Donald Trump has nurtured a culture of hate speech, open racism, and violence. Children of color have been bullied more frequently since he took office, and hate crimes have increased dramatically. People who have fallen into his cult may have just had those tendencies before, but at least they remained below the surface of civility in our culture rather than run rampant. A lone gunman shot up a mosque, and another man had bombs to blow up Democratic legislators and media figures. Trump even names those on his enemies list at his rallies. Yet, this new situation is completely unacceptable.
The acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security sounded as if he was surprised at how his Border Patrol agents were treating the refugees fleeing Central American violence. If that was so, he has not been doing his own job of managing the border. When the news emerged that nearly half of his people had created an ugly secret Facebook page, he said the alleged activities were “inexcusable:”
‘Reporting this week highlighted disturbing & inexcusable social media activity that allegedly includes active Border Patrol personnel. These statements are completely unacceptable, especially if made by those sworn to uphold the
As a result of the publicity, McAleenan decided to open “an immediate investigation.” Notice he did not say the agents would be fired, only that they would “be held accountable:”
‘I have directed an immediate investigation, and as the @USBPChief has made clear, any employee found to have compromised the public’s trust in our law enforcement mission will be held accountable. They do not represent the men and women of the Border Patrol or @DHSgov.’
What made the secret Facebook site so terribly awful was agents joked about a situation that came on the backs of men, women, and children stuffed into locked spaces for months, some with standing room only. By standing room, that means no one can lie down or even sit down. The children can hardly walk between their pallets in these freezing cold rooms let alone play.
Then, these agents joked about “floaters” (those who drowned) on their secret Facebook site. The laughed at the deaths of the refugees and talked about throwing burritos at members of the Latino Caucus when they toured the holding cells.
Their site was vulgar. One illustration was an edited photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a refugee.
The secret page has been operating since 2016 and has 9,500 members spread throughout the country.
Twitter world went bananas. Check out some of our favorites below:
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
