Shocking testimony from Border Patrol chief Mark A. Morgan during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee detailed just how dangerous the border is becoming for his agents.

Morgan says attacks on border patrol agents are up a staggering 200% over last year, with a surge in young illegal aliens and unaccompanied minors being a particular problem.

Washington Examiner:

"The men and women of the Border Patrol have one of the toughest jobs in federal law enforcement," said Morgan, adding, "They are the most assaulted federal law enforcement in the us, more than 7,400 border patrol agents have been assaulted since 2006."

Without detailing the extent of the assaults, he said the numbers have jumped. "That rose in FY16 by 20 percent and year to date were seeing an increase in assaults by 200 percent over previous year to date. It's a dangerous job."

He said that the agents have a "can do attitude."

His testimony noted that there has been a new surge of illegals,especially younger illegals.

In joint testimony provided to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the agency's top two officials said that 408,870 illegal crossers were caught in the last fiscal year, which ended in September. That was higher than in fiscal 2015.

Morgan and Deputy Chief Carla Provost revealed that apprehensions of younger, "unaccompanied alien children," has surged since October 1. By November 16, some 10,549 have been caught, a 38 percent one year surge.

Morgan's observation that border patrol agent is one of the toughest law enforcement jobs in government is proven by the stats.  Long hours, inadequate pay, dangerous conditions – it's a testament to their dedication that they maintain high morale. 

But we should be able to protect them better.  In August, an average of two attacks on border agents occurred every day, most of them from illegal aliens.  With the recent surge in border crossings, it's only going to get worse.