New report on alleged sexual misconduct by Border Patrol

S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , we're exploring a recent report about alleged sexual misconduct and lack of accountability within the Customs and Border Protection Agency. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Just months away from the presidential election , a major source of debate continues to be enforcement and policies at the US-Mexico border. The Border Patrol , an agency at the center of that debate , is the subject of a new report by nonprofit newsroom Mother Jones. It focuses on alleged sexual misconduct between agency supervisors and trainees and questions about accountability. Customs and Border Protection did not provide comment to KPBS by our deadline , and listeners should know the following discussion contains references to sexual assault and misconduct. Joining me now to discuss the details is a contributor to Mother Jones Aaron Siegel McIntyre. She's currently writing a book about the history and culture of Border Patrol. Aaron , thank you so much for joining us.

S2: The pleasure to be here , Jay. Thank you.

S1: So if you could walk us through the story at the center of your report , I mean , it follows an alleged rape at the Border Patrol Academy in New Mexico. Sure.

S2: Sure. Yeah. So. So this piece for Mother Jones is almost an overview of sorts. It looks at the history of the Border Patrol , specifically in regards to impunity , accountability issues and misconduct. And so in order to talk about those very complicated and long standing issues , the piece focuses on one case in particular , which was a reported rape That did happen back at the Border Patrol Academy in the year 2019 , and that incident was never reported publicly. It never got any attention for some very good reasons. But it also is a good case to use in order to sort of begin to understand how misconduct allegations are treated internally and how they can and can't be resolved within the agency.

S1: And I think if we rewind the clock back a bit and take a step back and talk about the early origins of the Border Patrol as an under-resourced agency , that may paint a picture for us.

S2: So the patrol was founded back in 1924. It was sort of a really small , really scrappy outfit. And , you know , agents , many of them were cowboys. Um , they , you know , brought their own saddles. They , they rode horses. This this was an agency that was sort of under-resourced from the start , and agents did the best they could with the tools they had. And so they had a lot of autonomy , something which continued over time over the agency's history actually up until today. And they had a lot of bandwidth when it came to fulfilling their mission and doing their jobs. Right. Even today , agents go out by themselves a lot of the time , and they have a tremendous amount of autonomy when it comes to both apprehending and detaining the people they're tasked with , with patrolling. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. And , you know , so you reported that the number of agents doubled between 2001 and 2011 , and at the same time , misconduct grew. What were some notable cases during that time , and what do you think is behind this ? Sure.

S2: And just just to start off , when whenever a police agency or any agency grows , you know , it's normal for something like misconduct to also grow. I think what's different , though , about the Border Patrol is just how many instances have occurred , and also the way the agency is so opaque when it comes to telling the public , telling policy makers and telling the press what's actually happening. And so when we look at the Border Patrol , we can look at , let's say , their annual reports on integrity and discipline to try to get a handle on what's going on. But you can also look at things like data sets we can obtain via Freedom of Information Act request. And we can look at things like court documents and what sort of leaks out to the press here and there. And I think what's problematic is that we we know at this point we can't necessarily trust the Border Patrol to be reliable and truthful about what it is. They say , um , you know , an example of , of that might be when I set out to do my reporting on this specific case. There was one FOIA your request , I filed to CBP around the number of allegations related to sexual assault related misconduct over the past 22 years. And so when the agency did fulfill that request , they produced a spreadsheet that had 186 incidents listed out. And so as I made my way through that , that data set , you know , a 186 incidents over a 22 year span , that's not necessarily alarming. But what did stand out was the fact that there were some very high profile incidents that were omitted from that list , really glaring omissions , you know , cases that were covered extensively in the press in , in all different sectors.

S1: Well , as you mentioned , the trust just is not there for you with the agency. And so you've had to rely on data sets to tell this story.

S2: And that sort of gets to the heart of what this particular magazine piece is about , right ? It talks about just how hard it is to provide a comprehensive accounting of the scope of the problem , which , frankly , is what the public and policymakers need in order to help our laws and help our policies evolve. There's no way to do better if we don't know what we're actually working with. And so during my reporting , I didn't only rely on data sets. I also spoke to nearly two dozen agents and former agents about their experiences. And one thing that did stand out about that process is the fact that when you go to the Border Patrol headquarters , when you go to CBP and you ask them for comment , as a reporter , most of the time they sort of give you a textbook statement on background that they tend to trot out whenever misconduct rears its head. Right ? They'll say , hey , you know , we take all allegations really seriously and we always do a full investigation. We investigate fully and so that's fine and great. But CBP also tends to stonewall reporters. When I was reporting about this one particular case , they refused to make a single current agent available to me for an on the record interview. And that means we , as reporters , have to then just go around that barrier and do the sourcing on our own and convince agents to talk to us , which is a really tough situation in that if if any Border Patrol agent talks to the press without authorization from their superiors without getting permission first , that's actually a fireable offense. They could lose their jobs.

