Border agent who hit man with truck had called migrants 'disgusting subhuman sh—' just weeks before

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday May 21, 2019 · 9:50 AM PDT

2019/05/21 · 09:50

SUNLAND PARK, NM - JUNE 24: A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle drives along the U.S./Mexico border fence on June 24, 2018 in Sunland Park, New Mexico. The Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy on immigration has created confusion for those seeking to immigrate to the United States. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A Border Patrol agent who in late 2017 intentionally hit a young Guatemalan man with his truck and then lied about it had just weeks before called people like him “disgusting subhuman shit unworthy of being kindling for a fire,” court documents reveal. The attorney for Matthew Bowen is attempting to keep that text message and others featuring offensive comments out of his upcoming trial, after being indicted by a grand jury “on charges that he deprived the Guatemalan man of his civil rights and filed a false report,” CNN reports. In other texts he complains about possibly having to treat migrants humanely, calling them “mindless murdering savages” and asking, “PLEASE let us take the gloves off trump!”

But in the process of attempting to block those messages, the attorney has also admitted to Border Patrol’s violent and racist nature. “[B]owen’s views are hardly extraordinary, argued his attorney, Sean Chapman. Rather, his sentiments are ‘commonplace throughout the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector,’ Chapman wrote, adding that such messages are ‘part of the agency’s culture,’” The Washington Post reported.

It’s not the border but federal immigration agents who are a danger, and that’s the opinion of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which in 2016 released a report stating that “corrupt [Customs and Border Protection] law enforcement personnel pose a national security threat.” In fact, the federal government has paid out over $60 million in settlements in incidents involving violent and corrupt border agents, including $9 million to the families of at least 20 people who died from “incidents including shooting, beating, use of Tasers and collisions with vehicles.”

Collisions with vehicles, like what Bowen did to Antolin Lopez Aguilar, and then lied about it. “I bumped a guat with a truck while driving about 7 mph. No injury at all and tonk refused medical,” read a text. Both “Guat” and “tonk” offensively refer to Lopez Aguilar: “some agents claim is an innocent acronym, the Arizona Republic reported, and others say is a slur derived from the sound of hitting an immigrant on the head with a flashlight.” Quaint.

“In one text exchange, an unnamed agent asked Bowen, ‘Did you gas hiscorpse (sic) or just use regular peanut oil while tazing?? For a frying effect.’ Bowen responded: ‘Guats are best made crispy, with olive oil from their native pais,’ using the Spanish word for ‘country”’that doubles as an insult toward Guatemalans, the Daily Star reported. In another text, he refers to ‘mindless murdering savages.’”

Lopez Aguilar was injured and treated at a hospital, and then served a month in prison for entering the U.S. without authorization. The man who tried to run him over is facing his trial in August, and is currently on leave without pay. At the same time, the Trump administration is seeking to have CBP agents do the job of trained officials and interview asylum-seekers, in a move that the American Civil Liberties Union said “would put thousands of people at risk of being erroneously returned to danger or even death.”

Border agent who hit man with truck had called migrants 'disgusting subhuman sh—' just weeks before

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