Border Patrol Agent on Trial for Hitting Border Crosser With His Truck Called Immigrants 'Disgusting
 

Matthew Bowen hit a man who crossed the border. Then he sent a text calling him a "human pit maneuver."

According to his own text messages, a border patrol agent standing trial for hitting a Guatemalan migrant with his work vehicle harbored strong feelings against immigrants. Despite his objections, prosecutors hope to use his words against him in court.

AZCentral reports that Matthew Bowen worked as a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent in Nogales, Arizona, when the incident occurred in December 2017. Bowen and others confronted a 23-year-old man suspected of jumping the border near a port of entry. As the man ran back towards the port of entry, Bowen sped behind him in his truck and struck him twice. Bowen's vehicle came within inches of running the man over. The man survived the incident with abrasions to his hand and knees.

Bowen has been charged with depriving the man of his right to be "free from the use of excessive force" by someone acting under the color of the law. He's also been accused of falsifying records after the incident. Bowen sent a text saying that he was trying to give the man "a little push" with his truck. After learning of the investigation into the incident, he later told the chief patrol agent that he was unaware of the force of the truck and whether or not he struck the man.

When Bowen's case comes to trial in August, prosecutors hope to be able to use such text messages to show that Bowen's actions were the result of intense bias and discrimination against immigrants.

In one message, for instance, Bowen refers to immigrants as "disgusting subhuman shit unworthy of being kindling for a fire." In another, he asks if President Trump will allow his fellow agents to "PLEASE let us take the gloves off."

Bowen also sent a text message about the December 2017 incident which refers to the man he hit with his truck as a "human pit maneuver." The person receiving this text message was a fellow Border Patrol agent named Lonnie Swartz. Swartz was acquitted in November 2018 after fatally shooting a Mexican teenager through the border fence.

Bowen's defense team objected to the seizure and use of his text messages. In one document filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, federal prosecutors argued that Bowen's text messages were directly relevant to the case and recommended that his motion to suppress the messages "be denied in full," as was previously done by a magistrate judge.

This is not the first time Bowen displayed questionable behavior. He was tied to other misconduct incidents, including an unjustified search and tackling an immigrant without cause.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol received additional unwanted attention last year after 10-year veteran Juan David Ortiz of the Laredo sector confessed to kidnapping, assaulting, and killing several sex workers. That same year, two other agents in his sector, which saw the highest number of misconduct incidents, were accused of an unrelated homicide and a killing incident on the border involving immigrants.

Audits from the agency show that border patrol has long struggled with misconduct issues as well as creating a reliable system for documenting incidents.

InsideThe Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths And Post Sexist
 

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Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas on Monday and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, according to screenshots of their postings.

In one exchange, group members responded with indifference and wisecracks to the post of a news story about a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who died in May while in custody at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas. One member posted a GIF of Elmo with the quote, “Oh well.” Another responded with an image and the words “If he dies, he dies.”

Created in August 2016, the Facebook group is called “I’m 10-15” and boasts roughly 9,500 members from across the country. (10-15 is Border Patrol code for “aliens in custody.”) The group described itself, in an online introduction, as a forum for “funny” and “serious” discussion about work with the patrol. “Remember you are never alone in this family,” the introduction said.

Responsible for policing the nation’s southern and northern boundaries, the Border Patrol has come under intense scrutiny as the Trump administration takes new, more aggressive measures to halt the influx of undocumented migrants across the United States-Mexico border. The patrol’s approximately 20,000 agents serve under the broader U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, which has been faulted for allegedly mistreating children and adults in its custody. The agency’s leadership has been in turmoil, with its most recent acting chief, John Sanders, resigning last week.

ProPublica received images of several recent discussions in the 10-15 Facebook group and was able to link the participants in those online conversations to apparently legitimate Facebook profiles belonging to Border Patrol agents, including a supervisor based in El Paso, Texas, and an agent in Eagle Pass, Texas. ProPublica has so far been unable to reach the group members who made the postings.

