High Border Patrol Official Resigned Amid Allegations of Improper Conduct

The supervisor then continued to plan the agent’s retirement celebration. Ms. Cali filed an employment discrimination criticism, however the ensuing investigation took almost two years to finish.

“They cover sexual assaults and sexual harassment towards principally feminine brokers,” stated Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent who left the company in 2001 after she stated she was sexually assaulted and overwhelmed by a classmate on the Border Patrol coaching academy.

“The high-ranking male officers are inclined to get away with these crimes,” stated Ms. Budd, who now speaks commonly to girls within the company who inform her they’ve been harassed by fellow brokers.

Considerations in regards to the tradition at Customs and Border Safety have been underscored final 12 months when particulars about sexual harassment or misconduct on the Division of Homeland Safety’s regulation enforcement businesses — together with the Border Patrol — have been discovered to have been withheld from an inspector normal’s report, based mostly on a draft launched final 12 months. The omission has fueled anxiousness that there’s little accountability for such conduct.

Since then, the Homeland Safety secretary has reiterated his dedication to honest therapy within the office.

“It’s our accountability to supply each D.H.S. worker with an expert atmosphere freed from sexual harassment and different misconduct,” Alejandro N. Mayorkas wrote final 12 months in an April memo addressing the lacking inspector normal findings.

Individuals who have labored with Mr. Barker described him as broadly 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 high contender to exchange the present Border Patrol chief, Raul Ortiz, when Mr. Ortiz finally retires.

Kitty Bennettand Seamus Hughes contributed analysis.