All those Trumplicans who obsess over the Struck phone texts - now what? Same outrage over personal feelings? Same charge that personal spills over into professional actions? Same call for immediate discipline, including firing just before earning a pension?
2
My first professional job was as an FBI Agent. The Golden Rule was, "Don't embarrass the Bureau!" We all knew bad behavior reflected on our peers and their ability to carry out their duties.
I feel for the rank and file Border Patrol as they face the public going forward. They must feel shame. I know I would be embarrassed to say I worked for the Border Patrol after all that has happened this year.
This war on immigrants has shown me a part of America I did not believe existed before our President took office. The man's capacity to alienate me from my fellow Americans knows no bounds.
42
Well it's not a secret now. And where did someone get the idea to keep a secret on Facebook? If this is true and not just a few officers, we may be seeing a Trump hiring style put into practice. You first have to pick the least appropriate persons for the job. That's what it's beginning to feel like. They are expendable if necessary but they can screw up any job for any agency. If this is untrue, there may be so much to deal with, they are breaking under the pressure. Either way the situation is deplorable and should not be allowed to continue.
30
I am sick to my stomach. I imagine the Statue of Liberty crying tears of shame. My own ancestors from Ireland arrived penniless and hungry, seeking a better life. This is not my America!
47
I’ve should have moved to Denmark years ago!
3
@VLB
Agreed. I’ve should have stayed in Norway back in 2012.
3
These are not nice people. They are recruited for exactly that reason. They have no interest in justice, public service, the welfare of others, or even mundanities like honor or efficiency. They love getting their jollies abusing people who they feel superior to. For such low life, they have the perfect job. And make no mistake, their managers all the way up the chain know what they're doing. This is happening to law enforcement all across the US, emboldened by a police state mentality and a bullying, punishing policy apparatus.
13
@Stevenz Please share the technology which reveals the inner motives, drives, and interests of thousands of people you have never met. The world needs your genius! Patent pending!!
1
All Fascists need foot soldiers to carry out their racist agenda. I'm so ashamed of my once great country.
11
What did the U.S. government expect in recruiting staff for)these positions?? Here's they should have anticipated (in part, because it's the population doing the hiring: people with right-of-center interpretations of what it means to be red, white, and blue [mostly white and male, but, an equal opportunity population ]; untreated sufferers from PTSD-- equal gender opportunity, there, as well; washouts from police department recruitment classes; military wannabes with more than bone spurs; bare minimum high school completion; vets without a life or a clue; in-country mercenaries. These aren't top-of-the-class Choate and Yale graduates -- except for those whose trust funds kept them from expulsion; not exactly cream of the crop.
ANY behavior on the part of the foregoing cohorts is likely to bring about far worse than "inappropriate" secret facebook posts. Recruitment for paramilitary forces of all types -- whatever their official titles -- literally screams a welcome to these populations. You get what you recruit for... .
20
Were the head of the Customs and Border Patrol really "concerned" about the actions of agents within his control, he would issue a blanket announcement outlining actions that his agents cannot participate in -- and say that a single failure to adhere to these practices will result in immediate termination.
Carla Provost "being concerned" is worth a handful of warm spit.
4
Top officials condemn these agents?????? How about punishing these agents? Time to get tough toward these actions! I am ashamed for my country.
3
I encourage everyone to read the posts pro publica has screenshots of. If you don't believe these comments, posts etc are criminal - read them! What we see in these posts is not criticizing public officials- it is sexual harrassment, degrading language about asylum seekers from every country and incredibly misogynistic speech and images. We must fire those who are wearing American uniforms while behaving like thugs. All of us have been under tremendous pressure while working at some point, it doesn't give one license to do what these posts show. Fire them immediately !
4
This is why Trump calls the media the enemy of the people. Because media outlets like ProPublica expose the awful truth of what's happening in our country by our public servants. Disgusting.
3
A rouge agency should be shut down. Obviously the agents are not up to the job professionally so shut it down, fire them all and start fresh with a screening process that makes sure to exclude racist thugs.
7
This group of visiting lawmakers has done everything in their power to setup the border patrol to fail, after villainizing its members for enforcing the law for years now. And now-- surprise-- they make histrionic statements about the conditions.
We still live in a country which allows people-- and border patrol agents are people-- to criticize their politicians. This is fortunate, because this visiting group of lawmakers deserves nothing but the harshest criticism for their deliberate and ongoing sabotage of part of our nations' law enforcement.
The allegations this pack of lawmakers made carries no credence given their vicious brand of immigration-identity politics.
6
@Alexander 's apologetics for the crassly criminal treatment of women and children by CBP take the form of attacking lawmakers. The notion of "deliberate and ongoing sabotage"* breaks so totally with the facts as to evoke wonderment if DEA would raise an eyebrow at what was consumed at that vituperative keyboard. (*yes, CBP continues to mistreat, abuse, endanger, and even murder unarmed asylum seekers) ISTM the only imagined saboteur's 'mission accomplished' was of the poster's grasp of REALITY.
OK, so AOC thinks that members of the border patrol should not be allowed to hold opinions, or criticize the policies or the policy makers related to their job. Well, that isn't the country we live in (yet), thankfully. And frankly, why should they show these congress people any respect after the horrible mud they have had slung at them over the months and years. You want respect? Show it; earn it.
7
@Alexander - Hate speech and sexual harassment aren't opinions.
22
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences Alexander. They can post racist, misogynistic, violent posts about our elected officials all they want. And then they can suffer the consequences for it.
Respect is earned and when these armed thugs act like true professionals and begin policing their own ranks then maybe they’ll deserve some. Until then? They’re pitiful and their apologists are complicit in their crimes.
31
@Alexander. Wow. Where to start. Firstly, NO One has said these people have no right to hold opinions or, indeed, to criticize policy makers. Surely you can see the difference between legitimate criticism and sexist, vulgar, demeaning pornography?? And secondly, professionals show respect regardless of what is flung at them. As do adults, BTW. As an RN I have been spit at, punched, kicked, and called every name in the book. It would never occur to me that those behaviors would entitle me to mock and degrade my patients or Hospital policy makers.
11
Let’s see how Congress handles this one. Will they be subpoenaing these agents to come before various committees, like they did with Peter Strzok and Lisa Page?
A 'secret' Facebook group. Yes, like discovering rare videos on YouTube.
Who came up with this ridiculous narrative that has been parroted by every news organization?
Carla Provost, the chief of the Border Patrol, sent an email to her agents describing the posts in the group as “highly inappropriate and offensive.”
How about "despicable and criminal. What they posted regarding Ocasio-Cortez is lewd and can be classified as sexual harassment. They are former and active federal employees, and subject to the laws like anyone else.
They need to be prosecuted.
455
@Jon
It is my understanding that they are having trouble filling Border Security with qualified people and actually can't increase the size of staffing.
"t’s been difficult for the agency to recruit, train, and retain enough officers to maintain its staffing levels for a number of reasons. Although Border Patrol is a law enforcement employer, officer postings are at remote locations rather than in communities where their recruits live. Other barriers to attracting applicants include lower pay relative to other law enforcement agencies such as ICE, and burdensome requirements including a polygraph test. Getting a new officer through the hiring process itself is a major bottleneck, and can take seven months or more"
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/07/07/struggling-to-hang-on-to-20k-officers-border-patrol-looks-to-hire-5k-more/
9
Such a stern reprimand.
@Jon
Wow. Just, wow. The federal employees that may have said something "crude" about President Trump online don't interact with him on a daily basis, decide whether or not to strip search him, or get to lock him in a cage.
If you can't see the difference between federal employees criticizing Trump, and border patrol officers obviously regarding the people they are tasked with processing as less than human, you really need to open a book, your eyes, and your heart to the world.
19
Even in wartime, we were instructed about "conduct unbecoming an officer" and legal treatment of captured enemy combatants. It's peacetime, and these people are neither enemy nor combatants, yet conduct unbecoming a civilized person, let alone an officer representing the United States and its citizens, has become legitimized from the top down. The situation is shameful.
38
America should be ashamed of itself. But instead we will have a bully infused muscle flexing spectacle on the 4th of July with a political parade patting ourselves on the back? For what? Yelling at each other like 3rd graders at recess? Grow up and do good things for people, not evil.
3
There are all kinds of allegations here, but what is the real truth about this horrific news? Journalists and lawmakers need to search out this claim and investigation needs to be done. It is obvious that migrants are being held in bad conditions that are inhumane and getting worse.
Trump encourages inhumane and unamerican behavior, so this does not sound impossible, but perhaps exaggerated. If true, this behavior is another border related crisis. There is certainly something very wrong with the US for these symptoms to keep coming out of the woodwork.
Soul searching is badly needed when children get shot in schools and children get abused at the border. Children are suffering for the generalized adult failure to be responsible human beings. Something is terribly wrong with the whole society. We had better find the cause, because we are going down the drain fast. Remember when we looked down on South Africa for its inhumanity? There has to be a way to run the border responsibly.
1
Another example of Facebook’s malignant role in our society.
10
The high number of members in this hate organization takes this national crisis to a totally different level... Indeed we are no longer safe in America, and this time not because of immigrants but in danger from "our very own LAW ENFORCEMENT "CITIZENS" (if they can be called such). There are no words in Websters or the mind to mention an appropriate adjective for these... these... things.
4
To me this isn’t surprising unfortunately. These types seem to make up the vast majority of individuals in organizations like the CBP or ICE from anything one sees in the media or even their own sources. Those who express or believe differently have to be careful in these cultures for their jobs, so they fall in line or hide their views cause these racist or ethnocentric types are the dominant ones.
1
There is no bottom to this administration. None whatsoever.
12
The border patrol may need to be taken over by the national guard and BP agents supervised constantly while this immoral behavior gets stamped out and (thousands of) rogue agents exited from the force. This is a full on crisis of management and culture and needs to be eradicated long-term and the illegal anyone need to be halted immediately.
4
9500 members only a small number made posts.
After the all the unfounded abuse thrown at ALL of them for two years, primarily by freshman hysterical women in Congress; it is pretty hypocritical for the left to complain about words.
January, the Democrats said there is NO crisis so $1 was offered. That they now complain about a Facebook post, just to deflect from their stupidity is priceless.
Pelosi offered one dollar. That said it all.
1
The border guards deserve any and all criticism they receive from any quarter— but least of all from Facebook.
They should drop those “trumped”’up lies about social media and start taking humane care of the immigrants.
4
So, investigate.
Then post the numbers.
Total current BP personnel. Number.
10,000??
20,000??
Then, total current BP personnel posting vile comments.
How many?
Discipline them as appropriate.
Active BP on the website not posting vile comments
(Nor thumbs up, etc.)??
Former BP personnel posting vile comments?
They are not restricted by the Hatch Act.
They are free to speak their "opinion", however vile.
Likewise, persons who were never BP staff
(or other government staff),
but were simply members of the social media website.
Not restricted by the Hatch Act.
And free to say what they want, however vile.
Let's see how many of the supposed 10,000
(or whatever number that has so many vociferous critics eager to condemn the BP)
are not and never were BP personnel.
Just so we get some perspective
on the numbers being thrown around by vociferous critics.
Of course,
Even 10 currently active and actually posting vile comments (or thumbs up, etc.)
out of 10,000 or 20,000 or 30,000 active BP,
is 10 too many.
But not a sign of any kind of "systemic" problem.
100s?? Active BP?
Then investigate further for supervisory shortcomings.
Former BP?
Sure, they ought to be ashamed.
And condemned -- even in retirement.
But disciplined? No.
And certainly not a sign for current supervisors to be blamed.
Those on the website who are not now and never were BP??
So, we discipline the BP for them? No.
We should shut down the web-site?
Just like the campaign to shut down "hate" speech?
No.
3
first priority: a court order to reveal every post made on the secret facebook page -- either directly from facebook, or through the investigating "office of unprofessional irresponsibility" and the DHS inspector general.
light is the best disinfectant.
5
There are fewer than 20,000 Border Patrol agents, more than 16,000 of whom patrol the Southern border. Bilingualism is a desirable job qualification, so approximately 50% of the BP are Hispanic. Moreover, the BP requires either proven facility in speaking Spanish or Spanish language training upon hiring.
Somehow, these factors just don’t support the allegation that there are 10,000 anti-immigrant racists in the Border Patrol. As a liberal Democrat, my sympathies have tended to be with the immigrants but I smell a media rat.
As a former public employee, I know that BP employees are humans just like other humans—some are excellent, many are usually hard-working, most are trying to get the job they’ve been assigned done as well as possible.
Civil service jobs always have obstacles of funding limitations and the various laws that must be dealt with as well as the numerous idiosyncrasies of the client population. Border Patrol can’t be an easy job, but I doubt that it is as rife with brutality and callousness toward children and women as current media reports would have it.
It suits the current goals of certain progressives, including journalists, to paint as dark a picture as possible. It would be to the benefit of us all—the immigrants and the public—to be a little more circumspect and logical about what is really going on in CPB facilities.
7
It occurs to me that these kinds of job opportunities serve as a magnet for those looking to exploit people who cannot defend themselves. These folks are coming out of the woodwork to apply for jobs where they can intemidate and exploit immigrants and others. It's a really bad situation and the screening process isn't working to filter out this kind of slime and that needs to change.
Furthermore, when these abusers are discovered they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law because they are basically sociopaths and need to spend time in jail where they will no doubt experience the same kind of bad treatment that they were delivering on the job.
10
@Mr Robert Or perhaps they are patriots performing a dangerous, necessary, and unpleasant job for the good of their fellow citizens, so that others don't have to, despite the lack of respect people like you show for their sacrifice.
1
"Their sacrifice"..... this era is exposing people for who they are. The dixicrat era, the George Wallace era, the busing era - they all exposed people for who they were. Today, it's the evangelicals whose views are remarkably and very publicly at odds with traditional Christian teachings. It's the elected GOP officials who refuse to speak up against this administration and its bigoted actions, and it's individuals who.... may claim that CBP agents by the THOUSANDS who partake in a racist, violent group social media group... are making a 'sacrifice' by doing these actions. Your words matter and people will remember them.
2
If the government refuses to hold these people accountable, the responsibility is ours.
We must ensure that those who work for CPB (or ICE for that matter) NEVER find comfort in the private sector.
I hope others will join me in boycotting the individuals who work for or support these agencies.
It’s time to shut them down. Permanently.
6
While I deplore the conditions under which many migrants are being held as well as the alleged comments of current border patrol agents, not to mention the un American attitudes among some in the Trump administration that have led to the aforementioned, it is clear to me that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez either is utterly unprepared to make the difficult choices required to govern or is cynically grandstanding by calling out other members of her caucus. She doesn’t have a monopoly in compassion, but you’d never know it from listening to her.
