The Border Patrol says it’s investigating 70 current and former employees for being part of a secret Facebook Group filled with racist and misogynistic comments. The group, which has nearly 9,500 members was initially reported by ProPublica for post that "jokingly" describe immigrant deaths and sexual acts occurring between Democratic female lawmakers with detained immigrants. Beyond mocking, messages on the group made light of the death of at least one immigrant with indifferent comments reading "oh well" and "If he dies, he dies."
The online group has been up and running since August 2016 and is titles "I'm 10-15" aka a Border Patrol code for “aliens in custody.”
The chief of Border Patrol, Carla Provost, previously has referred to the Facebook post as being "inappropriate," has now been found to be a member of the group. It is not clear whether she is being investigated as information on individual cases have not been released.
"These do not represent the thoughts of the men and women of the US Border Patrol," said Brian Hastings, Border Patrol chief of operations . "Each one of these allegations will be thoroughly investigated."
The Border Patrol has asked Facebook for a full archive of the messages in the secret group. Officials say they’ll decide later whether anyone will be fired or punished.