Seven of nine U.S. Border Patrol sectors along the U.S.-Mexico border operated “homegrown” teams to investigate critical incidents with no oversight from Border Patrol headquarters, including the San Diego Sector, which created the first such unauthorized unit more than 35 years ago, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The Southern Border Communities Coalition, which first shed light on such units in a 2021 letter to Congress that described them as “cover-up teams” and “shadow police,” said the new report “points to widespread and ongoing abuse of power at the nation’s largest law enforcement agency.”
The coalition said the GAO report validates concerns it raised that the critical incident teams — which were disbanded in 2022 — were used to shield Border Patrol and its employees from criminal and civil liability when agents used deadly force or were otherwise involved in critical incidents, such as those that resulted in serious injuries or deaths.