Congress Members Demand Answers About Slurs, Bigotry From Border Patrol Agents

Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) are demanding an update on the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to quash racism and bigotry within its ranks after HuffPost reporting revealed widespread use of anti-immigrant slurs among Border Patrol agents.

A series of communications disclosed to HuffPost under the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year showed Border Patrol agents, including several in supervisory roles, routinely using the derogatory slur “tonk.” The term has an uncertain origin, but Border Patrol agents who use it widely believe that it comes from the sound of bashing a migrant in the head with a heavy-duty flashlight. The records also showed Border Patrol agents joking about killing migrant children by donating faulty car seats to a charity drive or spiking Rice Krispy Treats with cyanide.

HuffPost’s reporting “raises concerning questions and highlights a continuing pattern of unacceptable and derogatory rhetoric,” the members of Congress wrote in a letter sent Friday to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.

“I’m an immigrant myself and from an immigrant family, so obviously I was just really heartbroken and angered that this kind of language is being used,” Garcia said in an interview with HuffPost. “Obviously migrant children and families are not a joke. They’re suffering. They’re oftentimes running away from extreme and tragic conditions. So it’s really important that there’s oversight.”

The letter requests a detailed accounting of Homeland Security’s disciplinary actions since November of last year.

It asks how many employees of Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol’s parent agency, have appeared before the Discipline Review