4
Ah yes, the stealth fox news consumer trying to sound balanced in the NYT comments section. Not buying it. AOC is simply not a significant part of this story. The story is the scandal at the border unfolding because this agency is fully supportive and willingly implementing this completely amoral policy. Focusing on AOC is exactly what the right wing media does constantly and your comments belie that. The issue of inhumane treatment is the real issue.
3
Historian Ian Kershaw described how the Hitler leadership cult led to crimes committed in the name of Germany by officials 'working towards the Fuhrer':
'German state and Party bureaucracy usually took the initiative in policy to meet Hitler's perceived wishes, or alternatively attempted to turn into policy Hitler's often loosely and indistinctly phrased wishes..'
6
50% of CPB agents are Hispanic, so I'm questioning how really "racist"these posts were. Particularly along the southern border, the force of border patrol agents are overwhelmingly Hispanic.
5
The Border Patrol assuredly has dedicated law enforcement professionals dealing dealing with difficult situations every day. What we don't need is racist and misogynist fat guys dressed like Navy SEALs harassing poor families seeking asylum from brutal conditions back home. We need intelligent, compassionate, dedicated professionals willing to say we're not going to play prison guard for asylum seekers nor kick over bottles of water left in the desert for thirsty families. be American FFS. Stop Already. Stop being concentration camp guards. Your refusal is your strength.
4
Someone is too stupid to work for the government. Can you imagine how many HR people are working late tonight?
2
If you were making lists of things that are most alike, you would be hard-pressed NOT to place "ICE" and "U.S.Border Patrol" in a listing of fascist police organizations.
6
Maybe we should round up all of the illegal immigrants, separate the children from their parents, put the children to work on our farms and fields, and send their parents back to their home countries.
This is Jeff Sessions abiding dream; new slaves for the Neo-Confederates.
3
Inappropriate?! Gee, ya think???!!!
1
So let me get this.
Democrats are blamed for being for "Open Borders".
But the Border Patrol, through their Facebook page, are for "Open" pant's zippers.
Apparently, they are posting statements favoring Sexual Abuse and Child Rape.
Facebook allows pedophilia?
And their higher ups are saying that Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome caused this.
Why did Catholic priests not use this defense?
Watch,when these same officers will be in the front stage at the next Trump MAGA rally.
6
Sure they do
Ahh I see the Brown Shirts have arrived!
Still think it can’t happen here?
8
This is what the Republican party loves. The mostly Southern gang is cheering. It reminds them of how they treated darker people in the good old days.
6
This is the kind of behavior we should expect when the chief law enforcement officer in the nation, Trump, regards himself as above the law, and who is absolutely disrespectful of all institutions, including the presidency itself. I expect to see breakdown all across the board if this lawless president continues in office much longer. He even delights in trashing our institutions with our enemies, laughing and joking with the dictators as he and they undermine together what we stand for. The latest example is putting down the free press with Putin who kills journalists who he doesn't like.
7
I have been calling attention to what I believe is truth in my comments since George W was riding high. Denial is more than a river in Egypt. I am tired of stating the facts and hearing that is not who we are. That is who we are and that is who we were when someone wrote the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Justifying the unjustifiable is what too many of us do.
There is a major question Americans mist ask themselves before considering solutions to the terminal malaise.
Number 1 is, Is America worth saving?
Number 2 is, How much of what I believe America should be about am I willing to give up?
Reagan hated your America and now you must deal with all you gave up to keep America together.
2
Your tax dollars at work Making America Great Again. Just like the good ole days of Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse.
Vote to Make America the Good Guys Again. MAGGA.
5
They are hideously abusing poor and desperate brown people
without any regards to their humanity
They are refusing to grant access and oversight by our country's legally elected representatives
They are ignoring all criticism and hiding behind their wall of privilege and contempt for the underprivileged
They are violating the standards of every modern convention regarding the treatment of detainees
How many protesters do you think it would take to overwhelm the guards and get through the gates, as would have been done by our ancestors whose consciences were apparently better in tune withe dictates of humanity?
A la Lanterne, indeed.
The behavior described is abysmal. Maybe in some cases it resulted from burn-out or poor training, but upper level management has failed. New leadership is needed in this department. But, America, before you go away satisfied that either a new commissioner of the CBP or even a new president will cure the problem, please look in the mirror. We need to spend another $20-$30 billion per year on immigration. It might be come from the medicaid budget or the defense department or higher taxes. But we must spend the money to do what is right.
2
Investigate.
Hold responsible those who committed vile actions or made vile comments.
But do not use this as an excuse for shutting down or hamstringing either the Border Patrol or the detention facilities.
Give the BP and other relevant agencies (eg. HHS) the money they need to control the border and detain "migrants" who have not yet proven their right to be in the USA.
Spend whatever money is needed for "oversight".
But do not use that as an excuse to shut down or dilute control and detention.
2
To put this in perspective, there's currently about 20,000 border patrol agents nationwide. Membership in this group is equal to almost half of that. That's hardly a "secret" group or a few bad apples - that this has gone on for 3 years reveals a rotten institutional culture.
13
This is outrageous. The conditions in the internment camps, the treatment of Congressional representatives, the Facebook group. I am ashamed for what we have become. Are there any persons out there in positions to make changes, no matter how small, willing to do just that?
5
The “I’m 10-15” secret FB site had 9,500 members, by invitation only. No one objected to the racist and obscene posts. There are approximately 20,000 CBP employees. The Border Patrol is rotten to its core. I have no idea how to reform it, but I sure hope somebody does.
ICE can just be abolished.
11
Anyone else tired of hearing the phrase "those involved will be held accountable" instead of "those involved will be fired"?
Once again we see that wallowing in moral sewage is the bread and butter of the GOP and their supporters. After all, Donald Trump has made entire career out of putting manure on a pedestal and getting those around him to salute it.
10
Last July, Michelle Wolf, the last comedian allowed to perform at the National Correspondent's dinner, did a satirical "recruitment" video about ICE, Called "ICE IS"featuring uniformed ICE officers acting out separating a child from a parent, and bragging about their anger control issues and protecting America from "the foreign invaders" while "terrorizing" them. The way the video was done was very funny, and seemed a little over the top when I first viewed it. No more. I realize ICE and US BP are different agencies, but, unfortunately, it seems, based on what we're hearing from the detention centers, and now this Facebook page, that video could almost have been a documentary.
Here is the link if anyone is interested. (Warning: contains foul language): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNF6sVurAuI
9
The news would be if the border patrol acted like choir boys on Facebook. Reading the book End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin I discovered the border patrol had a long history of this type of behavior. For many years the border patrol was for the most part the KKK wearing uniforms rather than sheets. The US government has had a very tough time controlling this group. The racism and violence against Latinos along the Mexican border by the border patrol, vigilantes, and others has been occurring for many years but too few of us have paid much attention. It is one of these out of sight out of mind things that basically has been going on in some form since the Mexican-American War.
3
For decades, almost every time I've gotten into a "discussion" on the issue of immigration, someone chimes in with the old cliche "what part of 'illegal' don't you understand?"
Shoe is on the other foot, anti-immigrant folks. Never mind your position on the issue - what part of "illegal, immoral, and inhumane" do you not understand?
6
What were they thinking? What kind of people get together and say such things? Who hired them?
What galls me is that these are well-compensated positions. Non-supervisory Border Patrol agents can make over $100,000 with overtime after 5 years of automatic promotions. As law enforcement, they can retire after 20 years with super generous retirement benefits. https://www.cbp.gov/careers/usbp-pay-and-benefits
For that price, we should be getting the best.
Repeal and Replace ICE, BP, INS.
5
Think they'll fire the agents like Trump demanded of the FBI?
5
The fish rots from the head. The depravity in the White House is mirrored in the actions of an uncontrolled CPB. This must stop!
11
Wow. It sure does make me feel better knowing that law breaker and acknowledged liar Kelly Ann Conway is sticking up for the rotten apples in the border patrol. I know there are honorable people who work in the patrol that aren't misogynist rednecks, but it's a shame that Kelly Ann feels compelled to stick up for those that aren't.
If Kelly Ann believes the detention sites are wonderful she should go stay in one for a few weeks and give us live updates.
9
These revelations underscore the fallacy of the recent stories about children at the border: the lack of coverage about the mistreatment of adults.
If these officers can express these sort of attitudes about American leaders, and mistreat children, imagine how they're treating adult immigrants!!
Interestingly, we have no report about what is going on with adults.
From the reporting about children that barely mentions adults, it seems as if the mistreatment of adults is acceptable.
I would bet that there are some serious serious crimes being committed against adults in custody of these organizations.
The fact that the fate of adults is not being covered by the media, which chooses to concentrate on "the children," should be worrying.
What is also worrying by this silence, is the quiet implication that the country can essentially be "cleansed" or cleared of the adult immigrants in silence or darkness while the media looks the other way or focuses on "children." It is quite astonishing.
4
Unfortunately our President has normalized this kind of behavior and his followers love it not despite but precisely because of it. Frightening to see what we have been turned into.
5
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental
reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which
I am about to enter. So help me God.
3
Right this second, as you are reading this, a young mother who has not had a drink of water in 3 days, has been drying out as she breast feeds her baby, is leaning over the toilet to take a drink, hoping to produce milk for her child. Could you put down your dinner for a moment and call your Congressperson, (you might have to find a phone number on the internet, but I know you can do that), just to let them know this is not ok with you, this is not what your tax payments are to be used for, you want this border issue resolved in the most humane way possible. Fix this now. That woman might not get clean water right away, but with your help, it may arrive sooner than later. Peace, my friend.
5
This is what happens when government services are privatized, systems are deregulated, and oversight and laws are not enforced. It is a perfect storm of a massive influx of illegal /economic migrants crossing our borders and lax immigration and asylum laws (both of which has turned the American public against immigration) and private for-profit companies in bed with the pathological Republican government. The issue isn’t solved by opening our borders. But it also isn’t solved by creating concentration camps. People have lost their minds to both sides of extreme thinking.
3
I agree that changes need to be made. I also think that charges need to be made.
5
Speaker Pelosi and her leadership need to send an immediate message that insulting and threatening treatment of members of congress by federal employees will not be tolerated. The agency leadership needs to be subpoenaed and publicly chewed on like dog’s toy.
5
These people are being paid by our taxes. They seem untrained. They are not nice.
They seem to be oblivious of what a democracy is - disagreement and criticism of the bureaucracy is a right! And in fact it’s necessary to keep all those “public servants” focused & honest. They need some retraining.
3
Show me evidence of unconstitutional rights violations by any government employee and I'll support the prosecution.
Inappropriate. Offensive.
And also, protected by the Constitution.
What they say on a restricted access social media forum is none of your business.
They are entitled to express themselves, whether you agree with them or not.
3
They’re entitled to express themselves; they’re not entitled to keep that job if they express sentiments that cause their employer to question or determine they can’t do the job properly. My guess is they signed an employment contract that has conduct provisions that this behavior may violate. If they didn’t, then they’re home-free and can call poor migrants subhumans and talk about throwing burritos at Latina congresswomen to their hearts’ content, much to the delight of Donald Trump and his open sewer of a fan base.
3
@Objectivist Yes!! The one deemed "objectionable" could be any among us in 10, 20, 30 years. Firing people over this sets a dangerous precedent.
The CBP is a government agency. As such, its employees are subject to the Hatch Act making it illegal to make such statements cited in this article illegal. Threats, in particular, can result in incarceration. These people should be arrested, tried, sentenced, and jailed, preferably in one as inhumane as can be found. Additionally, Facebook is patently failing to enforce anti-hate rules it touts. Facebook and its executives need to be accountable for their role in increasing hatred in the United States.
8
I just saw an ex Border Patrol agent on TV who said this disgusting behavior is common. She had even been raped in the Border Patrol. In other words, this is nothing new. What we need is not “they will be held accountable,” but a mass firing. There are people in this country who would gladly take their jobs - recruit from places where people can’t find jobs, and pay over fast-food/Walmart wages, and make them adhere to decency standards - you’ll get plenty of decent agents. These people need to be fired en masse, not “held accountable.” Someone can go to these Facebook groups, list them, and fire them all. Now.
5
Oh, yeah. These rogue border-patrol guards must lose their jobs. Pronto. Shame there are so many of them. Time to start vetting government workers again properly, from top to bottom.
2
One question people should be asking is how long has ProPublica have this information on the so-called “secret Facebook” account or group.
If they didn’t just obtain this information in the past few days then the journalist breaking the story a day before AOC and other Congressional Reps are visiting the detention facilities housing illegal migrants, possibly could have been holding information for the timing of the hype, for the visit.
1
Well, when KellyAnn weighs in then the discussion is over. She only speaks the truth and nothing but the truth.
Yeah, and Trump is honest and never lies.
Those employees of the agency in question are employed by us and represent us at the ports of entry. They are the first U.S. citizens many encounter. Their conduct and the stench of poor conduct sticks to all of us (trumpist racists excepted).
I am a retired federal employee and our conduct was to be without politics. We were required to carry out lawful policy whether we agree with it or not. Apparently the conduct of some of these employees reflect the conduct of Trump-sad, sordid and obscene.
Those employees may not like dealing with "brown persons", or Members of Congress who are minorities themselves.
If they have issues with that, well, find a job where blatant racism is allowed-perhaps the Trump administration working for Miller.
These employees may have committed the sin on their off-duty time. However, those actions spill over into the workplace.
But, they are only playing follow the leader....
4
Oh, no. Not another secret society! Why do we need another one - we already have the Federalist Society, the Bohemian Society, Skull and Bones, and the NRA -.
Isn't that enough, for crying out loud?
Now we have the "I'm 10-15".
Now, they SAY that that means "have 'alien' under control" or some such nonsense, but you and I both know it's a "mental age" designation.
Their mental age is somewhere between age 10 or maybe age 15.
(Someone said it was shoe-size but I don't believe that.)
So, here we are, two days away from our most sacred of secular holidays, where we celebrate freeing ourselves from autocrats and monarchs and dictators - and then our nation rolls up and shows its putrid underbelly and dry rot.
Clean out the swamp, friends.
Accept no substitutions.
All phony Americans are welcome to hit the road and crawl back under your rock.
Tell me what democracy looks like?
THIS is what democracy looks like!
1
You come across stories like this and conclude that some people are just too stupid to have certain jobs.
11
It’s looking more and more like a modern day Gestapo and we the voters and taxpayers are enabling it. Disgusting and disheartening!
