Border agents, on Facebook, mock deaths of migrants
Ocasio-Cortez also a target
Sexually explicit posts about U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and comments mocking migrant deaths in a secret Facebook group for agents and employees are “completely inappropriate,” the head of the U.S. Border Patrol said Monday.
The sexist posts, first revealed by ProPublica, came in response to Monday’s visit by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Democrats OcasioCortez of New York and Veronica Escobar of Texas, who toured a Border Patrol facility near El Paso, where attorneys said they had found migrant children living in fetid, filthy conditions.
Some of the Facebook posts were graphic, doctored images of Ocasio-Cortez; including one that shows a smiling President Donald Trump forcing her head toward his crotch. Other comments refer to Ocasio-Cortez
and Escobar as “hoes,” and one member encouraged agents to throw a “burrito at these bitches.”
“These posts are completely inappropriate and contrary to the honor and integrity I see — and expect — from our agents day in and day out,” Border Patrol chief Carla Provost said. “Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable.”
The lawyers’ report about the poor conditions at the facility in Clint came as the Trump administration has been managing a massive influx of Central American migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border that has overwhelmed facilities. Ocasio-Cortez raised hackles last month when she tweeted: “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrations, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.”
Her tweet set off a firestorm of criticism from GOP lawmakers and others over her use of “concentration camps.” The Border Patrol’s union, while condemning the Facebook posts, also took a swipe at her.
“Whether one agrees with the politics of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Escobar, they both must be treated with dignity and respect,” according to a statement from the union. “Similarly, when Rep. Ocasio-Cortez refers to CBP facilities as concentration camps ... she does nothing to improve the political discourse.”
Billed as a “fun, serious and just work related,” the Facebook group of about 9,500 members of current and former Border Patrol employees states: “We are family, first and foremost. This is where the Green line starts, with us,” according to Pro-Publica.
Another thread involved the image published last week by The Associated Press of a migrant father and his toddler, drowned on the banks of the Rio Grande. One commenter suggested the image was doctored because the bodies were too clean.
“We’ve all seen the dems and liberal parties do some pretty sick things,” the comment read.
The comments marked a sharp contrast to accounts of Border Patrol officers spending their own money on food for migrants in their care, or rescuing migrants from the Rio Grande, or from a bombing range in Arizona. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of Border Patrol, said an investigation into “disturbing social media activity” was under way.