Border Patrol agents will soon be limited in chasing vehicles that flee from them, under new rules unveiled in January and set to take effect in May.
Agents must determine that vehicular pursuits are “necessary and objectively reasonable” under the rules, and can terminate a pursuit at any time without fear of questioning from superiors.
Agents are being told that they must consider factors such as “the seriousness of the reason” for a pursuit and weather conditions when deciding whether to chase a fleeing vehicle that failed to stop at a checkpoint or port of entry—the official places to enter the United States from Mexico and Canada.
“A Vehicular Pursuit is considered Necessary when an Authorized Officer/Agent concludes there is an immediate need to apprehend a subject as part of their enforcement duties based on the totality of the known facts and circumstances,” the rules state.
A pursuit meets the “objectively reasonable” standard when the government’s interest in apprehending the persons or people in the fleeing vehicle “clearly outweighs the Foreseeability of Risk to the public, officers/agents, other law enforcement, and vehicle occupants,” the rules state.
Agents must evaluate the interest and the potential risk when choosing whether to pursue a fleeing vehicle and continue the evaluation during the chase. They must also alert a supervisor “as soon as feasible” during a pursuit and immediately terminate the chase if the supervisor does not authorize it to continue, or orders it stopped.
If a chase is terminated, agents must pull their vehicle over to signal to the public and the fleeing driver that the chase has ended, according to the rules. They must alert superiors. They can then start driving again in the last known direction of the fleeing vehicle to check for “crashes, potential flight on foot, to determine if the Subject Vehicle was abandoned, or for any other incident.”
The rules also suggest alternatives to vehicular pursuits, such as tracking with airplanes.
Troy Miller, who became acting Customs and Border Protection commissioner in late 2022 after the ouster of Chris Magnus, said that vehicular pursuits “pose inherent risks—to members of the public, officers and agents, and vehicle occupants” and that the new policy “acknowledges these risks and shifts our Agency’s overall approach to a risk-based model when it comes to pursuits.”
Magnus stressed that the policy does not bar vehicular pursuits but “provides a clear framework” for weighing the risks associated with pursuits against the benefits.
