawfully crossing the border from Mexico.

A Border Patrol agent assigned to the Rio Grande City Station came upon a migrant who illegally crossed the Rio Grande River border with Mexico near Roma, Texas. As the agent attempted to take the migrant into custody, the foreign national became combative in an apparent attempt to avoid apprehension, according to Rio Grande Valley Sector officials.

The migrant began swinging at the agent and allegedly kicked him numerous times, officials stated. The agent eventually gained control over the suspect and placed him safely in custody.

Agents transported the migrant to the Rio Grande City Station for processing. He is expected to be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas where he could face charges for assaulting a federal agent and immigration violations.

According to the latest information available from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (May 31), Border Patrol agents were assaulted in the line of duty 464 times since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2018 (October 1, 2017). During all of Fiscal Year 2017, Border Patrol agents were assaulted 559 times. The reports on the number of assaults for June, July, and August 2018 are not available.

Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on agents being assaulted by illegal immigrants along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Two Laredo Sector agents were assaulted in the past few weeks. One agent was assaulted when a human smuggler attempted to run an agent over with a pickup truck while attempting to avoid apprehension. In July, another Laredo Sector agent came under assault while attempting to arrest an illegal alien near along the Rio Grande River.

Also in July, a group of Rio Grande Valley Sector came under attack by rock-throwing migrants as the agents attempted to help a pregnant woman who fell while attempting to cross the border into Texas.