Borderland advocates won a monument victory this past May, when the Biden administration announced that it was disbanding the shadow police units that have for years covered up horrific abuses committed by border agents. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said tasks that Border Patrol Critical Incident Teams (BPCITs) had given to themselves would be moved over to the agency’s OPR, or Office of Professional Responsibility.
But the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) tells members of Congress in an August 11 letter that it has learned of “alarming facts” occurring within CBP that could affect lawmakers’ ongoing investigations into the shadow units, including that OPR has been “hiring the very people that Congress is investigating, BPCITs.”
RELATED STORY: Following push from advocates, CBP to disband cover-up units that shielded abusive border agents
Campaign Action
“For more than three decades, BPCITs have covered up, destroyed, and altered evidence to obstruct justice and protect border agents,” SBCC writes to a number of U.S. House and Senate committee chairs and ranking members. “Despite this, OPR is now hiring BPCIT agents, potentially shifting cover-up activities from one office to another. To be clear, the BPCITs’ lack of integrity and possible criminal obstruction has not been resolved.”
A number of concurrent investigations into the shadow units are in progress, including by the House Oversight and Reform and House Homeland Security committees, the coalition said. The chairs of the two committees, Carolyn Maloney and Bennie Thompson, previously noted that “Congress has not provided CBP specific authority to conduct investigations of its agents’ misconduct, and the CBP Commissioner has not publicly delegated this authority to Border Patrol.”
“We appreciate that OPR is currently seeking to meet hiring goals, but it should not do so at the expense of the very imperative that we confront—a need for investigative integrity and accountability,” SBCC continued. “To strengthen its own integrity, OPR should seek to hire people from outside of BPCITs who are not tainted by the bias inherent in the role that BPCITs have played to mitigate liability. It is never appropriate for an investigator to play that role.”
SBCC notes that even before the May memo finally disbanded the units, top officials had taken steps limiting their power. But SBCC said that less than three weeks after a February 2 memo “directing BPCITs to stop investigating unless requested to do so by OPR and under their guidance,” they were undermining the probe into the killing of Carmelo Cruz Marcos. The 32-year-old father of three was shot and killed by Border Patrol in Arizona that month. In May, the Cochise County attorney’s office announced the agent would face no charges. Last year, nearly two dozen people died in Border Patrol’s high-speed chases.
“SBCC is gravely concerned that at no time, even now, has CBP ever been transparent about the activities of BPCITs,” SBCC said in a statement. “In light of their history of coverups, we are particularly concerned about the destruction, concealment, and alteration of records related to BPCITs. These records are vital to Congress in their investigation and to prosecutors that may need to consider obstruction of justice and other criminal charges.”
“We are also concerned that the network of current and former BPCITs have permeated CBP and other parts of government,” the coalition continued. “In view of all of the above, we believe the threat that BPCITs pose is ongoing, pervasive, and may be increasing.” They urge lawmakers to probe their ongoing investigation “to all of CBP.”
Recent polling conducted by SBCC and the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego, shows that most voters believe that independent prosecutors are needed to review cases involving agent abuses. “77% either ‘somewhat support’ or ‘strongly support’ having prosecutors review cases involving Critical Incident Teams (CITs) for potential obstruction of justice,” findings said.
We need your help to write 10,000,000 letters to infrequent but Democratic-leaning prospective voters in key congressional districts and Senate swing states this election, urging them to exercise their right to vote. Sign up with Vote Forward and join the most popular and effective Get Out the Vote (GOTV) activity in Daily Kos history.
RELATED STORIES:
Victims' families urge new look into Border Patrol abuses: 'They covered up what happened'
Disturbing New York Times' report shines light on Border Patrol's deadly car chases
National survey findings reveal most voters 'simply do not trust' U.S. border agents