CLINT, Texas — The head of the U.S. Border Patrol on Monday slammed as “completely inappropriate” sexually explicit posts about U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and comments questioning the authenticity of a photo of a drowned man and his young daughter in a secret Facebook group for agents.
The existence of the secret Facebook group was reported by ProPublica as roughly a dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Democrats Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Veronica Escobar of Texas, toured border facilities where attorneys said they had found migrant children living in fetid, filthy conditions.
Some of the posts were graphic, doctored images of Ocasio-Cortez, including one that shows a smiling President Donald Trump forcing her head toward his crotch. Other comments refer to Ocasio-Cortez and Escobar as “hoes,” and one member encouraged agents to throw a “burrito at these bitches.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she wasn’t surprised by the posts, especially after the treatment of migrants she said she witnessed at the facility.
“It’s just indicative of the violent culture that we saw,” she said.
The revelation about the Facebook posts only added to the vitriolic atmosphere surrounding immigration and the treatment of tens of thousands of migrants who have crossed the border, vastly straining the system that has been struggling to keep up amid Trump’s hard-line rhetoric.
The Democrats delivered an emotional denunciation of what they saw inside the border facilities as protesters shouted that they didn’t believe them.
Trump said he hadn’t seen the postings, but claimed Border Patrol agents were not happy with Congress.
“So the Border Patrol, they’re patriots, they’re great people. They love our country. They know who’s coming in,” Trump said.
Lawmakers who toured the facilities shared their experiences widely on social media. Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts called them “jail-like. No way to keep a child or innocent human being.” The head of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, California Rep. Judy Chu, said “what we saw was appalling and disgusting.”
Castro said there would likely be a congressional investigation into the Facebook posts.
Billed as “fun, serious and just work related,” the group of about 9,500 members of current and former Border Patrol employees states: “We are family, first and foremost,” according to ProPublica.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of Border Patrol, said an investigation into “disturbing social media activity” was underway.
“These posts are completely inappropriate and contrary to the honor and integrity I see — and expect — from our agents day in and day out,” Border Patrol chief Carla Provost said. “Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable.”
Ocasio-Cortez raised hackles last month when she tweeted: “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.”
Her tweet set off a firestorm of criticism from GOP lawmakers and others over her use of “concentration camps,” with some saying she was unfairly comparing the southern border to the Holocaust. The Border Patrol’s union, while condemning the Facebook posts, also took a swipe at her.
“Whether one agrees with the politics of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Escobar, they both must be treated with dignity and respect,” according to a statement from the union. “Similarly, when Rep. Ocasio-Cortez refers to CBP facilities as concentration camps … she does nothing to improve the political discourse.”