Special Report: BP Agent A ‘Lethal Weapon’ And A Success Story

by Ken Molestina, ABC-7 News Reporter/Anchor

EL PASO — One of the Border Patrol’s most lethal weapons, as well as ainspirational success story, lies within the small frame of agent Blanca Angelica Parra.

“It’s hard, you have to show them that you can do the same job they do,” said Parra in regards to her hard-fought battle to be accepted in the agency. However, the 41-year-old agent said she enjoys constantly having to prove herself.

Parra is now a firearms instructor and is considered one of themost accurate shooters in the agency. “They were surprised, very surprised,” she said, “sometimes they don’t think that a female can be a good shot.”

A phenomenal shot serves as a better description. She has no trouble hitting her targets dead in the center from about a quarter of a football field away.

“Some guys they feel ashamed because they really can’t match up to her skill,” said one of her fellow agents.

Even more admirable than her skill with a gun is the journey she took to where she is now. Parra always wanted to be a Border Patrol agent. Her only problem was that she lived across the border in Juarez, where she was a police officer for 12 years.

In 2003, Parra became a U.S. citizen through naturalization. The next day, she applied with the Border Patrol.

Still, friends and colleagues were skeptical the former Juarez police officer would keep her own people out of the U.S. “I feel like a Mexican-American, but I’m loyal to the United States,” she said. “There are rules just like in any other country … crossing is illegal, so I’m just doing my job.”

Parra encourages many women to do the same and believes anything is possible with discipline and determination — the same standards she uses when shooting her gun.

“I concentrate, focus my sight, control my breathing and just shoot.”