EP Border Patrol Celebrates 100 Years with Parade this Saturday

The Border Patrol is celebrating a century of existence with a big Centennial Parade in downtown El Paso this Saturday. The community is invited to attend. The parade will take place in San Jacinto Plaza and will begin at 9 a.m.

The Border Patrol Sector Chief for El Paso is Scott Good and he told KVIA-7 that Saturday’s parade is special because the U.S. Border Patrol started in El Paso.

This is MOSTLY true: the first U.S. Border Patrol station began in Detroit, Michigan in June of 1924. The El Paso station would open less than a month later in July, 1924.

However, according to Wikipedia mounted watchmen of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor patrolled the border as early as 1904. Those Commerce and Labor “mounted guards” WERE based out of El Paso. This earlier iteration of “border patrol” monitored the U.S. southern border as far west as California. They were never fully funded for this purpose, there were never more than 75 agents and they only patrolled the border “as time and resources allowed. Also, they were mainly looking for CHINESE migrants because of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

Saturday’s parade will feature multiple law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Border Patrol Pipes and Drums and Color Guard. Sector Chief Scott Good also said there will be Border Patrol recruiters on hand for anyone interested in seeking employment within the agency.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last year acknowledged a staffing shortage within the Border Patrol following the Covid Pandemic.

Those interested in attending the Border Patrol Centennial Parade can get more information by scanning the QR code in the following image.