The Biden administration removed its second-in-command of the U.S. Border Patrol this week for an alleged misconduct violation.
The administration confirmed the removal of Acting Deputy Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Joel Martinez, a 31-year Border Patrol veteran, in a statement late on Thursday.
“We do not tolerate misconduct within our ranks,” the statement said. “When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations. This is the case whether the alleged misconduct occurs on or off duty. Federal privacy laws prohibit discussion of individual cases.”
The Washington Post reported that Martinez, who has held multiple leadership positions within the U.S. Border Patrol, was not under arrest.
Martinez’s removal comes just days after U.S. Border Patrol Academy Chief Ryan Landrum was also relieved of his command and placed on administrative leave.
The Border Patrol gave an identical statement on Landrum.
NEW: The #2 at U.S. Border Patrol is now out—Deputy Chief Joel Martinez has been removed and placed on administrative leave due to misconduct allegations—Agency officials did not provide details about what Martinez reportedly did to prompt this action, citing privacy laws.… pic.twitter.com/kgAgi3TeWe
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) February 16, 2024
The removal of the two Border Patrol officials comes as the Biden administration’s policies at the border have triggered what many have referred to as an “invasion” — millions of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S., overwhelming border states and cities across the country.
A new poll released by Pew Research Center this week found that only 18% of Americans believe that the federal government is doing a good job handling the border, a disastrous number for President Joe Biden heading into the November elections, while 80% of Americans believe that the government is doing a bad job.
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U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens said in an interview earlier this month that the agency was stretched so thin due to the scale of the crisis that he has serious concerns about the types of illegal aliens that are able to evade capture and sneak into the U.S.
“And those are the numbers [hundreds of thousands of known gotaways] that really, for us, keeps us up at night because if you know that all you need to do is turn yourself in to the Border Patrol and go through the process, what possible reason would you have for wanting to evade capture and put yourself in danger to cross through the desert or be in a stash house or lock yourself in the back of a tractor trailer?” he said. “Could it be that those are the folks that probably have criminal intent, that have bad intent, that represent a possible threat to the people of this country? That’s the kind of thing that keeps us up at night.”
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