U.S. Border Patrol Suspends Agents for Racial Taunts

Three U. S. Border Patrol agents, including a supervisor, were suspended without pay for their roles in an incident last summer when an officer taunted hundreds of Mexican migrants with racial and sexual slurs amplified over his vehicle’s public address system, an official confirmed Wednesday.

The statement Wednesday by Ted A. Swofford, spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego, was the first official acknowledgement that the incident had occurred, although it was witnessed by three U. S. journalists, including a Times reporter, and was widely reported in the press.

The three agents, who were not identified, all served their suspensions within the past two months and are back on the force, said Swofford. He described the disciplinary action as severe.

Citing privacy concerns, Swofford did not identify the offending agents. He also would not elaborate on the terms of the suspensions, other than to characterize them as “substantial.” One knowledgeable official said two weeks was a likely term for the suspension of the supervisor, although that could not be confirmed.

Agents charged with administrative violations can face a range of penalties, from verbal reprimands to firings, Swofford said.

“The patrol’s feeling is that we are a professional organization and we pride ourselves on that,” Swofford said. “Any activity that is not professional will not be tolerated.”

Last summer, news of the broadcast slurs drew angry responses from Latino groups, who cited the actions as evidence that U.S. agents were provoking violence along the border. Less than two hours after the taunts were broadcast, a Border Patrol agent posted near the same area shot and wounded a 15-year-old Mexican boy, who agents said was about to hurl a rock at another agent.

The taunts occurred on the evening of Aug. 27 along the banks of the Tijuana River, a principal crossing point for undocumented immigrants. That evening, hundreds of border-crossers had gathered along the border fence and atop the river’s southern levee, waiting for an opportunity to slip farther into U. S. territory.

The agent spoke from a Border Patrol vehicle parked at the bottom of the mostly dry Tijuana River channel, about 250 yards north of the waiting migrants.

“Your mothers are all whores!” the agent said over the loudspeaker, speaking crude border Spanish and occasionally punctuating his comments with a cackling laugh and tapes of Mexican music. “All Mexicans are whores!”

The agent continued with a series of crude and sexually explicit comments.

The broadcasts provoked incensed responses from the massed migrants, who hurled insults back.

It was unclear if more than one agent had been involved in the actual taunts, or if the others had only abetted the effort.

The taunting continued for at least an hour. Migrants interviewed at the time said such broadcasts are not uncommon.

Swofford, the Border Patrol spokesman, said he had never heard of a similar incident.