10
Sounds as though some of these agents are taking the playbook from the Brownshirts of another era, Too much joy in their work, so to speak. \
And with men like Arapaio and Trump more than happy to ignore or worse, condone their actions, we're not acting the way a truly great nation is supposed to act,
Yes, there are immigration laws and policies, but they must be implemented in ways we as a people feel truly represent the kind of justice and decency we espouse,
This is likely a relatively small no of agents, but much of their hubris comes right from the top,
3
If Party A says it’s raining, and Party B says it’s dry — a real journalist would step outside and report the truth, right? Or open a window.
In this case, Party A cites deplorable conditions in concentration camps, and Party B — with a well-documented track record of frequent lies — says they’re “clean.”
So does prestigious The New York Times — our supposed media outlet of record — send a reporter to the camps to find out the actual truth for themselves, and us?
You would think so, right?
But no. No — they phoned it in again. Perhaps they couldn’t afford that plane ticket or rental car to... Texas.
No, instead, they report the story as (yet another in a l-o-n-g line of) “Side A says one thing, Side B says another — how can we possibly know who’s right?”
Thanks so much for your deeply consistent — and oh-so-cowardly — stenography, NY Times.
You’re literally letting defenseless children down this time. Shame on you.
11
In all honesty I don’t think reporters are being given any of the kind of access that would be necessary to verify one side or the other. Our own legislators were highly restricted in where they could go and had their phones confiscated. How is a reporter supposed to get in?
3
Mr. Perez should show up at the border without ID so he can get a real look at how his out of control patronage payment and concentration camp organization is doing from the inside.
4
Kellyanne Conway accusing AOC of an outrageous claim (aka lie) is like Joseph Goebbels accusing FDR of starting war with the "Thousand Year" Reich in December of 1941.
When she opens her mouth, a terrible outgassing occurs.
What a disgrace.
27
Surely even Trump enablers like Conway realize that abominations such as these Facebook posts just lend credence to the charges of abuse being made by the migrants and members of Congress. And how shameful that even now, if a woman dares to speak out she will be humiliated sexually, either literally or in print or online. What a disgusting bunch. I am not a big fan of AOC, but she is right about a “ rogue agency”. Fire these degenerates.
14
No surprise when the head is rotten.
14
"Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power to the nation––the asylum of the oppressed of all nations––should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy." Republican National Platform, 1864
4
Who you are is what you do when you believe no one is watching.
14
So whats new about American mistreating immigrants or should I say non-Americans. American armed forces act worse abroad towards people of the land they invade.
American media and people need to see the way things are and get of this Hollywood high horse. It is a first step towards humanizing other then yourself.
Go ahead New York Times censure the comment.
7
A cop is a cop, is a cop. Once again cops are revealed as brutal, racist, misogynistic, right-wingers, and it's no revelation. Not for nothing did the Nazis receive most support among cops. What is most horrifying is to think what they are doing out in the dark of the desert with no one's cell phone to catch them beating, raping and robbing, and undoubtedly worse. The utter physical, emotional, and legal vulnerability of the immigrants makes them perfect prey for these thugs. Of course they'll say 'just a few bad apples,' but we all know that's a lie. Then they'll claim it's been dealt with, but we all know that is a lie. The incessant anti-immigrant campaign of demonization by Republicans and Democrats pushes this brutal behavior. The two parties play the "soft cop-hard cop" anti-immigrant game. Republicans snarl, and Democrats spit, but both portray immigrants as a "problem" to be expunged. Only a broad public civil rights movement of protest in the streets, led by immigrants themselves reaching out for allies, can push this back. Must overcome the real fear and stop listening to Democrat Party shills counseling patience.
9
Lawyers who viewed the conditions - versus members of the Administration/Border Patrol. Who to believe? Hmmmm.
If you believe the Border Patrol/Admin, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn, cheap.
5
I see that the CBP leadership is shocked...shocked...
10
I heard in Hong Kong the people take to the streets when their government does things they don’t like.
Americans post about it here and Facebook. Probably less likely to effect change.
19
If a way to reduce abuse is to have body cams on police, why not have body cam on Border Patrol both on patrol and at detention facilities.
Also, remove any ability for the detention camp providing companies from being sued. The only way to ensure better treatment is the threat of legal action for not doing so.
10
The government has non-partisan investigation agencies. Send in the GAO at an unannounced time. I'd trust their description of the facilities more than either CBP or AOC.
It's no secret that law enforcement job attracts angry right-wing men with few talents. In this, they have a great deal in common criminals and reprobates. Not infrequently, the same men are both.
What else did we expect, when at the highest level of government we criminalize desperate destitute people, including children? Mistreatment of the subjects, and contempt for civil authority is to be expected.
12
It is unfathomable that a Facebook group with some 9,500 members, including current and former border agents, would somehow fly under the radar of their leaders for years. I don’t buy it. They got caught so now their leadership has to act surprised and offended. Ha! That very leadership has clearly fostered an environment built on fear, neglect, and dehumanization. These very agents belong behind bars, not the migrants fleeing poverty and lawfully seeking asylum.
Heaven help us, we have lost our way.
13
Just about 1 year ago, the Republican-controlled House conducted a day-long public hearing into anti-Trump text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Democrats need to do the same thing with this scandal. Conditions in CBP detention centers are beyond awful, but without TV and internet coverage, this Trump scandal will fade away just like previous scandals.
A congressional hearing with large poster boards showing the disrespectful and insubordinate messages along with cross-examination of a few dozen of the worst agents would demonstrate just how out of control CBP is to the entire country. Any video and pictures on the facebook page: show it.
At the hearings, these same rogue agents can also be questioned--- in public--- about the guidance and practices of CBP. Because it's clear that they have the go-ahead from their supervisors.
And, if CBP and the Trump Administration refuses to honor the House's request, then hold hearings anyway. Show the whole country all the messages, with analysis whether any are being written during work hours, center around particular CBP units or sites, who the ringleaders are and their political affiliation, any peripheral involvement with Trump fundraising, etc.
10
They are getting what they have asked for all these years.
1
When is this country going to say enough is enough? Everyone of us are to blame for this situation.
7
@Patrice
People who voted for Trump are to blame. Not me.
3
All due respect to those who work for CBP (which is none), is anyone really surprised by this? I mean, come on. It's a jobs program for the least of us.
2
Really reminiscent of Storm Trooper humor from the 1930's and 1940's.
The compilation is probably available on Amazon.
Each of the participants on the IceIce Facebook page should be Strzoked, with as much McCabe as possible.
This Deep State savagery should not be tolerated.
9
As outrageous as this story is in the NYT, the original at ProPublica is worse.
There are jokes about dead children.
I’m not surprised. Trump has been dehumanizing us all, and some weak people are more susceptible to it.
Still - let’s be very clear about something: it’s later than you think.
13
Everyone of these disrespectful agents should be fired. I recently had a small run in with one these guys. At a checkpoint 100 or so miles north of the border, I was stopped by a very dark agent who spoke English with a Spanish accent. He asked me what country I was a citizen of. I was born in the US over 60 years ago, have an advanced degree, and was driving a nice car. My Spanish is halting. I told him I was a US citizen. Speaking in accented English, he asked me where I was born and if I had any documentation. I just happened to have my passport with me. So I told him where I was born, that I had proof, but I wondered where he was born and if could prove it to me. I got a very angry stare. While he was thinking, I said I would gladly show my passport to his boss. With an angry face, he motioned me to continue on. He was quite a jerk. I am for preserving our border but we don’t need jerks to do it.
9
It still amazes me that anyone is dumb enough to put this stuff in an online format that will be preserved forever. I appreciate that these jobs are tough. However, vent in a paper journal or over a beer with people you trust not to record what you say!
2
Seems the thugs are running the show. No leadership leads to the chaos that now exists in the Border Patrol, Customers and ICE. No American should be proud of this stain on our nation's soul.
7
If the treatment, abuse, and conditions at these shelters applied to your local SPCA the out cry would be deafening and, most likely, the facility would be shut down. 2020 is too late for these people. Act now!
3
If even half the stories coming out about these centers have a shred of truth, the situation is intolerable. Being Japanese, I always find myself listening a little more closely when I hear a phrase like "U.S. detention center," and I'm horrified by what I hear. No one expects them to be resorts, or even particularly comfortable, but the stories of privation and degradation are heartbreaking.
A lot of the content of the Facebook group is also inappropriate, but I can't condemn all of it completely. People in stressful and demanding positions often use shocking humor to thicken their skin and inure themselves to the reality of their work.
This isn't a parallel, but here goes. I'm in med school. There was an absolute hush in the air when we were first presented with cadavers, as half of us could barely bring ourselves to touch them. It wasn't long, though, before horrible, inappropriate jokes were common. Our dedication to healing and medicine was no less than before, but any outsider visiting us toward the end of that first dissection would have thought we were a bunch of psychopaths.
I'm not saying it was okay for the agents to say any of the things they're reported to have said. I'm only saying I suspect most of them were making awful jokes about things they would never consider actually doing to cope with the situation.
4
For God's sake people . This is so simple. Re unite the children who actually have parents here and fly them immediately back to their country of origin.
The couple of thousand who were brought here as pawns , just to get in, turn over to the appropriate welfare division.
Most of their parents do not want or shouldn't have them as they were sold or rented. These kids we take care of humanely and try to place them with any possible responsible relatives back in their country. Failing that we must try to place them in foster homes
here in America.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result when there is none.
We keep letting them in , this dilemma grows.
We must stop them. and a wall is effective as many very moral countries in the world will attest to.
None of you people responding here can seriously believe that we can just assimilate and take care of all the people from south of our borders from all those countries ,who want to come here.
That is plain stupid.
4
I went to the ProPublica page to learn more. What I found was outrageous, disgusting, racist, sexist and beyond the pale for anyone, much less public employees who are sworn to uphold the law. This is no small matter. Everyone, Democrat and Republican, liberal or conservative should be outraged and ashamed of the behavior of (what one hopes) is a small, troubled population of the agency. As a tax payer I feel the need to personally apologize for their awful behavior.
265
@jimmboy: Agreed, and as a taxpayer, I want them all FIRED.
74
@jimmboy-Wondering if the investigation will reveal that the rogue employees on the FB page alerted protesters of the Congressional visit -- to show up and hurl invective? If video shows that any border employee stood there and smiled while our representatives were receiving violent and racist taunts and threats, they need to be reprimanded or told to look for another line of work.
26
@jimmboy Naw, conservatives and republicans see this kind of behavior as a positive. It's what they want in the border patrol.
36
When ten thousand of your employees are part of a secret group, it isn’t secret or even a group. It’s you. And when your employees’ job includes, among other atrocities, kidnapping children, caging them and routinely abusing them, it seems a bit disingenuous to be dismayed by their social media posts.
334
@Can or cannot do math
Excellent observation. Excellent comment.
25
@Can or cannot do math
Exactly
4
Important distinction: there may be very few actual CBP agents in this group. We don’t know that part yet.
2
Of course the abuses happened and are happening. People are creatures of habit and this scenario has been seen before Riker's Island, Abu Ghraib, Willowbrook State School (an asylum for the disabled): where there are vulnerable, isolated, socially dismissed groups of people, corralled in menacing and unsupervised institutional settings, the abuses follow.
The President supports this behavior, that he would dismiss as more "locker-room" stuff. The Border Patrol Union and the members support the President and mimics the behavior and expressions the Leader of the Free World believes, supports and says there are no consequences.
Or as he said at a campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa in 2016:
"You know what else they say about my people? The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible,"
Why is anyone surprised?
14
Shame on those agents. I understand they are under a lot of pressure but as the old saying goes: if you can’t take the heat then get out of the kitchen. Their behavior with these Facebook posts is disgusting. They should be identified and then promptly terminated from employment.
12
I am not defending the Border Patrol. I am offering perspective.
Border Patrol agents hunt and track, mostly in the desert, looking for illegal border crossers. These are not the folks who surrender and apply for asylum. These folks attempt to evade the Border Patrol and illegally enter the US.
Five months per year, temperatures at the border are consistently over 100 degrees. In July and August, the humidity rises and there are dangerous monsoon storms.
Generally, the Patrol track groups of five or more led by guides ("coyotes") who are professional smugglers who sometimes abandon their clients, are frequently armed, and may be transporting drugs.
The deserts themselves are populated by rattlesnakes, mountain lions and other dangerous animals, which are mostly out at night. The Agents, too, are out at night when the coyotes move.
Among the border crossers, one or two will die per day. Those who reach major roads are loaded onto trucks. On occasion, these trucks get so hot that there are mass deaths. From there, the crossers are taken to safe houses. Sometimes, conditions in these houses are as bad as those in the trucks.
Many of the crossers are caught and some are processed during the heat of the day by exhausted agents. When the agents first encounter them, it is dangerous and unpredictable.
Starting salary for a Border Patrol agent is $55,000. Starting salary for the police in San Francisco, who do not cooperate with the Border Patrol, is $83,000
8
@michjas
It still isn't acceptable, no matter their working conditions. Full stop.
(Btw, you *are* defending them - ie., it's hot, stressful, less pay, etc. Those are excuses.)
6
@michjas Even if your assessment is correct, and I believe it to be so, there must be standards of comportment below which officials of the government must not go. It is well enough known by now that humans are capable of horrific behaviors, especially in groups where these things are encouraged. Lord of the Flies showed a fictional version of the types of behaviors that people can engage in. But it ultimately falls to the leadership to set a tone, to establish standards, and to maintain these standards. It does not help that the president enjoys sending not very subtle messages denigrating border crossers as less than worthy of respectful treatment. Just this week (today?) he referred to American citizens and illegals, as if these are the only two options for anyone in this country. Having seen the photos of border control agents dumping drinking water, that had been left for migrants, into the desert soil, I guess none of this surprises me. But it should. We all have some capacity to lose our humanity when pressed enough and we are now presented with more examples of how this can happen and be tolerated.
@michasand yourpoint is that because BP officers have a tough job with lower pay than other police officers they can engage in abusive behavior? Convenient to pick out SF - why not the plethora of other cities throughout the US where salaries are higher. Pretty disingenuous to say you aren’t defending them
1
They take their cue from none other than our morally bankrupt president.
13
Of course they would
1
It's bad, it's awful, it's inhuman, but seems this website was a source of de-compression from the job.
A private place for those with similar experiences. We used to go to bars, or staff lounges or water coolers for these shared experience conversations. Now it's FB..??
The fools were dumb enough to get caught.
