Border Patrol’s No. 2 accused of misconduct
Report: Sexual harassment alleged
The Border Patrol this month placed its No. 2 official on leave and began investigating him for misconduct but declined to say what kind.
Now, NBC News has reported that Joel Martinez is being investigated after allegations of sexual harassment.
Female employees have accused Martinez, the Border Patrol’s acting chief deputy, of pressuring them for sex when he worked in the agency’s Laredo sector, NBC reported.
Martinez has decided to retire because that would remove the possibility of administrative punishment by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, NBC said. Martinez could still face prosecution if Customs and Border Protection’s internal investigation finds evidence of crimes.
Martinez, a 31-year veteran of the Border Patrol, became the agency’s acting second-in-command in January.
A native of San Benito, he began his Border Patrol career in 1992 at the Laredo South Border Patrol station. In March 2023, he became acting chief patrol agent for the Laredo sector.
Martinez also has served as assistant chief of the Southwest Border Operations Division at Border Patrol headquarters in Washington, as acting patrol agent in charge of the Brownsville station and as deputy chief of the Rio Grande Valley sector.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in homeland security and emergency management from Ashford University, an online university that is now part of the University of Arizona Global Campus.
After Martinez was placed on administrative leave last week, CBP said in a statement that the agency does “not tolerate misconduct within our ranks.”
“When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations,” the statement said. “Federal privacy laws prohibit discussion of individual cases.”