Growing Up Border Patrol

Photo: <a href="http://www.borderpatrolmuseum.com/GiftShop.asp">National Border Patrol Museum</a>

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The United States Border Patrol turned 85 this week. What better way to celebrate than by indoctrinating American youth?

Below, four examples of kid-friendly border patrol fun:

Border Patrol Explorers

This summer camp teaches teens how to shoot weapons and make arrests. Many go on to become real Border Patrol agents when they grow up.

Border Patrol Online Game

The mission: “Keep them out…at any cost!”

The victims: Mexican drug smugglers and “breeders”—pregnant women with children.

The US Border Patrol: Guarding the Nation

A children’s book full of suspense: “It’s a dark night in Texas. Some people are trying to sneak across the Mexican border.…(Agents) zoom to the scene. They arrest the people crossing the border. Then they send them back to their own country.”

National Border Patrol Museum

Includes gee-whiz memorabilia like an original Border Patrol boat, plus a gift shop with BP Hot Wheels, temporary tattoos, and infant beanies. Museum motto? “Where Heroes and Legends Come Alive.”

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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