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Many news outlets have confirmed that 60 Border Patrol agents have committed misconduct for participating in a private Facebook group and 2 of them were fired, which mocked migrants and legislators. On Monday, the investigators said in the most detailed public account yet of an episode that it tarnished the agency’s reputation. The House Oversight and Reform Committee staff report says most agents’ penalties were significantly reduced from recommendations of an internal review board. In the end, 43 others were suspended without pay, 12 got written reprimands, and 3 were disciplined in other ways, such as suspension with pay. Customs and Border Protection’s Discipline Review Board proposed that 24 of the 60 agents be fired after news organizations reported on the group in July 2019 but only 2 were fired. However, the department investigated 135 allegations of misconduct.

Moreover, one fired agent in Texas with 10 years in the Border Patrol posted an image of Pepe the Frog, (a symbol of the alt-right and white supremacy) and doctored images of President Joe Biden touching US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N.Y. The other is a California-based agent, who was at the agency for 20 years and was disciplined in 2005 for undisclosed reasons, published homophobic memes, and a doctored image of then-President Donald Trump raping a member of Congress. The report doesn’t name the lawmaker but Ocasio-Cortez has said she was depicted being raped on the Facebook group, named “I’m 10-15”. Point to be noted that “I’m 10-15” is Border Patrol code for migrants in custody. The report said it had about 9,500 current and former agents as members, including 2 agency chiefs.

Carla Provost was chief from August 2018 until January 2020 after more than a year as acting head, joined in 2017, and informed authorities that she used it to get an unfiltered gauge of reactions to her statements. Rodney Scott who succeeded Provost until being forced out in August said his membership enabled him to communicate with staff and know what the workforce is talking about. The report said that CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility found insufficient evidence to discipline Provost or Scott. Provost searched Facebook for “I’m 10-15” and was active on the social media site around the time of the offensive posts but didn’t contribute inappropriate content. Scott said he twice spotted questionable content involving migrants but that it didn’t rise to the level of reportable misconduct.