2
Here's an alarming fact - CBP has the highest amount of armed officers in the nation (over 40,000) and was described as an agency vulnerable to corruption and use of excessive violence by a DHS Integrity Advisory Panel in 2016. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/HSAC%20CBP%20IAP_Final%20Report_FINAL%20(accessible)_0.pdf
5
“...are under immense pressure every day as you manage the crisis...” on our border,”
“But let me be clear: There is absolutely no excuse...”
Is this double speak? Did she not just offer an excuse while saying she didn’t? How about this excuse:
“...I know your leadership has encouraged dehumanization and racism, but...”
10
Good Grief
These CBP people are in the United States. They are not soldiers and marines in an outpost in Afghanistan.
They are not under "immense pressure". Imagine the pressure that the guards at Auschwitz were at to "process" so many people a day. That is pressure.
Except these CBP agents "imagine" pressure and react in the most disreputable manner possible violating the oath they took to protect and defend the American constitution. Their conduct is disgusting. It is the equivalent of a war crime.
Everyone who is a member of the CBP who opened the page and did not report it should be fired. The former members should have this follow them along as they seek jobs and become part of their permanent historical resume.
Why don't they quit and work in a Walmart or Amazon warehouse.
In Vietnam I worked with the chaplain to support an orphanage, did the same in Bosnia and Haiti with the U.S. Army.
These guards are doing a job they have chosen to do. They are not heroes but moral cowards.
This type of conduct is part of the impunity. They think it allows them to deny those in their custody their humanity. Just move on to the showers! Except the immigrants get a shower every 15 days.
Why aren't there independent monitors who can record conditions, conversations and actions.
Kellyanne, Kellyanne, were you there? Noooo...just a mouthpiece. A loathsome mouthpiece who violates ethical standards of conduct.
We had monitors in Bosnia.
Vietnam Vet
20
Thank you, Michael.
2
@Michael
They aren't massacring thousands of people. They are telling nasty jokes on faceBook.
This is what happens when you militarize law enforcement agencies with existing problems of internally-accepted racism - you get bigots with guns who on their downtime hop online to interpret their job as "trauma" that justifies their attitudes and actions under the protection of "brotherhood".
7
I hope no one writes a comment admonishing people to "Honor the Uniform." No one should bid allegiance to a uniform of any kind; the uniform never changes the wearer: If you are a racist and bigot at 6:00 am before you put on the uniform - at 8:00 am when you walk out the door- you're still a racist and bigot.
That almost 50% of a 20,000-strong workforce is part of this Facebook page, is almost unfathomable-but not surprising. Lack of training and accountability- and almost complete autonomy isn't new within the ranks of Border Patrol. Facebook is just another "attribute".
10
I thank each and every member of the Gestapo, I mean the US Border Patrol and their colleagues among the US Marshals and ICE, for clarifying for all to see the fascist essence of our border and immigration policy.
What still may not be clear to many is that this incipient fascism is not confined to the border and all those "unfortunates". As Krugman recently wrote, we are surpassing Hungary and other neo-fascist East European countries in the murder of Democracy.
Look out!
9
Another disgusting example of our nation's fast and furious road to moral rot. Bravo to AOC and the other members of Congress for their courage to shine a light on these horrific conditions. These agents and their superiors must be held accountable for their depravity and inhumanity!
6
I wonder what the Republicans and POTUS will say about this agency and the thuggish behaviors of its agents who even have a FB page to record and exchange their racist vile comments.
I wonder now, not just because this is beyond the pale, but these were the ones who expressed horror with the exchange between Strzok and Page at the FBI.
That turned out to be a nothing burger because it was two people exchanging their views and was not part of a unit's culture whereas this appears to be an agency wide cultural problem. Not exactly a nothing burger!
5
I can hear the response from the White House now: "Good people on both sides." Or is it "fake news"?
After all, the vicious, repugnant racist Joe Arpaio was hailed as a "great American patriot"; and the corrupt Paul Manafort was a "very good man," a poor, pathetic victim of "angry Democrat investigators" on a "witch hunt."
6
Guess who wouldn't condemn it?
"So the Border Patrol, they're patriots, they're great people. They love our country. They know who's coming in," said Trump.
Mr. Trump, the agents who posted this garbage are not good people. They are not fine people. They don't love our country.
They are bigots and racists.
Time to denounce this stuff once and for all.
6
People become abusive sometimes when put in a situation of power where others are being abused and it is easy with the pressure of it all, to either leave or become abusive as a way to manage the job. I am sure this is what happened in Nazi Germany. Why should they respect anyone? What rewards will they get for it? These agents have been put in an untenable situation, and the situation needs to change. I would much rather let the migrants go to relatives, where their children at least will not be traumatized for life. This is all sickening. Plus, they were even trying to abuse a congress woman who I am sure they have contempt for, because she is young and a woman of color, the kind of women men of that situation would love to diminish.
5
"The Banality of Evil" covers this.
1
Would love to see Kellyanne seek a photo-op at the Texas border facility. Perhaps a secret Facebook border patroller could get a selfie with her, and share it on their secret page? On another note, who identifies as a "liberal Democrat"? There must be a set of markers in the world of journalism that highlights the type?
2
This article is indicative of a broader problem throughout the law enforcement community, and the effect social media has been used to corrode the ethics and values of these professions.
This is nothing new to the police community. Right wing interests and actors have been pummeling the police with anti-left sentiments, posing as "pro-police groups", they have been engaging in an insidious campaign of angering and developing resentment in the officers - and then using this anger to politically activate them. They then engage in these type of online activities, which are prohibited by their institutions.
It is warping the culture of law enforcement and undermining the core values of their departments nationwide. It is no surprise that these CBP officers would then create their own website. But AOC memes are not new to the police community, she's just the most recent female target.
The officers are bombarded daily with negative LE news from sites like Blue Lives Matter, in a manner that is designed to incite them and create a feeling of isolation within the ranks from the officers. Linking to these sites then invites a host of other political right wing feeds. The messaging speaks louder and drowns out departmental policy and institutional values.
A psychological war is being waged online to shift the officers to the Nixonian "Law & Order" culture that Trump espoused during the election, by portraying Dem policy makers as directly attacking them and their profession.
4
It doesn’t take manipulation for cops or border agents to reveal their bigotry. All it takes is for them to think no one is looking. Do you think this is a new phenomenon? I’ve been reading police forums since the 1990s and this is more the rule than the exception. It takes a certain kind of mind to enjoy lording power over the powerless.
4
@sedanchair
You're right that it doesn't require manipulation for many police to behave this way, but manipulation & propaganda do name it worse & more socially acceptable.
1
There is an enormous amount of smoke here for there not to be fire! It would be helpful for these detained folks to be able to receive local community visits with food, teaching and support. Treating the folks already fleeing from danger, oppression and abuse with abuse, oppression and disrespect as if they were criminal detainees, only makes the long term look pretty bad for everyone. Community outreach with visits, support and embrace should be the new norm at all migration facilities. The government can not be supportive or kind it seems. One can still be effective and be respected when kind and understanding. It is free to give dignity and truly it saves time and resources to let friendly community folks help and provide support not offered by the boarder officers and staff.
2
Since when is the treatment of children in US custody and the behavior of federal employees a political issue? Why is it only democratic law makers who seem interested is the mistreatment of children and offended by the disrespectful actions of federal workers? Have republican lawmakers no decency whatsoever?
13
From the moment Trump finished reciting the oath of office every president takes, rather than beginning to unite a very divided USA he continued his campaign comments that Democrats and Independents were not patriotic. Only loyal Republicans who supported him were patriots and real Americans.
It is outrageous that Trump and his appointees tell employees paid for by the tax dollars of all US residents and corporations that certain people (most of them women representatives) in Congress are not patriotic and don't need to be treated with respect.
Trump does not want an America united to reach common goals which would be good for everyone. He wants a divided country so he strokes actual hatred between regions of the country: Trump tries to separate the "coastal elites" from "flyover" country; the Southern former Confederate states against the Northern Union states which saved the USA. and the poor red states which are net takers of federal funds against the blue states which provide the taxes that support the red states. If there is one standard of behaviour which puts Trump at the bottom of the list of good presidents, it is his refusal to unite the America.
11
The FB page is horrendous. How is it that this site was allowed? I thought FB was cleaning up it's act. And how is it that so many hateful people work for the CBP? Was this a deliberate strategy by Stephen Miller et al?
Congress. Hold hearings. Impeach the current people at the top. If they are acting, demand they resign. Include the acting heads of all the agencies to the long list of impeachable offenses Trump has been responsible for. It shows he is not faithfully executing the laws of our country. This situation is a law against humanity. Treat it that way.
7
People in high stress professions need to let off steam. I know from teaching in the medical and health fields. I am not condoning such offensive jokes and statements; yet I know realistically it is a safety valve and is bound to happen.
But why would a anyone, who is supposed to be a professional, do this in the social media arena and public square?
And you really wouldn't want to do this at restaurants or social gatherings where you know other people may well overhear you.
I remember one woman who had a mail-order degree in "therapy" and a private practice. She went to parties where she often made fun or her "clients." She had virtually no respect from anyone who encountered her, and her behavior was a black mark on her entire profession.
I feel sorry for these border patrol agents' coworkers, who believe in human decency and doing their jobs with competence and dignity.
1
I’ve yet to see evidence of a single decent person working at CBP who hasn’t already left.
1
The time and place to weed these bully personalities out is early in training, in police academies and L E programs. It can be as simple as showing a video of police atrocities and seeing who cheers.
3
Spare us the rhetoric/excuse about everyone being under pressure. That is part of having a job. It’s called work, not playtime. Most of us do not respond by telling people to drink out of toilets or refusing to allow the congress people who appropriate the taxpayers money to pay our wages to perform their duties in oversight.
Almost half of the agents were on this private Facebook. It was not an aberration or a few misguided rogues. This is in fact representative of the agency, whether the leadership acknowledges it or not. There is clearly something larger and much more problematic in the culture. Misogyny? Man’s inhumanity to man? A good old fashioned power trip by people who should not have any authority especially over another human being? What are their recruiting, hiring and training processes? This is just disgraceful and I hope everyone involved is fired.
9
USG has done mass deportations before. Let’s not forget that Obama’s admin set the record. A wall is an insult to all Latin Americans, and says, like camps do, to 800m that they are despised. Another way: diplomacy and agreements. It’s been done before, as the book recounts.
No surprise "ProPublica" is based in New York City--same location for our Sovietized mass-media; nonetheless, a dozen or so disrespectful malcontents doesn't make an army but seems the propaganda from the left doesn't discern the difference.
Positive side, more ammo for open-borders uber alles division in the DNC, Cortez et al.
3
OK, but only two weeks ago the DHS Inspector General reported huge shortcomings in the DHS policies for reporting and addressing issues of employee misconduct.
https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-48-Jun19.pdf
This report got little coverage as it came shortly after the shakeup in the OIG office.
1
I mean, it's nowhere near as bad as two FBI agents talking about how they don't dig Trump--or Hillary, for that matter--but, still, "joking" about wanting to burn detained migrants alive is, like, you know, "just blowing off some steam."
So's denying children soap, toothpaste, schooling, play, their parents. You know, CBP are a bunch of patriots who are working very hard to torture and warp these children so word gets around that the US is so savage that staying at home in the rightwing-run hellscape of, say Honduras, whose coup we supported in 2009, is, like, a better deal for their families.
After all, we're only the richest nation in the history of the species, one not all that densely populated, with an $18 trillion GDP. I think the only thing we can possibly do is raise a glass this 4th to the brave CBP agents--who, after all, are only following orders--and toast how essentially and purely American they are, aping far too closely the behaviors and executing far to close a policy to those our enemies supported in WWII. The enemies who slaughtered around 400,000 of Our Finest.
But we who don't get all excited by this planned sadism, this use of children (and adults) as a mafia-like demonstration to countries far poorer than ours which we've dominated literally for two centuries--we're the Bad and Disloyal Americans.
It was 9600 CBP agents. I don't know how many of that total are active as opposed to retired, but there are apparently 20000 total.
That's a bad barrel.
21
Condemn? No. Fire them and take away their pensions.
25
Can one of the international children's relief organizations come to help the kids trapped in this God awful mess?
7
@Acallia yeah can they come and send these illegals back ?
1
There's no such thing as a "secret" on Facebook.
6
We all believe there is a crisis at the border. The crisis at the border wasn’t a made up political crisis. Money to give aid to people requesting asylum or just crossing the border illegally was requested in May 2019. At first the border crisis was not recognized by the congress’s house, so finally a bill passes to give aid to illegals crossing the border June 2019.
Congress needs to change our migration laws. But congress will not do anything until the 2020 election is over.
Open borders will destroy our country. Imagine the kinds of people that live in the world. Some are oppressed by their socialist, communist governments and seek a freedom in America. Some are drug dealers who want to sell our children additive drugs that ruin our children’s lives. Some are international terrorists.
Open borders just lets anyone cross our border and live in the USA. These people do not need to become citizens. They would get free medical care, schooling for their children, welfare benefits, low income housing. The open borders people would never need to be loyal to the United State of America.
We need immigration laws that let people become citizens that will be loyal to the United States of America.
4
Does anyone know whether these "top border officials" are themselves members of the secret Facebook group?
Yeah, right.
I'll wait to see the millions of outraged Americans actually do something significant beyond the few thousand who are showing up at the border and the camps.
Do members of the democratic party have to wear badges stitched onto their clothing yet?
4
How do these CBP agents reconcile how they behave in their daily jobs with their personal lives as spouses and parents? Don’t they see anything in common between the child prisoners and their own children? How. Do they sleep at night?
6
They just go home, get drunk and beat their wives and kids.
1
9500 equals nearly half of the current US Border Patrol strength. OK, some of these mouthbreathers are retirees - probably with a pistol, a bottle of Jack and a blisterpack of blood-pressure meds on the desk every time they sign on (h/t "Stonekettle" Jim Wright) - but nowhere near all.
Also worth noting that, as previously reported, TSA agents have been pulled from airports and sent for border enforcement. That is, people with a Federally issued badge and the approximate training of a big-city building security guard are now dealing with people they can abuse with less impunity than they had in airports. Anyone think that's going to go well?
5
It may be that there are 9500 members of the FB group, but only a very small number of active-duty CBP people.
1
A recent survey of social media posts of police officers around the country revealed racist, violent, misogynistic remarks by officers. Now this Border Patrol scandal. Anyone at the NYTimes care to connect the dots? Clearly America has a problem with gangs of armed thugs running wild in the streets - and they wear badges.
