The supervisor then continued to plan the agent’s retirement social gathering. Ms. Cali filed an employment discrimination criticism, however the ensuing investigation took almost two years to finish.
“They conceal sexual assaults and sexual harassment in opposition to largely feminine brokers,” mentioned Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent who left the company in 2001 after she mentioned she was sexually assaulted and crushed by a classmate on the Border Patrol coaching academy.
“The high-ranking male officers are inclined to get away with these crimes,” mentioned Ms. Budd, who now speaks frequently to girls within the company who inform her they’ve been harassed by fellow brokers.
Considerations concerning the tradition at Customs and Border Safety had been underscored final yr when particulars about sexual harassment or misconduct on the Division of Homeland Safety’s legislation enforcement businesses — together with the Border Patrol — had been discovered to have been withheld from an inspector basic’s report, based mostly on a draft launched final yr. The omission has fueled nervousness that there’s little accountability for such conduct.
Since then, the Homeland Safety secretary has reiterated his dedication to truthful therapy within the office.
“It’s our duty to supply each D.H.S. worker with knowledgeable setting freed from sexual harassment and different misconduct,” Alejandro N. Mayorkas wrote final yr in an April memo addressing the lacking inspector basic findings.
Individuals who have labored with Mr. Barker described him as extensively revered.
Mr. Barker’s two-decade profession on the Border Patrol was marked with one promotion after one other. He was a key official concerned in managing migration challenges on the southern border. Throughout the Trump administration, he was detailed to the division’s entrance workplace to advise the secretary on the time, Kirstjen Nielsen.
Mr. Barker joined the Border Patrol in 2000 and served in posts in Houlton, Maine; Detroit; Sonoita, Ariz.; Del Rio, Texas; and Washington, D.C. He would have possible been a prime contender to interchange the present Border Patrol chief, Raul Ortiz, when Mr. Ortiz ultimately retires.
Kitty Bennettand Seamus Hughes contributed analysis.
Supply: NY Times