With the rise in attention to police violence, there has been increased speculation about what kind of people are drawn to law enforcement. In the case of the U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection, the answer is now “a literal serial killer.” Texas authorities arrested Juan David Ortiz, a Border Patrol agent, on September 15 after an intended victim managed to escape and flag down a highway patrol officer.
Ortiz was targeting sex workers. In a press conference, Webb County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Fred Garza acknowledged “Ortiz targeted all [the] victims due to their profession and being vulnerable.” The press conference is widely available, but I will not be linking to it, because of the deadnaming of Ortiz’s third victim, Janelle Ortiz (no relation). Ortiz’s first two victims were 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez and 42-year-old Claudine Luera. The fourth victim remains a Jane Doe at this time.
Chief Deputy Garza is not wrong. Sex workers are extremely vulnerable to this kind of targeted violence, and are often not taken seriously by law enforcement.
Juan David Ortiz is the second high-profile murderer found in the ranks of Border Patrol this year, following the arrest of Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles, for the murder of his girlfriend, Grizelda Hernandez, and their infant.
As America ramps up its targeted violence against immigrants, we have to seriously look at what kind of people aspire to be part of an openly fascist police force with millions in funding and seemingly no oversight. In testimony to Congress in 2015, Gil Kerlikowske, former head of CBP, acknowledged the damage done by lowering their hiring standards in order to double their force after 9/11:
”When we lowered our standards of hiring and did not properly vet people, we made mistakes in who got hired. And we paid a price for that and are continuing to pay a price for that...”
When lowered standards and rushed hiring practices lead to serial killers, rapists, and other dangerous individuals being tasked with our supposed safety, we all pay a price. Unsurprisingly, it is usually the most oppressed and vulnerable of us, like sex workers, people of color, and transgender people, who pay the price with their very lives.