Thousands of US border guards mocked the suffering of migrants in a secret Facebook group

US Customs and Border Protection officers are being investigated for allegedly posting racist and sexist jokes in a closed Facebook group. The targets of their jokes were migrants and congressmen of Latin American origin.

Фото: Depositphotos

A closed group on the social network has 9500 users, writes Air force. Among them, according to the information of the non-governmental human rights organization ProPublica, there are both former and current employees of the US Border Management Board.

In some posts, members of the community scoff at the death of migrants trying to move to the United States. The object of ridicule in some posts are members of the Congress of Hispanic origin.

The leadership of the US Customs and Border Guard Service called such publications completely unacceptable.

“All officers who violate the rules of conduct will be held accountable,” said Border Patrol Commissioner Carla Provost.

On the subject: Do not share $ 4,5 billion: Trump and Congress again in conflict over illegal immigrants

According to ProPublica, abusive jokes were published in a chat on Monday with members of Congress of Latin American origin who visited temporary detention centers for migrants in Texas on July 1.

Much of the offensive jokes were sexist in nature and concerned women in the congressional delegation. In particular, the object of many sexist jokes and the heroine of one of the offensive cartoons was 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, a member of the US House of Representatives.

Photo: Twitter @ video framecolbertlateshow

Insults in the chat sounded and addressed to colleagues Okasio-Cortes in the congress of Veronica Escobar.

The author of one of the posts offered to throw both women of Latin American origin a burrito (Mexican national dish).

The BBC could not independently confirm the existence of this closed Facebook group, as such secret groups cannot be found in a search on the social network, and access to them is closed to everyone except members of the group.

ProPublica obtained screenshots of several recent discussions in the group and was able to link participants in those online conversations to Facebook profiles belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

On the subject: US border agents harass and rape detained immigrant women

According to the official representative of the border patrol service Matthew Klein, the agency is now conducting an investigation. He confirmed that the group actually included service staff. However, he refused to clarify what posts they hold in the department.

According to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, she was not surprised by the offensive publications of border guards on social networks.

She said that these insults reflect the realities and attitudes she faced while visiting detention centers in Texas.

After a trip to Texas, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that Border Patrol agents were forcing migrant women to drink water from toilets.

Photo: Twitter screenshot

She wrote that she herself had become the object of threats of a physical and sexual nature. The US Border Patrol Service has not yet commented on the words Ocasio-Cortes.

The Washington Post newspaper, citing an anonymous source in the Department of Homeland Security, reported that there was drinking water in migrant detention centers, and no one from the service should have forced migrants to drink water from toilets.

On the subject: Photograph of illegal immigrants drowned at the border caused a surge of indignation in the US

Okasio-Cortez visited the detention centers in the congressmen group on Monday. The group arrived in Texas to inspect detention centers for migrants the day after the publication of a photograph of a migrant from Salvador Oscar Ramirez and his daughter Valeria, who drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande. This picture caused another outburst of indignation in the United States about the policy of the administration of President Trump towards migrants.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic congresswoman, called the camps where the children of illegal immigrants are held “concentration camps” and refused to apologize for her words.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• Since the beginning of his term as president, Donald Trump has dramatically tightened his migration policy in order to reduce the flow of illegal migrants into the country.
• Early june mexico agreed to take “unprecedented steps” to curb the flow of migrants through its territory to the United States. Otherwise, President Trump threatened to introduce trade duties against Mexico.
• According to official statistics, the number of cases of illegal border crossing is steadily decreasing since 2000.
• In 2000, 1,6 million people were detained while attempting to illegally cross the border. Last year - 400 thousand. In 2017, the first year of Trump's presidency, this figure was at its lowest point since 1971.
• The relatively small number of detentions was due to the low number of migrants who attempted to enter the United States from Mexico. However, in the past two years, and especially in recent months, the number of detentions has begun to grow.
• In February of this year, Donald Trump announced a state of emergency on the border with Mexico.
• Last week, John Sanders, acting head of the US Border and Customs Administration, resigned.
• Last week, the US Congress approved a package of humanitarian aid worth 4,5 billion dollars for the US-Mexico border.

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