7
The account here is bland. What's published by ProPublica is shocking.
https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-agents-joke-about-migrant-deaths-post-sexist-memes
Yes, the migrants are being abused. But on a Facebook screenshot published by ProPublica, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez appears in an illustration with Donald Trump, committing an assault on her, while he smiles broadly. Accompanied by mocking remarks, it should settle doubt about Trump arousing sadistic impulses in men who harbor them.
7
Pelosi needs to abandon circumspection. The Democrats will be torn apart unless they learn to confront the brown shirts who are already straining at the leash to take down a liberal, whether it is a congress person or one of the minorities the Democrats are seeing to favor. Progressive voters will abandon the candidate who does not take a hard line now. Now Democrats!
4
Federal employees deserve respect; however, if they are violating department rules they need to be disciplined according to approved procedures that are monitored by Human Resources.
The President's statement “I know that the Border Patrol is not happy with the Democrats in Congress” --- can embolden personnel who have received a counseling statement / disciplinary action.
When personnel get canned for a repeat offense or for defying the Hatch Act, will this President support their termination?
Or will this President politicize a corrective action with "free speech" deflections (like he's doing for Kellyanne Conway)?
Girls and boys are taught by example, Mike Pence and Nikki Haley.
2
It wasn't "a few." It was a "secret Facebook group of thousands of current and former Border Patrol agents".
Ok, where is the Congressional Inquiry?
4
The disgusting behavior at the border is primarily the fault of Trump and McConnell, and it goes all the way down the line to the brutes in the Border Patrol.
I applaud the progressive Democrats for bringing things to light and trying to make things better. Nancy Pelosi and her moderate Democrats should be ashamed of themselves.
1
"Highly inappropriate" describes the anemic, pathetic response of these senior officials.
All these perpetrators of hate speech deserve not only to be fired (as weak-kneed Dems say), but prosecuted for hate crimes.
Let them ruminate about this crimes - from inside an ICE cage.
1
I in no way condone what these people said but the idea of firing people because of what they say on social media scares me. Who decides what is fire-worthy? Might that definition change with time? Might some thing you have said on FB be considered racist? Who decides? I think the term "old white men" is racist and offensive. Should someone be fired for using that term? As horrible as these statements were, they were not crimes. They didn't happen on the job. There is no law against saying stupid things and firing people for opinions, no matter how disgusting, opens the door to a really slippery slope.
3
@Sci guy. How about the photo shopped pics of AOC being forced to perform oral sex? Does that meet your definition of fire- worthy ?
4
American corporations have been firing employees for FB posts for quite some time now. Please read the First Amendment, " Congress shall make no law...." Private companies do what they want.
There are other Amendments besides the Second....learn them.
1
Uh. They are supposed to be law enforcement. That in itself requires a high degree of integrity. Or maybe not.
The Confederates have made a stunning comeback and now have a white supremacist in the White House and many more in powerful places in government, especially in Congress. Looks like they are indeed taking our country back, way back. I hear the Border Patrol has been short of manpower for a long time, so it is unlikely that they can afford to fire racist miscreants. Sad.
5
This is Trump's pet group. What did anyone expect? They reflect his lack of morals and ethics.
4
The American public, and not only Trump/GOP supporters, are sick and tired of shading tears to the disaster illegal immigrants bring on themselves. Find ways to more efficiently close the boarder, and if illegals have breached catch them and swiftly release on the South side of the American boarder. Thus would stop illegals suffering. There are too many poor American children that need to be taken care. This idealized liberal fantasy of opening boarders and absorbing illegals is merely an utopic wish. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is part of this lunatic approach and embraces it to pay homage to her base.
1
Just an email saying that they take bad conduct by border patrol employees very seriously, Really? But then again, what can we expect from them when Trump and McConnell are their role models? When they have no regard for anyone without blonde hair and blue eyes, when the children are taken away from their parents and kept in concentration camp, what can we expect from patrols, past and present, and their superiors? It takes firing a few bad seeds, and the rest will behave. After this episode, I know that I made the right decision to drop Facebook. Shame on Facebook for allowing such a filth to be published.
2
This tone is set at the top. Exactly how seriously should we take these condemnations?
7
@T
Sometimes a fish rots from the tail, not the head.
@ Mark
- not this time, though.
1
Except for the current corruption at the highest levels of government.
If the Trump administration can complain so vociferously about a couple of text messages sent between two FBI agents who were involved with the Mueller investigation, our justice department and Congress should scream a thousand times louder about this Facebook group threatening people with death and vulgarity. This is far more than "highly inappropriate and offensive (behavior)" as Carla Provost said in her email. This is vile, and the justice department needs to do its job and investigate this immediately.
15
It's starts at the top: Donald Trump.
It started at the beginning: Donald Trump.
It will only end when someone new comes in to replace: Donald Trump.
The problem has a name.
19
The only way to stop this outrage is to install apps on every electronic device owned by border agents to allow government surveillance of their every thought and word critical of the central government.
3
@God The problem isn't that they're criticizing the government - the problem is the contempt and disdain they're expressing for the vulnerable people they work with each day - people they have control over and who may be (are being) harmed by these attitudes.
2
“I can’t understate how disturbing it was that CBP officers were openly disrespectful of the Congressional tour,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.”
...not so much.
“Inappropriate” seems like a weak term to use to describe this.
There is something far worse going on.
7
So when do the firings begin?
The many, many, many firings.
6
I wish there was something we citizens could do to punish these officials who abuse and prey on children.
6
It isn’t what I desired
my desires don’t matter
when only the rich make America great.
1
Ah, where is Nancy in all this, did I miss her stamping her little foot and breathing fire? Bet you she has sent out an email to all the non rich democrats begging for even more money to stop this horrible thing. She always does try to milk the workers she and the corporate democrats have abandoned for 40 years. She needs Trump to rake in the bucks. She is trump and his cronies biggest supporter. And of course she will again do nothing. Desperate democrats fall for her con game every time. I think the progressive members of the House are beginning to get it, Nancy is not a friend to them. Status Quo rules and Nancy will not allow any justice to be done. Do not donate any more money to the Democratic party till they stand up for us. Do donate money to the Justice Democrats, they signed an oath not to take huge donations from the oligarchs to do what they want only. Vote Nancy out!
1
Such abusive, obscene gallows humor is pretty much universal among law enforcement and emergency services personnel. They keep it private so that's why lot's snowflakes don't know about it. Soldiers, policemen, firefighters, paramedics, even nurses can get quite foul and obscene when making jokes among themselves. The more extreme the situation the sicker the humor. You'll never control it by heaping scorn on people who have difficult jobs like theirs.
The evil people in this equation are the ProPublica reporters who think they are above it all themselves. Democrats need to grow up, but they won't. They are enjoying the Trump hate fest too much.
3
It’s pretty simple.
If you dehumanize the humans you are responsible for, you should be removed from that responsibility, as quickly as possible.
2
@This
Get a job like theirs first. That sick humor keeps them human.
1
In the end, ICE will prove as toxic a brand as the SS was for Germany. If we get to better days in the future of this country, in an effort to get past this shameful period, we will need to dissolve ICE.
Border control was done prior to ICE, and it will done afterwards. But for now, we must end the human rights abuses at our border
3
If to be "held accountable." means these racist agents receive a letter of reprimand or some other slap on the wrist, then we will know that Trumpism flourishes in the U.S. Border Patrol. The nature of the Facebook posts I've seen so far is repugnant, their language appalling and dismaying. To think that these people are among those in charge of the detainees at the Border is frightening. As so many commenters have written, or asked, "This is America?" Those agents who posted racist slurs and other vile stuff should be given notice and mustered out. Their brutal and callous attitudes are inappropriate for the duties they're asked to perform.
4
As a public school teacher, I am contractually required to adhere to a Code of Ethics similar to the one outlined in this article. If I violated that code with even one post half as hateful as the thousands posted by these Border Agents, I would be removed from the classroom, my pay suspended and most likely fired. As it should be, especially for anyone employed to work with children. So to those here complaining about "free speech" violations, would you want any of these agents around your child? They signed their contracts, they knew the rules, they chose to make their vile views known to a group of close to 10,000 people (hardly private), they need to be held accountable.
9
For years the world looked up to the US as something to aspire to.
No longer. The country has lost its way. Shame.
3
While Trump didn’t turn these people into racist far-right xenophobes, his pronouncements and policies have not only enabled their behavior, but also encouraged them, so that they feel, correctly, that their actions are just and in line with official policy. Just as the white nationalists now feel free to come out of the woodwork since his election.
1
True story: a group of college students sign up for an experiment at their college. They are classmates. They are all white and from basically the same socio-economic background. They are divided into two equal groups and randomly assigned into the category of guard or prisoner. On Friday they are sent to an area of the basement that has been converted to a jail. The “prisoners” are given uniforms and numbers and put in the the cell. The “guards” watch over them. By the end of the first day the guards begin to abuse the prisoners. By the end of the weekend the experiment (demonstration really) has to be called off because of the dehumanization and violence that is occurring. This happened at Stanford University. Google “Stanford university prison experiment”. Read it.
Now add in race, poverty, other-ness to the prisoner mix and heated racial/ethnic rhetoric to the guards mix and you have the situation at our southern borders. It is human nature. This is why there must be on site-regulators, news media and congressional walk-throughs, and anything else that will bring accountability to the situation. We can’t leave it to the guards themselves, or to their superiors. They need help. Human nature needs a backstop. Google the Stanford university prison experiment. Read it.
2
Where is Facebook in all of this? Why do they have no community standards?
I wonder if they can fire those people for cause?
1
Since the Facebook page is "secret" as well as private how do we know who is running it? We can certainly condemn its contents, no problem, but perhaps also wait and see if someone can find out who is actually responsible for it before throwing stones. Or is that too much to ask?
1
On the other hand, Trump said he hadn’t seen the postings, but claimed Border Patrol agents were not happy with Congress.
“So the Border Patrol, they’re patriots, they’re great people. They love our country. They know who’s coming in,” said Trump.
To state the case clearly, Senate Republicans fought to defeat any protection the spending bill might have for the detainees. They fought to allow ICE to abuse the men, women and children seeking asylum.
By enabling this abuse, congressional Republicans are just as guilty as the barbaric ICE agents.
This sort of thing never happens in isolation. There may have been some ICE agents that were worse than others, but they all knew about the abuse and none of them has done anything about it. They are all complicit.
Reminds me of Abu Ghraib. This time with children.
19
“Inappropriate”? Trump supporters don’t think anything the border agents said in that private FB group was inappropriate. They agree with those sentiments entirely, and so does their president.
12
This is painful to read that people from our country would treat any human with such gross disregard. The CBC needs to clean house and enact training for any new officers that would be charged with caring for these individuals. Many people, fleeing their own countries because of fear of danger, arrive on our border and are treated subhuman. This is not acceptable, and everyone involved, all the way to the president, should answer to our people about how is this going to be resolved and punished.
3
This is precisely why I don’t want to be on Facebook. Every organization has a secret group where they criticize and mock the ones they publicly serve. It makes me nauseous. How is that biblical if these people also go to church? How is that compassionate?
Clearly, they are fed up with something or themselves and they need to be channeling that energy for more constructive good.
4
Can we ask the FBI to examine whether there are breaches of federal law in these so called centers for foreign people and mostly young people both underage and females seeking asylum from Latin America? If there is enough to warrant indictments, then proceed to court. It may be too long a wait, but there has to be recourse in the justice system somewhere to police the police.
5
It doesn't matter if top officials condemn it. It just doesn't.
4
We have a serious problem. We have been having a serious problem for some time. This, police shootings, police officers involved in white supremacist and anti-government activity online, stories of abuse of power from airports when the muslim ban first came into effect, abu-ghraib and people like sgt Gallagher and on and on. The ideology that motivated lynchings is alive and well I'm afraid, and more empowered than ever.
8
Are we really all that surprise?
This is a law and order nation: Law enforcement has always been given the benefit of the doubt to treat people of color anyway white people deem fit. American has a way life to protect and cherish.
No, Trump didn't invent this, Trump thoughts are the foundation on which this nation was built upon.
American christian values.
5
Shall we just start calling it America Abu Ghraib? Because we're seeing yet again a pattern of systemic abuse.
43
Besides all that, when did it become OK for low-level federal employees to block or control the entrance to government facilities by members of Congress? Or to confiscate their phones?In the next budget, Congress should cut by half the salaries of personnel in this agency from top to bottom.
73
The whole situation is inappropriate and offensive. This is an Abu Ghraib style Failure of Command and Dereliction of Duty. A top-down institutional failure. The Trump administration continues to elicit and embolden the worst side of haters. And to disrespect members of Congress as displayed during the Monday field trip is MAGA run amuck. The heckling of the Congressional delegation was essentially a Trump rally, sans Trump.
30
@solar farmer
Been to Portland recently? Seems a civil war is coming, Antifa black-mask street-thugs taking the lead, it seems, at least there. When the police stop policing the left or the right on the streets, just a short distance down the road to violent civil strife.
Border patrol management knows its people are right-wing Trumpers, violent bullies, and otherwise unfit for public service. Otherwise, they'd have immediately fired everyone involved in making the racist, sexist, threatening posts, and involved in abusing migrants.
People attracted to firearms, power, dominance, bullying, and racism tend to gravitate to jobs that allow them to use their job as an instrument of their vile character.
There's an underground of similarly dangerous right-wing people in America.
Recall that in Oregon last week, an armed militia and their GOP allies in the Oregon legislature threatened violent resistance and insurrection.
Our country is in a form of Civil War. I hope the good side wins. AOC has so much courage to expose these people for what they are, and thanks to Pro Publica too!
67
@Steve Davies
"People attracted to firearms, power, dominance, bullying, and racism tend to gravitate to jobs that allow them to use their job as an instrument of their vile character."
Exactly right. As a high school teacher, I've seen that often my sadistic (yes, sadistic) students are, upon graduation, eager to join the military or law enforcement.
1
CBP is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Sounds like the agents are sadistic, feel liberated to commit human rights abuses, and are desensitized to the conditions to which they subject asylum seekers. The entire asylum system needs to become humane. And top CPB officials should be prosecuted for what they're doing
18
"Robert E. Perez, the deputy commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, said he was “very confident” his agents were providing fresh water, food and hygiene products to migrants in Border Patrol custody. "
But he can't be bothered to go look for himself?
31
Where is the outrage? Where are the patriots? Our once great country is being destroyed by our own.
11
Meaningless scolding without action to back it up.
13
What does ' highly inappropriate' condemnation by ' top border officials' mean in terms of meaningful disciplinary actions against the offenders in the Trumpian American era?
