Despite the event being planned for a large open-space facility, Biden administration officials uninvited many of the Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officers who responded to the Robb Elementary School shooting from a meeting with the president scheduled for Sunday in Uvalde.
For the retracted invitations, the administration officials cited space as a reason.
According to a senior Customs and Border Protection source, the Law Enforcement officers, who responded to the Uvalde school shooting at Robb Elementary School, received an invitation to meet with President Biden during his planned visit to Uvalde, which many have accepted. But most are now being informed they are no longer invited.
One part of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s visit to Uvalde to address the families of the victims of last week’s school shooting at Robb Elementary is specifically to meet and also address the law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting.
More than 90% of the Border Patrol agents who were invited are now being told time and space are limited and they cannot attend, despite the meeting being planned at a location that can accommodate hundreds. The invitations were received by more than 80 Border Patrol agents, including several members of the Border Patrol’s BORTAC special response team involved in the response to the school shooting.
Just a few days later, a notification came in for the Border Patrol that the President could only meet with 7 of the more than 80 agents who responded to the shooting.
The Border Patrol BORTAC tactical unit members who killed the shooter after entering the classroom had others assist with removing students and teachers from harm’s way, while also providing emergency medical attention to the survivors of the brutal attack, per report.
The limitations likely apply to other large law enforcement agencies which participated in the active shooter response as well, such as the Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol, the source says.
The source also said that it will be difficult to decide on such short notice which officers will be allowed to attend.
“These agents are still traumatized by the incident; the venue is large, and they are not going to buy this excuse,” said the source.
Mid-level managers from the Border Patrol were tasked to decide who will attend and those left out will assume their role in the event was unimportant, the source says.
“It appears now as if this planned meeting was nothing more than a photo opportunity with the law enforcement community,” the source added.