S1: And on that , while reporting this piece , you spoke with Kathleen Scudder , who she retired earlier this year. She previously worked in the San Diego sector. What were her thoughts on the culture and the agency.

S2: She did ? Yes. So ? So , former Agent Scudder. You know , she oversaw a lot in San Diego over a stretch of time. She was one of the people in charge during the very high profile bathroom paper case back in 2015 , 2016 , when a former agent on the critical incident team had planted video cameras in a female bathroom in San Diego sector. Um , you know , Miss Scudder , she strikes me as a source who had sort of seen it all , and someone who who expressed some disappointment with how when misconduct does occur , how that sort of tarnishes the badge for all agents. You know , it's it's less a question of like one bad apple here and there when , when there are so many cases , it does sort of put a stain on the agency that I think many agents themselves would say shouldn't be happening in the first place , right ? It's in everyone's best interests to sort of clean up wrongdoing when it happens.

S1: This is KPBS Midday Edition. We're back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman , continuing the conversation with Aaron Siegel , McIntyre contributor for Mother Jones , about alleged sexual misconduct within the U.S. Border Patrol. I mean , so describe for me what victims of this misconduct of these crimes are experiencing.

S2: In the case I've reported on for this Mother Jones piece , in particular , the narrative that the story is hung off of , it looks at the case of one young woman who had finally made it into the Academy and was training to be a Border Patrol agent. You know , she reported being raped by an instructor. She had confided in a classmate , and she didn't want to actually report. She didn't mean to make a formal complaint. Yet that classmate followed protocol. He sort of ran it up the ranks , turned it into their supervisor , who then called 911. The only reason I was able to find out about that case was because I asked the local police department , Artesia Police in Artesia , New Mexico , where the training academy is based , for all copies of 911 records over a certain span of time. And when I was reviewing them , I came across quite a number of different cases , including this one reported rape that felt worthy of looking into. And so once I started that process , talking to a lot of different sources who don't appear in the article , who were completely off the record , you know , it became clear what happened was that this young woman clearly thought she had no future at the Border Patrol because of what had happened. She left , sources say , the very next day because she knew she couldn't stay , given what had happened and how it had leaked out amongst her classmates and been reported.

S1: What was the outcome of that ? Right.

S2: So this 2019 reported rape case ended with the alleged victim leaving the agency and the alleged perpetrator again , a Border Patrol agent who had been serving in a capacity as an instructor at the academy. From what I can tell , he was able to keep his job. Um , up until this story came out. I haven't checked today , but he was still listed as a union rep in his sector in Texas. And so , you know , when I asked CBP about the allegation about what happened in that specific case , they wouldn't provide any details other than saying , you know , we're still looking into it , which , frankly , isn't backed up by the documents I obtained via FOIA , which made it seem like , you know , this victim wasn't willing to press charges. There's not a whole lot you can do in that case , right ? Local law enforcement closed their case and Artesia , but the Artesia teacher. Police file had been closed. Um , and although the statute of limitations didn't expire until actually this coming September , in regards to this specific sexual assault case , it's it's unclear what , if anything , the Border Patrol and CBP actually did or are doing. Mhm. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. Well.

S2: But critics say that there's a lot of work that still needs to be done. Those offices are still under resourced agents who move into more investigative positions , where they're tasked with looking at cases of reported misconduct against , you know , folks who could be their former buddies , their former , you know , coworkers in certain sectors and stations , people , critics will say that the training is an in-depth enough that , frankly , a lot more could be happening. Hmm.

S1: Well , you know , politics are in everything. We're in the thick of a presidential election year.

S2: And it's also a question that I pose to a couple different people that are pretty high ranking officials in the Border Patrol , including two different former commissioners of CBP. And one of them told me off the record that , you know , he really didn't think a whole lot would change simply because the issue is so politically toxic. It's it's like Kryptonite. Nobody wants to take on immigration. The system is so antiquated , and the patchwork of laws that govern how agents do their jobs , what they're what they're doing , how it gets constantly tweaked. I mean , it's frustrating for agents and for the public alike. And I think while reform is desperately overdue , it's a really tall order. And it's going to take , I would say , an ironclad political will to move that needle. I'm not sure it's going to happen , frankly.

S1: I've been speaking with Aaron Siegel McIntyre. She's a contributor to Mother Jones , a nonprofit news magazine. Aaron , great reporting , and thank you so much for being here today. Thank you. Jade.

S2: Jade.

S1: And again , Customs and Border Protection did not provide comment to KPBS by our deadline. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.