Border Patrol Cancels Election Day 'Crowd Control Exercise'

The U.S. Border Patrol canceled a “crowd control exercise” on Election Day, after reporters already had arrived and without providing an explanation, The Texas Tribune reports.

The “mobile field force demonstration” was to take place near a Hispanic neighborhood in El Paso, Texas. Legislators and activists, including the American Civil Liberties Union, asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection why the exercise was taking place on Election Day prior to it being postponed.

“We are, obviously, pleased, but it shouldn’t have taken outrage by us, congresspeople and the community for the Border Patrol to know they were being manipulated for political gain,” said ACLU of Texas executive director Terri Burke to The Washington Post.

"The suggestion that ongoing exercises at ports of entry in anticipation of a potential mass arrival of migrants are tied to voting by any group is flat-out wrong," Department of Homeland Security press secretary Tyler Houlton said in a statement to ABC News. "DHS has worked tirelessly to ensure the security of our election systems and will always secure our borders regardless of what day it might be.”

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