Sexual misconduct at a New Mexico Border Patrol Academy soared as hiring standards decreased

SEATTLE - A new report alleges that a Border Patrol academy has seen an increase in misconduct over the years as a push for recruitment has led to lower hiring standards.

The report detailed an account of a reported rape in September 2019 at the Border Patrol Academy located in Artesia, New Mexico, the victim being Violet, a 25-year-old Latina single parent who had left her daughter at home in California to attend training.

According to police, the suspect brought the woman back to her dorm room while she was intoxicated. When she woke up, he was "on top of her, having penetrative sex." They identified the suspect as an instructor and midcareer agent from Texas.

According to dozens of former agents, Violet's case is not an isolated one. Border Patrol's highly sexualized workplace leads to pervasive harassment and assault, many people quoted in the article said. In fact, the first Latina ever hired as an agent, Ernestine Lopez, said she was raped by an academy classmate in the 1970's. Lopez was fired after speaking out, but she later filed a suit and settled with the agency.

Data obtained from Customs and Border Patrol detailed 186 different allegations of sexual misconduct over the past 20 years. But despite the data coming from a federal agency, she noticed glaring omissions of some very high profile cases in which agents committed heinous crimes, were tried or found guilty and sentenced.

"it is clear you can't trust the government's numbers, and that's why the press is really important when it comes to keeping the Border Patrol accountable," the report said.

James Tomsheck, a former CBP internal affairs chief, publicly accused the agency of covering up lethal shootings, creating a culture of evasion and deceit, and failing to conduct adequate training or investigative misconduct. Tomsheck said that sexual misconduct was "a very disturbing pattern and practice of abuse that appeared to be part of the Border Patrol culture."

Ronald Hosko, a retired FBI assistant director for the criminal investigative division, told Reveal in 2014 that CBP leaders estimated a corruption rate of 20% or higher among their employees.

The report argues that the rapid growth of the agency after 9/11 lowered the hiring standards, thus increasing corruption levels. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of Border Patrol agents more than doubled. A report from the Office of Special Counsel found overtime abuses at six U.S. Border Patrol offices at a cost of $9 million annually. Employees would routinely add two hours to their workday, increasing their pay by 25 percent. Some employees would pass the time doing administrative tasks while others spent it "relaxing."