For years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was well aware of the now-infamous secret Facebook group made up of thousands of border agents who made racist and sexist jokes about migrants and Latina members of Congress.
Politico reported on Wednesday that despite the CBP publicly expressing shock when ProPublica exposed the group on Monday, the agency knew about the group and its offensive content for up to three years.
An unnamed current Department of Homeland Security official told Politico that the CBP knew about the group as early as 2016, when agents reported it to leaders.
A former DHS official told Politico that the border agency’s public affairs office was keeping tabs on the group over the past year “as a source of intelligence” to see “what people are talking about,” but “not as an item of concern.”
As far as the two officials are aware, nobody was ever seriously disciplined for the posts.
After ProPublica’s report came out, the CBP announced it was launching an investigation into the group.