19
This is shaping up to be just like Abu Ghraib. "Just like" as in only the little guys will be punished, those in charge will not. They'll escape to some other high office in the Administration, and then make a lot of money appearing on TV as "experts."
Spare me the “This is not who we are.” This IS who we are.
17
As a taxpayer, I am dismayed that this is not considered to be behavior that will cost the writers of these posts their jobs.
That will never happen. This whole government has become a joke.
7
This piece contains this:
"Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to the president, denounced 'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez going down to one of these facilities and making this outrageous claim that a woman’s drinking from a toilet, which everybody who has control over that facility, or control for the Border Patrol has said that’s not true.'"
This is evidence that no one is in control, not that AOC and two witnesses are lying. Do you believe three members of Congress, or Ms. Conway, who wasn't even there?
It's past time to stop repeating the depraved utterances coming from Trump or his palace guard neutrally. They're unsupported at best, and often provable lies. Don't report them as facts!
45
The behavior of the border control agents is completely congruent with the POTUS, Donald Trump's style. Isn't it the same kind of "locker room" talk that Trump used to brag about sexually assaulting women. Or like the credible allegations of various women who disclosed Trump's actual assault against them, do the Border Patrol Agents' words translate into action against undocumented people too. The Border Patrol staff on the Facebook page are simply following the Commander and Chief's example. Words matter especially when they emanate from people in positions of official authority.
10
The Border Patrol has more former agents than current agents. It currently has about 20,000 agents.
Puplica says it has identified three current Border Patrol agents who participated in several inappropriate discussions and has provided their names to CBP officials. But as Rep. Veronica Escobar as pointed out, “Even if it’s a very small percentage, it’s unfortunate they harbor some very dark imagery and very dark thoughts about migrants and members of Congress.”
If Custom and Border Protection determines the site is rife with racisms and sexism or violent memes, it should discipline those who have posted offensive remarks and prohibit active Border Patrol agents from participating if the sire continues to host offensive remarks.
39
@William Case
The point is not to discipline people for posting online so the incident can be swept under the rug.
The point is to identify people unfit to perform as agents at the border and remove them.
38
@Chickpeas
The comment vary in their offensiveness. One said "I have never seen floaters like these before." He was referring to the photos of the father and daughters who drown trying to swim the Rio Grande." The remark wasn't racist or sexist," just inappropriate. It the type of remark law enforcement office make nationwide. They refer to drowning victims as "floaters," to suicides as "jumpers," to motorcyclist as "donors," etc. It a type of black humor that helps cops deal with the reality they inhabit. But is is not racist or sexist. In some cases, only corrective action is required.
3
@William Case
Regardless of current or former, does it not matter that so, so many from a group harbor these views? So most of them wait to express them publicly until after they’ve retired. It sure makes it clear where they got these ideas.
6
Under Mr. "Dud" Trump's presidency, the morality of justice, law enforcement and military has collapsed.
How could it have been otherwise, when the ill elected president has appointed a sub-standard supreme, and pardoned bad cops and criminal soldiers?
13
Bullies have taken power, up to the top.
After all, who has publicly shown inappropriate behavior, for more than two years?
26
@Jean-Claude Arbaut Bullies? I'm sure you don't think Petain and Laval were mere "bullies". The word is "fascists", a word that sadly is part of every language.
The NYPD has their own version of this hateful group--search for "Thee Rant" to see what cops really think about the people they are allegedly supposed to protect and serve, or elected officials who aren't on the MAGA team. It's disgusting and frightening.
24
"Condemning" the words and actions of these CBP officers is nowhere even CLOSE to being enough. As a public employee, I would be terminated immediately if it came to my superiors' attention that I was making disparaging comments about the populations I serve on my personal social media accounts. I KNOW people who have been terminated for that. As they should be. There is no "investigation" even needed. It's pretty darn clear who is doing and saying what, they need to be dismissed.
52
Total agreement . . . dismissal!
In other words, "we got caught".
14
“But let me be clear: There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of inappropriate behavior — on or off duty, publicly or privately.”
Uh huh. So have they been fired yet? I thought not.
81
Is this really surprising? What do you expect when they see Trump disparaging other politicians, and the media including this paper simply replaying Trump’s disparagement, essentially helping spread and the-affirm it?you know what has always intrigued me!? The New York Times seems to have a stronger anti-disparagement policy for this comment board, than it has for Trump! Think about that! They will reprint his insults of anybody he wants to personally attack and become his attack-dogs, yet they claim to hold high standards when it’s anybody else.
This is known among immigrants. They know how these officers often treat them, the things they say etc.
you can see many of these attitudes even on YouTube videos of them. They don’t say these exact things but you can see what they would really like to say if they could.
And it’s not just this organization. These attitudes and comments are probably the same in ICE.
13
@Frea I believe you are right.
The present problem at the border is primary about refugees and not immigration. There is a long history of U.S. policy related
to political intervention and drug policy that has brought us this refugee problem. But one thing is clear and that is Trump administration has made the situation much worse and has created an humanitarian crisis. As far as the racist and dehumanizing actions and statements of border agents they have been enabled by our vile and racist president and the will not be corrected until he is impeached or defeated in 2020. But even if this occurs as Americans we must accept the large underbelly of racists in our country and must hope that the overwhelming majority of our younger generation and children will reject this rot and bring a new light of hope to our country 's future. The diversity in the population of our children and youth is a key to an enlightened American future.
17
It is simply outrageous to think that an elected politician should become the target of vulgar mockery in this country! Can you *imagine* if anyone would stoop to this level of expression in their criticism of the President? It's staggering to even consider.
5
@Jon
When I see a “President “ disparaging entire agencies tasked with defending our country, who refuses to defend our country from its enemies, who publicly flaunts his treasonous behavior by giggling and joking about it with America’s sworn adversary responsible for attacking the American democratic process — yes, I will call him names, which he has earned.
Am I also outraged by the open racist and sexual harassment of our elected representatives who are doing their jobs responsibly? Yes.
When are you going to grow up and stop defending this madness? Do you actually think you have something to gain with the dismantling of our country?
3
My mother was a border agent and retired from service. She often complained how bigoted and unprofessional some of her coworkers were and witnessed and intervened at times she felt they were unnecessarily harassing people.
I feel it’s similar to the problems with the police community. People having jobs with a lot of responsibility but not necessarily any college education and minimal training. I think these people should be accountable for their actions...your making fun of the death of a migrant...your fired ...why would you ever keep these people as employees??
28
@J Absolutely agree. A level of professionalism is expected from adult employees in any job. When I worked for a large company, an HR person would tell us every year not to say anything or put anything in an email or on the internet that we would not want to see on the front page of the newspaper with our name on it.
I think that law enforcement people do indeed have challenging jobs, but we pay them, and they also have very nice pay and benefits. I think that they must behave appropriately and respectfully toward others. They certainly don't have a pass to put up obscene cartoons of an elected official on Facebook.
4
Our tax payer dollars at work.
8
Then you have Border Patrol agents telling migrants to drink from toilets at US detention camps. These people are out of control. It's a total disaster.
19
75 years ago American troops were storming the beaches at Normandy to save democracy. Today we run deeply inhumane internment camps with guards who openly disdain elected officials both in person and in the social media sewer. Make America Great Again indeed.
41
@kev don't forget we were detaining japanese-americans "for their personal safety" from white americans. In hindsight as heinous as these interment camps were, maybe they really were trying to stop the wholesale lynching of any asians during WW2.
@Eric true, there's a two-faced nature to American history.
That's okay. It's just locker room talk.
Once again.
7
I won't hold my breath. Would Trump allow these agents to be held accountable for posting just what he wants?
We will see what happens to these agents who spew the garbage of hate and cruelty. Or are the powers that be just waiting for this latest outrage to just fade away? You know, like what Jared told Trump to do regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi?
5
And Trump called them "patriots".
7
Hmmm... someone give jugs of water to migrants facing the real possibility of dying in the Arizona desert and they face prosecution with a possible sentence of twenty years in jail and border agents have their own secret Facebook group with obscene depictions of Hispanic Congresswomen and they are merely reprimanded by the head of the agency? What am I missing here? Oh yes, it must be Miller time as in Stephen Miller and Trump is slapping backs and passing out the beer as families are dying on the border. These people (the current administration and their toadies) are beyond sick.
52
The Facebook site is “I’m 10-15.” 10-15 is Border Patrol code for “aliens in custody. It was created in 2016.
ProPublic says it has about 9,300 members, including former as well active Border Patrol members. The Border Patrols has about 20,000 agents.
ProPublica say it has identified three Border Patrol agents who participated in several inappropriate discussions on the site and has provided their names to CBP officials.
https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-agents-joke-about-migrant-deaths-post-sexist-memes
6
And I won't hold my breath waiting for some kind of appropriate action.
1
@Vivien Hessel
They have broken no laws, but might be fired. However, as federal employees, they gave a right to appeal.
1
Despicable, rogue agency mimicking the despicable, rogue Donald Trump. I am sickened and disgusted that human beings are being treated like criminals because they are attempting to cross our borders. The golden door that the Statue of Liberty plaque espouses has become, instead, metal bars of abuse, filth, and inhumanity. Congress must act. The separation of powers is being made a mockery by the present administration on myriad levels. When will it end?
10
Unless these people are fired from Border Patrol - there is no accountability.
These officers knew their conduct was offensive and inappropriate - there is no other explanation for why they hid their FB group from people. At some basic human-decency level, they all knew what they were posting was not OK.
I can only imagine the type of gun-ho 'Merica folks who sign up for Border Patrol - a bunch of really professional and respectful folks I'm sure.
12
Are they condemning the posts, or what the posts represent among their agents; two different issues.
The difference between doing something wrong, and getting caught at it.
This sounds like they are mostly concerned that they went to Facebook, and hence got caught.
5
Fire them all. It's completely inappropriate on so many levels, and compromises any action that these border patrol individuals take. And if this is becoming the new normal in hiring new border agents, then the border issues, and the cruelty, will never be resolved.
13
Send Trump and Mitch McConnell for a nice month stay at this "facility" with no changes to anything to start.
In fact all the the GOP should have to experience what they deem appropriate for others.
17
@Hal:
based in a european country,
i am just listening to the news and hear
about a detail i was unfamiliar with:
"at times, people were tightly packed in rooms
where there was space only to stand ..."
when you suggest having individual #1
"stay in such a facility for a nice month"
he might actually have to spend it standing up.
[not going to happen, we all know that.]
do unto others
as you would have
others do unto you.
1
We don't need any more excuses for despicable behavior and egregious human rights violations, we need solutions. This "record high" of families narratives in simply false, the Bush administration had nearly double the number of families crossing the border and did not treat them this inhumanely.
We don't need officials being "very confident" that immigrants are receiving basic care we need them to be certain, we need proof. If we do not hold our policymakers and enforcers of the law to this basic standard then we can not claim to be a "moral" nation and certainly not a "great" one.
7
The culture of any organisation starts from the top and flows down through the ranks. Hardly surprising in this day and age.
6
Sadly this article reinforces the sentiment that certain professions attract and cultivate the kind of people with whom Trump's toxic message resonates. We see that on display in what AOC and others experienced at the border. We are asked to respect our troops and agencies like Police, CBP etc. Respect is a two way street.
7
Taking good care of immigrants would cost money. Taking good care of our prison inmates would cost money. Fixing the DMV so you don't have to wait 3 hours would cost money. You would think that the greatest and richest nation on earth could afford these amenities.
But to "afford" means making choices. Decent conditions for detainees, or a giant tax cut for corporations? Our choices have been made and we are responsible.
10
What reason do I, as a citizen of another country and supporter of universal human rights, have to respect America, its law enforcement, and its representatives on the global stage?
The answer is, of course, none. Somehow, boggling the mind, every day brings more reason for disdain.
Clearly, Trump's supports don't care about basic rights, democratic institutions, etc etc etc, and so of course they also don't care about other countries' inhabitants opinions of them. Those opinions matter, though, in our globalized and increasingly multipolar world.
America needs all the friends it can get, but now has less than none. Instead of cultivating relationships with allies, America has turned in on itself, thrown away any sham semblance of democratic fairness, moved to commit mass atrocities against the most vulnerable, and upended international order.
America deserves and created its own loss of greatness. 2016 was suicide by 62,984,828 shots to the foot.
12
It's beyond "highly inappropriate and offensive". This would be grounds for firing people in lots of workplaces.
Provost says they will be held accountable. In what way? Are they going to be fired? How are they going to be disciplined if not fired? Are they just going to be told they were bad boys and they will snicker and walk out with a smirk on their faces?
I have a terrible feeling the punishment will not fit the crime....
8
Good thing we have the 1st Amendment. I guess a bartender wouldn’t understand what that is.
1
@Jay Lincoln
Cheap shots all day long now from Republicans. She worked part-time as a bartender for a few months to supplement her family's income. Since when has hard work or not being too proud to do a blue collar job become an insult in the USA?
8
Yeah, she worked as a bartender. Then she worked her way up to Congress.
What are your professional achievements?
1
Why are we pretending that those who apply for jobs where the power dynamic that gives power to some of society's most pitiful and vulnerable over those with even less power has been part of human society forever. Even as this was the major force in the GOP Southern Strategy it is not unique to America. In fact in the overall scheme of things America is far from the worst and far from the best.
2
The worst part about this is nobody has any idea what's real and what's fake anymore. This administration's constant lying has eviscerated all credibility from government. The only way for anyone to know is to personally take a trip to a detention center. Luckily for Republicans, more than half of us couldn't even afford the plane ticket there.
2
Extremely hard to believe that after all this time, the Chief of the Border Patrol "didn't know anything about the group in question".
There are many indicators that say Congress should investigate the Border Patrol culture of White Supremacy and violence against migrants and refugees.
So far two migrant females died as a result of a Border Patrol Agent who shoot them dead at point blank for no reason at all. He is now under prosecution for murder.
Plus the appalling treatment of migrants and refugees and the NOT SO SECRET omnipresence of so called "secret agents organizations" inside the Border PAtrol,should be reason enough to start an investigation .
7
Yes. Just like USA gymnastics didn't know about Larry Nassar. Nobody's responsible to take care of the most vulnerable people.
1
This is not that surprising. The greatest benefit of being in an enforcement position is the ability to fulfill ones own sadistic desires. I don't know whether it is most enforcement officers, but I know it's not few, who go into these jobs because they want to hurt people for the joy of it.
6
As my IT person told me and to the employees in my organization: "there are no secrets on the internet."
4
Anger, despair, and shame only add gasoline to this dumpster fire of an agency.
