At least 60 agents violated Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ethical codes by sharing violent and obscene posts about their interactions with migrants on private Facebook groups, according to a congressional report based on data from the CBP disciplinary board.
Among them is an agent who posted "
an explicit sexually manipulated image" of a congresswoman
, or a supervisor who "inappropriately" shared
an internal video about an immigrant who died after falling off a cliff
.
A border agent walks behind a migrant in Arizona on Dec. 9, 2020.Matt York / AP
CBP's disciplinary board recommended firing 24 officers for gross misconduct, according to the House Oversight and Reform Committee report.
However,
only two of them were removed from office
.
Another
43 were suspended without pay,
three received other sanctions, and a dozen were reprimanded by letter.
In addition, 10 other officers withdrew before the investigation ended.
["Let's start cutting fingers." Migrant kidnappers send terrifying videos to relatives to collect]
"These events were the result of a series of failures at CBP, including an
inconsistent disciplinary process
, a failure to train and enforce social media policies, and a
lack of senior leadership
to take action. adequate measures despite the knowledge of these Facebook groups ", highlights the parliamentary report.
Among the recommendations that the CBP disciplinary board made that were not applied are the firings of the officers who published sexual content of a congressman and the deceased migrant, who only received 60 and 30 days of suspension respectively.
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CBP allowed an officer "with a history of multiple violations"
to retire with disability benefits
after posting a photograph of a drowned father and son "and derisively referring to them as' floaters," according to the report.
"CBP's failure to prevent these violent and offensive remarks by its own agents or to impose proper discipline creates a serious risk that this behavior will continue," said New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney.
[This is how they kidnap migrants: mass arrests, raped women and shot to death if they don't pay]
"As we saw with the mistreatment of migrants last month by Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas,
systemic behavior problems within CBP persist,
" he added.
Border Patrol agents on horseback try to contain the crossing of Haitian migrants through the Rio Grande.Felix Marquez / AP
The parliamentary investigation
began in 2019
after reports published by various media about violent, racist and sexist messages in private Facebook groups.
The congressmen tried for more than a year to gain access to witnesses and unredacted disciplinary records, but said the administration of former President Donald Trump refused to release them.
With information from
The Washington Post
.
