“CBP, the company that oversees Border Patrol, didn’t meaningfully reply to the particular requests for data from Congress and didn’t determine any authorized authority underneath which BPCITs function,” Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) mentioned this week. “As a substitute, the company issued a memo that implies the BPCITs could also be authentic and that their exercise may very well be regulated. However the reality is that BPCITs haven’t any authorized authority to have interaction within the investigation of agent misconduct.”
Lawmakers have backed this up of their requires federal investigations. “Regardless of the obvious lack of authority to research agent misconduct, the CBP seems to have created Vital Incident Groups to research and accumulate proof following incidents which will create felony or civil legal responsibility, together with allegations of extreme use of drive,” bicameral lawmakers informed the Authorities Accountability Workplace comptroller in a Jan. 24 letter.
That decision from 10 congressional chairs got here solely after strain from advocates like SBCC, and CBP is issuing this memo solely due to the continuing strain. However the memo doesn’t change the truth that these secretive models shouldn’t exist in any respect, advocates continued.
“BPCITs haven’t any authorized authority,” tweeted Jenn Budd, a former Senior Border Patrol agent turned whistleblower. “@CBP can’t challenge tips for BPCITs as a result of the Border Patrol has no authorized authority to have CITs. @CBP doesn’t have the ability to offer authority.” She later wrote that by issuing this memo, Biden administration officers “are admitting that these groups had been unlawful for many years and now they’re simply going to bless them as authorized. Received it. That is whitewashing in actual time. This can be a coverup of the coverup groups.”
Lawmakers have mentioned that these models have existed since at the very least 1987. Disturbing reviews have revealed how the models helped cowl up the brutal homicide of Hernandez Rojas, who was hog-tied, overwhelmed, and Tased into unconsciousness by border brokers. Earlier this 12 months, the Los Angeles Occasions reported that as many as 17 brokers had been concerned in his killing. He was a dad of 5 U.S. residents. Whereas a courtroom in 2017 authorised a $1 million settlement for his household as a part of a wrongful demise lawsuit, the Justice Division two years prior had declined to pursue federal costs towards brokers concerned in his demise, citing “inadequate” proof.
Extra not too long ago, officers have publicly mentioned these models have additionally been dispatched to Border Patrol’s lethal automotive chases. The New York Occasions reported an official confirmed the models are “accumulating proof that may very well be used to guard a Border Patrol agent and ‘assist take care of potential legal responsibility points,’ corresponding to a future civil go well with.”
No memo can repair this, advocates say. No memo can erase the hurt they’ve carried out, both. The models have to be utterly eradicated, and its victims want accountability.
”Brokers shouldn’t be within the enterprise of investigating themselves,” mentioned SBCC Director Vicki B. Gaubeca. “These shadow models have an inherent battle of curiosity in defending brokers and due to that they shouldn’t be anyplace close to an agent-involved investigation. Their acknowledged function of mitigating legal responsibility for brokers can by no means be reconciled with impartial reality discovering. Their involvement compromises any investigation. Furthermore, their interference may quantity to obstruction of justice, which must be prosecuted.”
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