ProPublica contacted three spokespeople for CBP in regard to the Facebook group and provided the names of three agents who appear to have participated in the online chats. CBP hasn’t yet responded.

“These comments and memes are extremely troubling,” said Daniel Martinez, a sociologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson who studies the border. “They’re clearly xenophobic and sexist.”

The postings, in his view, reflect what “seems to be a pervasive culture of cruelty aimed at immigrants within CBP. This isn’t just a few rogue agents or ‘bad apples.’”

The Border Patrol Facebook group is the most recent example of some law enforcement personnel behaving badly in public and private digital spaces. An investigation by Reveal uncovered hundreds of active-duty and retired law enforcement officers who moved in extremist Facebook circles, including white supremacist and anti-government groups. A team of researchers calling themselves the Plain View Project recently released a hefty database of offensive Facebook posts made by current and ex-law enforcement officers.

And in early 2018, federal investigators found a raft of disturbing and racist text messages sent by Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona after searching the phone of Matthew Bowen, an agent charged with running down a Guatemalan migrant with a Ford F-150 pickup truck. The texts, which were revealed in a court filing in federal court in Tucson, described migrants as “guats,” “wild ass shitbags,” “beaners” and “subhuman.” The messages included repeated discussions about burning the migrants.

Several of the postings reviewed by ProPublica refer to the planned visit by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Veronica Escobar, to a troubled Border Patrol facility outside of El Paso. Agents at the compound in Clint, Texas, have been accused of holding children in neglectful, inhumane conditions.

Members of the Border Patrol Facebook group were not enthused about the tour, noting that Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from Queens, had compared Border Patrol facilities to Nazi concentration camps. Escobar is a freshman Democrat representing El Paso.

One member encouraged Border Patrol agents to hurl a “burrito at these bitches.” Another, apparently a patrol supervisor, wrote, “Fuck the hoes.” “There should be no photo ops for these scum buckets,” posted a third member.

Perhaps the most disturbing posts target Ocasio-Cortez. One includes a photo illustration of her engaged in oral sex at an immigrant detention center. Text accompanying the image reads, “Lucky Illegal Immigrant Glory Hole Special Starring AOC.”

Another is a photo illustration of a smiling President Donald Trump forcing Ocasio-Cortez’s head toward his crotch. The agent who posted the image commented: “That’s right bitches. The masses have spoken and today democracy won.”

The posts about Escobar and Ocasio-Cortez are “vile and sexist,” said a staffer for Escobar. “Furthermore, the comments made by Border Patrol agents towards immigrants, especially those that have lost their lives, are disgusting and show a complete disregard for human life and dignity.”

The head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Joaquin Castro, reviewed the Facebook discussions and was incensed. “It confirms some of the worst criticisms of Customs and Border Protection,” said Castro, a Democrat who represents San Antonio. “These are clearly agents who are desensitized to the point of being dangerous to migrants and their co-workers.” He added that the agents who made the vulgar comments “don’t deserve to wear any uniform representing the United States of America.”

Vicki Gaubeca, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, said the postings are more evidence of the sexism and misogyny that has long plagued the Border Patrol. “That’s why they’re the worst at recruiting women,” said Gaubeca, whose group works to reform the agency. “They have the lowest percentage of female agents or officers of any federal law enforcement agency.”

In another thread, a group member posted a photo of father and his 23-month-old daughter lying face down in the Rio Grande. The pair drowned while trying to ford the river and cross into the U.S.; pictures of the two have circulated widely online in recent days, generating an outcry.

The member asked if the photo could have been faked because the bodies were so “clean.” (The picture was taken by an Associated Press photographer, and there is no indication that it was staged or manipulated.) “I HAVE NEVER SEEN FLOATERS LIKE THIS,” the person wrote, adding, “could this be another edited photo. We’ve all seen the dems and liberal parties do some pretty sick things…”