And in a related development - scraping a seemingly bottomless well of cynicism, Scott Warren, accused of aiding migrants, will be retried after a jury last month was unable to reach a verdict at his trial.
In our bizarro-world, the good samaritans are threatened with prison, while the slouching beasts are lauded. I, for one, don't thank these deplorable agents for their service.
6
I’m sure our president will be at least as outraged about this as he was regarding the Peter Strzok texts that criticized him, not to mention about the deliberate cruelty we inflict on refugees in the name of border security, all paid for with taxpayer dollars.
5
10,000? Are they all CBP officers? If so, there needs to be an investigation, including discussion groups to determine what it going on. If the frustration of having to do jobs without the means to fulfill them is the cause, then that needs to be identified. That many officers who have contempt for the people they must apprehend is a big cause for concern. This is likely more than a bunch of bigots who were hired by mistake.
51
@Casual Observer DHS will do Nothing. Rotten at the core; Like Trump and the GOP
4
@Casual Observer
The only discussion that should be occurring is when and how many will be fired, and of those, when and which ones are going to be arrested for threatening members of congress.
5
An email and bland statements that CPB takes abuse of these families "very seriously" is not good enough. Where is the plan to rein in employees who clearly think they can do what they like with vulnerable brown-skinned people, who don't seem to credit their charges with being human? Where is the mass firing of nearly 10,000 employees on that horrid Facebook group? Where are the resignations of top leaders? The agency's own internal watchdog has been decrying conditions in these--call them what they are--concentration camps for months. Congressional Democrats were right to specify oversight in their appropriation. Republicans, with Mitch McConnell in the lead, blocked the attempt. I can only conclude that Republicans fear oversight of this rogue agency because they agree with its disgusting tactics. The next atrocity to hit the newspapers--and there will be another without strict oversight of these thugs--must be laid at the feet of McConnell and his party. Heckuva job, Mitch.
261
@Julie
It starts at the top. Trump is the ring leader in this type of behaviour. Nothing of any substance will be done until Trump condemns this type of behaviour, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.
26
@Julie-In what other job would this kind of behavior not be grounds to be disciplined, put on leave, and possibly fired? In private industry, this would put the company at risk for creating a hostile work environment and subject to lawsuits. How is it that government employees can be any less accountable?
13
@Julie
Mitch McConnell is like a malignant infection in this government. His evil fingerprints are on so many damaging blows to our democracy.
13
"Internment" is defined as "the state of being confined as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons." These camps warehousing Hispanic children are nothing but internment camps. These camps are closed to the public. Very few people are allowed access, and there is at least a 48-hour waiting period to enter. Of course this is to "clean up" the camps sufficiently to avoid showing the inspectors how these children are really being treated. And we also know now that this prior notice would put border patrol employees to be on their "best behavior".
These children are now in internment camps on our soil, indefinitely. They have committed no crimes. And there is no plan to ever re-unite them with their families. These border patrol agents making their hateful Facebook comments know this. They know their "president" approves of their conduct.
And these vicious, racist comments underscore the power of Trump's base. Had all these kids been light skinned blondes with blue eyes, every Trump voter would be lining up to help them. They would be demanding that their "president" do something in the face of this humanitarian crisis (and a crisis of his making, lest anyone forget). Instead, they absolutely love these Facebook slurs against brown-skinned children.
My friends outside the US are asking me how this can possible happen here. And I have only one answer for them. We are no longer the Americans I knew growing up. Many of us are now this century's "good Germans".
179
@Nicholas Rush
"Good Germans." Ouch. I felt that like a dagger. But you're 100% right.
29
Two completely different narratives from both sides regarding the migrant conditions. However, you can bet that I'm much more inclined to believe the side that doesn't have a disgusting and derogatory FB group of about 10,000 members...
245
When your President makes “alternative facts” mainstream and the denigration of elected officials and minorities a daily ritual this is what we get from his workforce. Not a surprise; only another example of a new and disturbing swamp on his watch.
43
You don’t have to wonder anymore where Trump will find his Storm Troopers. He’s already got them, courtesy of those nice, moderate Democratic House Representatives.
39
Abu Ghraib ... on American soil this time. No chance of pretending its a few rogue individuals, but Border Force "following orders" from the highest level.
The world is watching. The key question for us all. Has America any Shame?
102
@Hooj - interesting observation. I would bet money on it that many of the employees of CBP were in Iraq & Afghanistan in those very roles of prisons like Abu Ghraib.
1
This is so disturbing on so many levels. ANY professional should have exposed or reported this.
39
Hard to wonder about the inefficiencies of a government agency when such time and energy is wasted on posting trash on Facebook.
And, they want more money to do their job.
23
""Kellyanne Conway....denounced “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez going down to one of these facilities and making this outrageous claim that a woman’s drinking from a toilet, which everybody who has control over that facility, or control for the Border Patrol has said that’s not true.”"
So the border crisis now has entered the "he said, she said" phase? If all the two sides are doing is casting blame, nothing will get rectified.
I know what the pictures have shown and don't trust the the truthfulness of this administration's personnel, especially after reading the repugnant posts on the border patrol's secret FB gripe group.
We've been given a window into their souls, which are angry and dark. Their ugly attitude towards charges is dehumanizing: why would they they do their best to provide adequate food and water to people they consider animals, not people?
I can't help but wonder why they are in this line of work in the first place.
52
@ChristineMcM-Kellyanne Conway, one of the recipients of the Trump inaugural $2K+ makeup job offered anointed staff. Unfortunately an expensive makeup job can't makeover a soulless shill hocking lies and cruelty.
3
@ChristineMcM
If anyone lies more often and blatantly it is KAC, the Goebbels-ish coiner of the “alternative facts.”
2
@ChristineMcM
I think you already know why most of these people are in this line of work. They enjoy the domination, the control, the bullying, and the thuggish behavior and they get paid to do it. There have always been such people and they gravitate to jobs that allow them to exercise their hatreds and prejudices freely and without accountability. It's like handing over a kindergarten to a child molester.
1
Once again Facebook profits from the hate and misonogy it allows on its platform.
92
"Top Border Officials" should be the first people prosecuted for child abuse, child endangerment and dereliction of duty, not to mention other crimes and misdemeanors.
The Border Patrol Agency, in its entirety, needs to be flushed down the nearest toilet.
Employees with their demeaning and threatening remarks should also be prosecuted. What fine upstanding American citizens these people aren't. This collection of racists and bigots is disgusting.
This whole sorry episode is an affront to decency and moral behavior.
Apparently Border Patrol employment requirements are lacking. It seems they've only been able to employ the dregs of society.
23
“TOP”? How appropriate. Does the “top” actually work in those detention centers? No, they only show up to cover up!
1
I have been to detention facilities away from the border, and they are dirty, staff is rude and disrespectful, and there are widespread issues regarding lack of adequate medical care. I believe the Members of Congress regarding what they saw. Everyone who is a member of this racist and misogynistic Facebook group should be disciplined and people who have posted should be fired. This is unacceptable. These camps need to be closed and the families reunited.
91
@jfdenver
Absolutely unacceptable !
I agree with everything you say.
That Facebook group is a national shame and a disgrace to all decent government employees. These are actual American adults posting?? Hard to believe, and I certainly would not trust anybody's children with people like this.
Trump should personally fire the whole bunch of them.
5
And that "family" of Facebook racists belongs together, in their own cellblock.
2
Is the problem that mistakes or misconduct has happened—or that ICE is enforcing immigration laws?
Democrats owe the public an honest answer to that question.
5
Show me where using inhuman treatment was ever codified Immigration policy?
REPUBLICANS owe the world an honest answer for why using terrorist tactics to deter immigrants from seeking asylum is effective, necessary or morally defensible.
13
@Philip Cafaro
Your 'question' has no validity. This outrage is no mistake. The only mistake would be any human being with a shred of decency voting for a warped, evil monster.
2
It's time for a full-fledged DOJ and Congressional investigation of these migrant detention centers. I believe the little these Congresspeople are able to glean from migrants they interview and find the pushback from the Trump Administration expected and deplorable. On this July 4th holiday, Lady Liberty must be weeping in shame as someone like Kellyanne Conway should (but never will.) She is as reprehensible as those repulsive border agents. We must be better than this, no matter what our views on immigration.
31
It is clear that Border Patrol has been heavily infiltrated by right wing zealots and probably right wing militia members and terror minded radicals. It will have to be cleaned out whenever power changes hands.
21
"everybody who has control over that facility, or control for the Border Patrol has said that’s not true.”
Yes, of course we should just blindly believe the ones in power! It's not like anyone in this administration has ever lied before. Anyone receiving billions of dollars for border control could be expected to be completely honest about a woman drinking from a toilet, right?
9
This is just so awful. And Kellyanne's comment??!!!! Why on earth would these senators/representatives lie? Just because they are dems? What has happened to our country? Where is decency, higher moral ground, all of which we WERE known for before this current admin. This has GOT to stop! What can we do?
In addition, I am so appalled at the terrible things said and posted on twitter about AOC. She must be so strong! So thick skinned. Why would anyone want to run for public office? Thank goodness there are some who do. I applaud AOC and crew who were able to somehow get in to see and record some of the appalling scenes.
48
Why did Pelosi sign off on this horrible Republican Package? She talks like she is against Trump but votes with him - it’s like they are frenemies for their wealthy donors behind closed doors. Pelosi won’t allow Congress authority to now inspect these detention centers - that’s not leadership.
“She also pointed the finger at members of Congress who signed off on the Senate’s $4.6 billion humanitarian aid package for the border, which exposed division in the Democratic Party. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and other more liberal Democrats wanted the bill to include stronger protections for migrant children.”
“Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said that she had spoken to one migrant who had been forced to drink water out of a toilet, an assertion backed by two other House Democrats, Judy Chu of California and Joaquin Castro of Texas.”
4
Compare AOC to another young woman in the Times today, Ivanka Trump.
One came from nothing, and works passionately and tirelessly promoting human rights; she thinks America must actually be what it claims to be, the land of the free and the home of the brave. America is a philosophy to AOC.
To Ivanka, America is a playground. She came from everything, and wouldn't know dirt if it got under her nails. Privileged, out of touch, narcissistic and ignorant, she stands for image without substance. Just like dear old dad.
It would seem that if one of them were to be accused of hating our country, it wouldn't be AOC. Maybe CBP is confused about what our flag really means.
69
Are there no republican representatives checking out these facilities?
46
@Karon - What would be the point of Republican reps checking out these facilities? Fox News does not cover these outrages, and its audience does not believe they are outrages at all.
The only headline on Fox News about Clint today is: "AOC allegedly screamed at a Border Patrol Agent during her visit".
3
@Mark Lai The Republicans should put up or shut up. They should visit these places and show us why they're ok, or they should also be outraged. To not even address the issue is feckless and impotent.
1
Obviously, the situation in the detention facilities needs independent oversight. As a citizen, I am forced to decide the truth of allegations made by opponents of administration policy, or to believe the word of an administration that lies more often than they breathe.
Under the current circumstances, a mere citizen and taxpayer is watching this country turn into a banana republic and being forced to pay the bill for it.
114
@Jazz Paw - Yes, everything this administration does requires independent oversight. But we are writing them checks for 5.4 billion without oversight.
6
While there is no avoiding the need for security on our borders and for enforcing immigration laws, the conduct of the Border Patrol and ICE is unacceptable. Both agencies conduct their activities in ways that are immoral and that flout the legal constraints on their activities. Too many of their employees have demonstrated a penchant for inhumane treatment of vulnerable humans. They are a disgrace to America.
Both the Border Patrol and ICE must be reformed and re-built from the ground up. Their agents must be retrained and in many cases removed from employment. Stricter standards and policies must be established and enforced by beefed up inspections and oversight. Officials and agents, from top to bottom, who fail to ensure the physical well-being and dignity of people under their control must be held accountable.
This wealthy nation has the resources to ensure that asylum seekers and other immigrants are treated properly, that their applications are promptly and fairly adjudicated, and that they are either monitored while at liberty awaiting adjudication or properly housed and fed as family units while not at liberty. The failure to do so lies squarely at the feet of the White House and the Republicans who control the Senate.
28
The children are hurt the most and will bear the scars longest. Heartbreaking! The adults came of their own free will. Give the children to people who will care for them until this mess is cleaned up - a priority for now. Deal with the rest later.
10
@Margaret A certain set of people screech whenever we try to put these children in foster care-- in some cases because the parents sent their children unaccompanied-- and yet we are supposed to give these children to the same negligent parents who put their children in this position in the first place?
1
@Margaret: the lawyers who recently visited as inspectors said most of the children they met had family members already in the US who were eager and ready and able to care for the children, if and when ICE and ORR release the kids. That's what isn't happening. The children are being held in detention far longer than the law allows.
8
Unaccompanied two year olds, five year olds. Sure.
1
ProPublica's exposure of the Facebook site makes clear the barbaric treatment these women and children are subjected to by the Border Patrol, and their agents' contempt for the lawmakers who demand responsible behavior from them.
Changes should be made immediately. Every day, every hour, every minute this brutality goes unchecked will further traumatize what can only be called their victims.
We read about the dreadful conditions in Asian prisons and are shocked, but if this is allowed to continue how are we any different?
88
The requirements for an entry level CBP Officer are minimal. One can have three years of work experience or a bachelor's degree. The other requirements are so basic most people on the street could meet them.
One wonders how much training these people have had if they can't manage children without wearing a gun, cannot manage illness without wearing a mask, and cannot have the common decency to help those who are helpless when they are in distress.
This " secret " Facebook page of 9,500 current and former officers displaying their utter disregard for those they have taken an oath to protect and for those whose mission is to oversee the CBP is no surprise.
Surely, there are some good, caring people among the legion that are paid handsomely to protect our borders. These are good jobs with good benefits.
Let's see these miscreants fired and more caring and compassionate people take their place. We can both carry out our laws and act like human beings.
This Facebook group is the proverbial bottom of the barrel.
We can and must do better.
36
From someone who's currently being reviewed for multiple violations of the Hatch Act, I don't think KC's words carry much weight or should've been included in this write-up. Additionally, how many members of the CBP Facebook group are the one's also saying "everything's fine"? Lots to unpack here.
39
It appears from the numbers that the Facebook group is composed of a very large fraction of current CBP employees. This is not "a few bad apples." This is precisely why people are speaking about the "abolition" of ICE and the comprehensive reorganization of the CBP. CBP and ICE have become rogue forces within the apparatus of the state. This tendency goes at least as far back as the reorganization of immigration and border controls with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001. The full and terrifying implications of it, however, have only become apparent now that we have a racist authoritarian like Trump who is eager to unleash their lawlessness if it will advantage him politically.
