Frank Lopez: The Watchman

CBN.com “There’s people out there that want to kill us, that want to destroy us. We need to be vigilant.”

The United States Border Patrol has been guarding the gates of our country since 1924. For agent Frank Lopez, what has always been a demanding job has taken on a new dimension since 9/11. It’s more than just fighting illegal immigration. Today, the focus is on terrorism.

“We started seeing people from the former Soviet Union, Middle Eastern nations,” he says. “Chaplain Manny Rodriguez apprehended some Egyptians down near Eagle Pass. The traffickers are sneaky. They employ all kinds of tactics. They’re going to look for the path of least resistance.”

Funding for Border Protection increased dramatically after 9-11, enabling the addition of more cameras, agents and aircraft to the Border Patrol arsenal.

The Border Patrol is using more aircraft than ever. As a matter of fact, if you combined all of their air assets, it would make up the sixth largest air force in the world.

So with all these resources, just how difficult and stressful is the job? Well, to find out, I spent a week with Agent Lopez along the border near Del Rio, Texas.

Frank says, “Perhaps they hear us coming or they think there’s someone around, they’ll just duck out of the way. But more often than not they just high-tail it out of the area as quick as they can.”

It wasn’t long before he started to share some of the challenges that Border Patrol agent’s face.

“There’s something about law enforcement that wears on law enforcement families, because of what we deal with, what we see, the situations that we encounter. They can cause spiritual death, a hardening of the heart,” he explains

Frank recognized this condition early in his career as an agent. So when he felt the call to ministry, he decided to do something about it.

“I began studying for the ministry in 1991. Three years later, I graduated from a small biblical institute,” Lopez shares. “I submitted a memorandum to the chief, volunteering my services as a minister. They used me for invocations, and then a murder and a suicide.”

At that time, the Border Patrol had no official chaplains. But the need became glaringly apparent after a string of agent deaths in 1999. This is how Frank came to be the first Border Patrol agent in history to wear the chaplain’s crest.

“I’m the sector chaplain so a lot of my duties are administrative,” says Lopez. “Being one of the senior chaplains in the border patrol, I field a lot of questions and emails from other agent/chaplains in the Border Patrol.”

But that doesn’t mean Frank spends all day in the office. Border Patrol chaplains work in the field with the other agents. These shared experiences are vital when an agent needs someone to talk to.

“You come to one of those critical points in life like, ‘Why am I here?’ ‘What’s my purpose in life?’ ‘My marriage is falling apart.’ ‘I just saw somebody die.’ ‘How do I cope with that?’ Well, that’s what I believe chaplains are there for.”

But that’s not the only reason chaplains are needed in the field. With over 1200 miles of border to cover, these guys need all the help they can get.

“Cameras are force multipliers. [They are] eyes and ears high above the ground, but they don’t replace agents,” Lopez says. “We need somebody to apprehend what the cameras are capturing.”

Frank says he’s involved in more than just a struggle against illegal immigration. To him, guarding this country's borders involves deeper issues of ideology and faith.

“To me, enforcing the law has spiritual connotations because they stem from a great moral code,” says Lopez. “I believe that our forefathers in their wisdom saw what an opportunity we have in America, and they enacted laws to defend that ideal, to protect that ideal, to preserve it. So the further we stray away from enforcing those original ideals, the city is weakened.”

Lopez also knows there are borders in his own life that need protecting.

“As time goes on, I’m aware of my weaknesses and those points that can be used to harm me and my family,” he explains. “So I have to be on guard, because what I allow into my life and heart will impact my children.”

Lopez believes that being a Border Patrol agent is more than protecting Americans from terrorism. He says, “It’s about defending our way of life. It’s about guarding America – our principles, our values, those very things that have made us a great nation.

“Being a border patrol agent is a tough job. We’ve been put here as chaplains to minister to them, and if allowed to, I’ll do this job until the day I retire.”