Customs and Border Patrol agents aren’t just racist, misogynist creeps on Facebook. They very definitely are racist, misogynist creeps in real life, too—and, it almost goes without saying, homophobic. CNN has obtained emails detailing how, in March, border agents forced a Honduran man to walk around with a sign reading “Me gustan los hombre(s),” or “I like men,” in an attempt to humiliate him in front of other migrants.
This incident was reported by an on-duty border agent who confronted agents laughing at the man and took the sign away from him. But the senior action in charge that night refused to take action when the witnessing agent reported it, and at least seven other agents had witnessed the abuse.
This is the context in which acting Homeland Security chief Kevin McAleenan claims that the people posting the racist, misogynist content in that secret Border Patrol Facebook group with thousands of members “do not represent the men and women of the Border Patrol or @DHSgov.” A border agent used homophobia to humiliate a vulnerable migrant. Other agents saw and laughed. A senior agent refused to take action. It looks an awful lot like the one agent who did the right thing and reported the incident is the one who does not represent the men and women of the Border Patrol.