Immigration Reporter
LA Times
Molly O’Toole reports for the LA Times:
By MOLLY O’TOOLESTAFF WRITER
JULY 16, 202012:35 PM UPDATED3:35 PM
WASHINGTON — The largest federal law enforcement agency has fired four employees for their participation in secretive social media groups that have featured violent, sexist and racist posts against migrants and members of Congress, the Los Angeles Times has learned.
More than a year after launching an internal investigation into 138 employees for “inappropriate social media activity,” Customs and Border Protection — the parent agency of the Border Patrol — has removed four employees, suspended 38 without pay and disciplined an additional 27 “with reprimands or counseling,” according to data provided to The Times by the agency.
Investigators from Customs and Border Protection‘s Office of Professional Responsibility determined that 63 of the cases — roughly half — were “unsubstantiated.” Six cases remain open, and the Homeland Security Department‘s inspector general is also investigating.
Last July, the office began looking into more than 60 current employees and eight former staff following reports of a secret Facebook group in which members used dehumanizing and derogatory language regarding Latina members of Congress and deceased migrants.
The existence of the group, known as “I’m 10-15,” the code used by Border Patrol for migrants in custody, was first reported by ProPublica, and at one point had 9,500 members. The group’s vulgar posts included an illustration of Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being sexually assaulted by President Trump and others that mocked migrants who drowned in the Rio Grande.
Ocasio-Ortez did not immediately provide comment.
The probe, which is not criminal, ultimately doubled the number of individuals under investigation, and included several additional private social media groups.
Most of the cases deemed unsubstantiated involved personnel who reported themselves or others as part of the groups and provided information to investigators, but whose history showed they’d never posted or been active in them, an agency spokesperson said Thursday, declining to be named.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who said on Twitter she was “one of the Latina members of Congress targeted by the hateful attacks,” but had not received information about the investigation from Customs and Border Protection, added that the investigation should include why the posts weren’t reported by the group’s members.
“This secret FB page mocked the deaths of migrants,” Escobar said, “vulnerable people dehumanized by a broken system.”
. . . .
******************
Read the rest of Molly’s story at the link.
“[V]ulnerable people dehumanized by a broken system.” Just say no to the racist kakistocracy and its enablers (a/k/a “normalizers”)!
This is not, and never has been, a “normal” Administration. Those who have insisted on disingenuously treating it as such, thereby covering up the obvious racism and other unconstitutional behavior, are a huge part of why our democracy and our national health and welfare are on the ropes.
This November, vote like your life depends on it! Because it does!
PWS
7-15-20