Congress needs to exercise its oversight powers to thoroughly investigate and hold public hearings on what is happening inside the CBP and ICE. The participants in this Facebook group who shared and circulated racist and other derogatory content need to be removed from their jobs or otherwise disciplined. If the leadership of DHS is unwilling to do so they too sneed to be removed. And if Trump refuses to bring the DHS back within the rule of law, he needs to be impeached.
112
If FEMA money was being used, I don’t see why they couldn’t mobilize like FEMA to provide temporary housing on short notice, wherever in the country it is needed. Wouldn’t it be easy enough to put up temporary homes with a fence around them, and ensure that none of these facilities are overcrowded? Similarly, I don’t understand why younger children would be put in special facilities rather than the foster system that is used for American children.
1
It is regrettable that the stricter version of the house bill was not signed through. It is understandable that the Speaker to the House, Mrs Pelosi, had to make some compromises, and am glad something has been done. I cannot understand the callousness of comments and other kinds of posts made in the facebook group. Jokes about deaths?!!!
4
Where is the UN’s human rights watch on all of this? Where is the ACLU lawsuit? Where is an indictment by the international court? This country is sinking to the level of Myanmar quickly!
122
Why are there no sanctions against the United States for this despicable behavior? This country is no better than those we condemn for human rights crimes. Oh, I forgot. We're the greatest people and the greatest country in the world.
5
“We take any and every allegation of misconduct incredibly seriously,” Mr. Perez said.
By this should we assume he means they will consider any allegation not to be credible and they will seriously deny them?
CBP is in full cover up mode. The evidence against a huge proportion of the entire workforce is huge. The leadership has no control, their orders are openly ignored by their staff.
Trying to pretend he can wish away these "allegations" is facile.
12
Officials under the Trump Administration will continue to deny, deny, deny even when there is video evidence that the migrants are facing serious human rights violations. Not only is the US Government being unethical, it's being un-American.
17
What?!? There are border patrol employees who say terrible things about immigrants and some members of Congress? I’m shocked! Who would have thought!
In actuality, I would imagine it is tough to live with what they are asked to do unless they can justify it to themselves as necessary and reasonable.
The Green Line, a rogue agency but not the only one.
2
In a different universe, when the children arrived at the CPB facilities, and it became clear that they would be staying there for longer than the usual short-term period these facilities are accustomed to, CPB staff, seeing the situation clearly in front of them, would have gone out and bought all the supplies they needed to keep the children comfortable for their extended stay, they would have gone out of their way to make sure the children were bathed and fed, they would have dipped into their over-time to make sure that adolescents didn't have to take care of babies, and they would have sent the bill for these extra expenditures up the chain of command because they weren't going to let children suffer at the hands of the United States, a country where they are proud to live. They wouldn't care about the policies that resulted in their being asked to look after these children, they wouldn't care about whether providing these basic amenities would lead to more children ending up in their care because all that mattered was the situation right in front of them.
Instead, they chose to hide their cowardice behind vulgarity and cruelty. Maybe they were caught, depending on how things play out they could end up emboldened. They should be ashamed. I am ashamed to live in a country that represents itself this way.
11
Didn't Trump make a big deal about the IM's of two FBI agents? where is his concern about a much larger group of federal agents expressing opinions not in tune with the mission?
oh, i forgot who we are dealing with. It's only wrong if Trump doesn't like the message.
72
@Jonathan Beerman that's actually a good point, thanks for the laugh. I'd forgotten about the Page/Strzok red herring (although I'm sure it will be brought up at the next hearing Jim Jordan wants to try to derail).
Good luck to your country
7
Happy Fourth of July America. Is this what we have become? I am heart broken by these allegations and even more so by the level of distrust and hate and blatant lies that permeates our land. Are we no longer a democracy?
18
Words mean nothing without action. Will those expressing little care for human rights and dignity be held accountable or will the words of condemnation ring as hollow as everything else from this administration?
7
“...highly inappropriate and offensive.”
Could it be that these border agents are really responding to their president’s undisguised sexism and racism as they apply to not only the asylum-seekers but also the non-white Congressional ladies?
These Facebook posts are no accident. The users had to know that an electronic trail is always available to any investigation and it looks very much like they were flaunting their cruel lordship over the frightened and vulnerable. These agents were crude and lewd in their depictions of this Democratic delegation, a taxpayer-funded trip, be it said, on official business. The border agents are all aware of the politics of both border security and immigration. Their flagrant and deliberate attempts to demean these Congressional women—not to mention their mistreatment of the women in their “care”—send a powerful message to all of us: that dignity and courtesy and respect for these captives is not acceptable.
Would it be judgmental to convict these border agents of cruel, unusual and un-American behavior? Especially since it so perfectly dovetails with the president’s worldview of these desperate people?
We are no land of the free. And brave men do not behave like this.
37
I'm appalled to admit that this doesn't surprise me at all. ProPublica reports there are some 9,500 members of this Facebook group. Just a few bad apples. Right.
41
Congress should have immediate, unrestricted access to all detention facilities in order to perform their oversight role.
And we should not gloss over the size of this FB group. 95 people is a group. 9,500 is an army. An army with no morals or accountability.
109
@JRMC
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did perform oversight. She didn't hold a hearing, she went there. A most unusual sight: A Democratic congressperson actually wielding power.
10
@Crisis At The Border Is Real
How can anyone believe her? By using basic reasoning, observation, and common sense.
2
AOC likes attention. How can anyone believe her? She seems to get her “facts messed up” a lot.
Yeah, I'm sure its frustrating defending the attractive nuisance that is the US from poor people. But the ire of these officers should have been directed at the heads of big Ag, homebuilders, meat packing plants, etc. These people wanted congress to look the other way to get cheap labor to goose profits and break unions; at least call out the right people.
3
As with all parts of the Federal government under the control of Trump and the Republicans, I don't believe a word the CBP have to say about conditions in their facilities.
Even though it is impossible (how many would be left to show up to work) they should fire every one of those active CBP members on that secret Facebook page.
While I disagree with the position of the most liberal of Congress that we should provide government health care to illegal immigrants, or make entering this Country illegally a misdemeanor, I agree with the Congresswomen, the CBP has become a rogue agency. And those we detain should be treated humanly.
5
Let's see some suspensions and firings. Their condemnation means nothing without action.
54
It seems that some (or many) border control agents or others helping migrants need to realize that not everyone can be born in the US and that they need to have more respect for the world's citizens. I realize that this was an invasion of these Central American people but, they are scared, especially for their children. Perhaps put themselves in their shoes? Under threat of killings all the time by the cartels. We have the military means to abolish those cartels so that the people can live peacefully in there homeland. Let's do it. With consent of course.
1
Whether they like it or not, law enforcement represents the law and the fairness of the manner in which laws are enforced. Everyone is equal before the law. That means everybody, not just good people in the eyes of law enforcement officers. When they express biases like these, they undermine respect for the law and how it is enforced. That makes the job harder for everyone, other officers, prosecutors, judges, as well as lawmakers. It's up to the people above them in the chain of command to write these officers up for conduct unbecoming and make it part of their permanent records. If they persist, they should be terminated. If they are retired and persist, their pension benefits should be withdrawn. This is not a minor kind of infraction.
10
These are public employees, sometimes called "public servants," who interact with the the members of the public, are trained as experts in their field, are expected to act ethically and professionally, and are paid with taxpayer dollars.
If school teachers, nurses, judges, and other government officials and agents acted like these border patrol agents on Facebook, what would/should happen to them?
However, behavior in any organization is strongly influenced by the the top leader, who sets the tone for employee behavior. And guess what?
Social learning theory has demonstrated that role models acting in inappropriate ways but are perceived as rewarded for their bad behavior are more likely to be imitated than are role models who behave in proper ways and are viewed as rewarded.
In other words, people's behavior can break down very quickly when the leader goes against the norms, violates ethics and laws, and disrespects the professionalism of the field he represents and the institutions he/she is expected to serve.
So with Trump and his not very best people as "leaders" in our government, is these border agents' disrespectful, insulting, and unprofessional behavior really any surprise?
Do you think Trump knows he is a "public servant"? Maybe someone should tell him.
5
Migrants and asylum seekers have become "the near enemy" as opposed to international terrorism, or even domestic terrorism (which we tend to ignore).
The result of seeing the migrants as an enemy results in dehumanization of them and anyone who dares stand up for them to be treated as human beings. Of course, the dehumanization is common when speaking of any enemy or justifying practices like slavery, torture, mass incarceration, and a host of ills that we humans tend to do to others who aren't part of what we define as "us."
As we have an executive branch that stands as an apologist for the dehumanization, it flourishes. While most of us cringe, there is a segment of America that is cheering our mistreatment of migrants and desiring officials to get tougher.
2
It seems that some (or many) border control agents or others helping migrants need to realize that not everyone can be born in the US and that they need to have more respect for the world's citizens. I realize that this was an invasion of these Central American people but, they are scared, especially for their children. Perhaps put themselves in their shoes? Under threat of killings all the time by the cartels. We have the military means to abolish those cartels so that the people can live peacefully in there homeland. Let's do it. With consent of course.
1
I'm sure there are a lot of fine and honorable Border Patrol agents/officers who perform their duty every day with compassion and discernment. And I thank them for being ethical and honorable in their work.
That said.. one thing has become clear in recent years under the proliferation of social media --> there is some percentage of people inside any law enforcement organization that have ideological ties to nationalist themes, militia themes, and white extremist themes. These people need to be expunged from law enforcement as they will do nothing except case misery to civilians and cause discredit to their law enforcement group.
In addition... the vetting and hiring standards need to be much stronger with all law enforcement organizations to stop these people from entering law enforcement to begin with. This would be especially true for federal law enforcement organizations. If we can have extreme federal vetting of immigration applicants from foreign nations... we certainly can have extreme vetting for the law enforcement organizations charged with enforcing federal law.
4
Lawmakers and top officials are "mortified" by the inappropriate nature of words as they continue the militarization of everything to protect the concentration of power from democracy.
Good luck, America!
8
This is unfortunately as old as time itself. The troops will always have macabre humor to pass the time. It ain’t right but nothing will change.
"Top officials in the agency overseeing border security condemned a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents that featured jokes about migrant deaths, obscene images of Hispanic lawmakers and threats to members of Congress as the lawmakers themselves on Tuesday amplified their criticism of the agency."
So what do the top officials in the agency overseeing border security propose to do?
Anyone who uses their position as a public servant to abuse or demean the people they deal with, or the people who oversee their department, need to be disciplined, as in, fined, fired, and if their acts are criminal, tried, convicted and jailed.
We fire cops who are proven to take advantage of the badge that they wear and the gun that they tote.
These CBP people are no different; they are basically federal cops.
In addition, for the worst of these, names and penalties need to be announced to the public, as a deterrent to others thinking they can slide by.
15
I am officially ashamed to be an American.
I never thought I would say that, but this is the last straw. The border patrol has so much power over the lives of not just immigrants but any citizen living within 100 miles of a border or a coast - which is the vast majority of Americans.
Trump did this. But those of you who voted for him are responsible too.
69
As a former Child Protection Investigator this is clearly state sponsored child abuse. I would love to see ex and current child protection workers, lawyers, judges, doctors and anyone who cares show up at these facilities and end this atrocity.
19
According to the Custom and Border patrol's code of ethics,
employees "will not make abusive, derisive, drunken, profane or harassing statements" about others "on account of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability."
In fact, these people did far worse, gloating about the deaths of children! Some of them must be parents, right? I can't understand such widespread cruelty. However, someone (thank God) must have objected, because the facebook page was private. So shines a good deed....
23
So top officials are condemning this "highly inappropriate" behaviour. I notice that there's one top official that's blatantly absent from condemning this and that would be our president.
I have a very strong suspicion that if Trump were not president this secret organization would not be so bold as to post their hatred remarks openly on Facebook.
It's only going to get worse. For the good of this country Trump must be impeached and that should start now!
13
I am extremely saddened by this. There are bad people in every profession that tarnish the work that the people with integrity are doing. This will further demoralize those that have a conscious and have higher moral values than these horrible people. I hope people support those that actually care about the people they are charged with protecting and helping, the asylum seekers that are trying to get here legally, which these people are trying to do.
2
The Gutter Has Come To Power! Not just in The Oval Office! It’s making its way through our entire culture, from our sports leagues to our hospitals to our grocery chains! Sad.
7
Illegal kidnapping and torture were deemed legitimate under the guise of the war on terror when the Obama administration granted immunity to the CIA for its abuses.
So we can hardly be surprised that under the guise of another “emergency,” refugees, including women and children, are being tortured on American soil.
This is what happens when you don’t prosecute torturers. They resurface, metastasize and the cruelty they exhibit is unapologetic, even flagrant, because it has official sanction. And their boldness gets worse. Who can doubt that secret executions will follow these brutal detentions, the illicit trafficking and disappearance of children, the breaking up of families?
History has taught us this already, numerous times. When will we learn? The recent package of billions for a rogue border and patrol outfit means that Democrats have decided to enable this cruelty rather than fight it. As much as Trump needs to be impeached— he is a disaster—Americans must demand truly ethical leadership that refuses to tolerate the intolerable.
Now, in the primary season, is the time to search out leaders who will stand up to evil, not compromise and cross their fingers as Pelosi and Schumer have done. We can’t wait until the general election when, as with Trump and Clinton, we were left to choose between two corrupt leaders, whose personal ambitions dwarf everything else, even the nation’s integrity and welfare.
7
Every participant in the group should be summarily fired. Not only is the group content offensive and inappropriate (which shows that they are morally unfit for the job), but anybody participating in such a group thinking it private has no inkling about security (which shows that they are completely incompetent).
14
it took almost 48 hours but finally someone in the Trump Administration has spoken up, and it looks as though disciplinary action 'may' be forthcoming.
The Border Agents on this Facebook page are a national disgrace, paid for by our tax dollars.
13
Everyone associated with the secret Facebook page should be rounded up by the US Marshals and held, without bail, in one of trump’s dog pounds until such a time that they can be charged as a subversive organization, tried, convicted, and sentenced to at least a minimum of 25 years at hard labor, turning rocks into sand. There simply is no place in American society for their kind, and there is no excuse for them to be walking around free after being exposed.
9
They were just following orders, and suggestions from the Big Boss. Sending them my thoughts and prayers. NOT.
9
I just want to know where the buck stops. You have close to 10,000 members in that FB group. Where is the accountability? You want me to believe that they kept their views to themselves in the federal workplace?
52