DHS Urgently Looking Into Crisis Of…Bad Posts From Border Patrol Agents

Earlier this week, a ProPublica investigation found current and former Customs and Border Protection agents were members of a large private Facebook group filled with virulently racist, sexist, and openly threatening content, some of which directly targeted elected representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Today, two full days after the story broke and an extremely tense congressional visit to several CBP facilities, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan spoke up to say: He’s looking into it!

An investigation isn’t “immediate” if you’re two days late on it, but sure. It’s entirely possible that the department’s “investigation” will identify a few of the officers involved in posting the material, seeing as they were, you know, on Facebook, with their names displayed, and ProPublica already contacted CBP with some of their names. Those people will almost certainly be fired, if there’s any hint of justice.

The bigger question is whether McAleenan does anything to change the violent culture that led members of his agencies to post photoshopped images of an elected representative engaged in graphic sexual acts with the president. If not, nothing will change, and the officers involved will just move to another venue, group, or medium, while the people in their custody continue to suffer in conditions that McAleenan and his agency don’t seem inclined to investigate further.