Detained migrants told to drink toilet water, US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says, amid outcry over secret border agent Facebook group
- US Customs and Border Protection opens investigation into group where officers reportedly shared lewd or racist posts about Ocasio-Cortez and migrants
- Congresswoman says she spoke to women in cells who said agents waged ‘psychological warfare’ on them, waking them at odd hours and calling them names
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused US border agents of conducting a programme of “psychological warfare” against detained migrants who were told to drink water from toilets if they were thirsty.
The New York Democrat’s comments on Twitter came amid a report Monday that border agents used a secret Facebook group to share lewd posts about Ocasio-Cortez and at least one other Democratic lawmaker as well as racist comments about migrants.
“Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically & sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, referring to US Customs and Border Protection.
California congresswoman Judy Chu also said on Twitter that migrants were told to drink from the toilet if they wanted water. Pennsylvania congresswoman Madeleine Dean in a tweet called conditions “far worse than we ever could have imagined”.
The lawmakers were taking part in a delegation organised by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to El Paso and Clint, Texas, to investigate facilities used to detain undocumented immigrants.
Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter she “forced” herself into a cell to speak to women, who described “their treatment at the hands of officers as ‘psychological warfare’ – waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc”.
US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Monday it was opening an investigation into the Facebook group, which was first reported by the news organisation ProPublica.
It reported that members of the group shared a post in which a Photoshopped US President Donald Trump is shown to force Ocasio-Cortez’s head toward his crotch and another illustration suggesting she engaged in oral sex with migrants.
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“Today, US Customs and Border Protection was made aware of disturbing social media activity hosted on a private Facebook group that may include a number of CBP employees,” said Assistant Commissioner Matthew Klein. He said the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector is beginning an investigation.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ProPublica article.
US House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson called the Facebook group “beyond sexist and racist – it is truly abhorrent and shameful, and there is no excuse for this depraved behaviour. The agents found to be responsible for these vile comments should no longer have the privilege of representing the United States of America in uniform.”
Congress last week passed a US$4.5 billion emergency border funding bill aimed at improving conditions for migrants at the border. House Democrats were unable to secure all the provisions they wanted to force Homeland Security to improve the conditions in their facilities.
