Some Democratic members of Congress are requesting answers about the Border Patrol’s frequent use of Essential Incident Teams, or so-called” ghost units.”
In order to protect agents from civil or criminal liability, these investigation groups ( CITs ) were assigned to incidents involving Border Patrol agents and have been accused of intimidating witnesses and defaming or falsifying evidence.
A May 13 report from the U. S. Office of Government Accountability Office states the units “were widespread — used in seven of nine U. S. Border Patrol sectors, including San Diego, on the southwest border — and operated for years with little to no oversight” . ,  ,
These” shadow units”, which were ordered disbanded in 2022, left U. S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility ( OPR ) in charge of investigating critical incidents — incidents involving CBP personnel that result in a serious injury, a death, a use of deadly or excessive force, or widespread media attention.
In a letter to Biden presidency leaders, U. S. Reps. Juan Vargas, Sara Jacobs and , Scott Peters, of the San Diego area, and , Joaquin Castro, of Texas questioned how these devices operated for so much with little to no supervision.
After claims that the company had” special, secretive products that worked to cover up any wrong when agents used force in potentially dangerous ways” were made public in 2021, Vargas and his colleagues called for an exploration into the CITs.
The GAO agreed to conduct an inspection.
This statement raises important questions about how these units were able to work for so much with little oversight, Vargas said. The American people “deserve nothing less than full transparency,” CBP says it’s crucial that they take steps to make sure that something like this always occurs repeatedly.
The GAO record suggests that CBP needs to take extra steps to improve its reaction to incidents involving its staff as CITs have just been disbanded and OPR is in charge of investigations. GAO discovered that OPR did not have the resources necessary to carry out these tasks, but it has since grown, including almost doubling its analyst workforce.
The document also discovered that despite Border Patrol areas dissolved CITs, their employees also conduct non-critical investigations, such as car crashes without injuries, and do so “inconsistently.”
The report recommends that Border Patrol apply advice that standardizes business approaches to noncritical event response and ensures compliance with the guidance, and that OPR develop guidance for investigators on identifying possible impairments of their independence and train investigators on how to use the guidance, according to the report.
According to Vargas,” the full implementation of these tips is particularly important for our constituents who live close to the US-Mexico border, where many of them frequently interact with CBP officials as they travel between the US and Mexico to operate or visit with family.”
Border Report is awaiting a reply from CBP in response to the GAO statement. The GAO report says that CBP concurs with its advice.
