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Landscape photo of thirteen men in hats mounted on horses.
Mounted Guards/Watchmen, a precursor to the Border Patrol (1918).

U.S. Congress authorizes "mounted inspectors" along the U.S.-Mexico border.

1915

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Mounted Guards/Watchmen, a precursor to the Border Patrol (1918).

While small numbers of border patrol agents had previously existed, this marks the beginning of larger-scale coordination of border police. While patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, the "inspectors" are charged specifically with identifying Chinese people working to enter the country, despite the Chinese Exclusion Act. Mounted inspectors patrol the border on horseback and are given the legal right to prevent people from entering–in this case, people they perceive to be Chinese.