SAN DIEGO — More families whose loved ones were killed by border officials are calling for investigations into secretive Border Patrol units that have been accused of covering up what really happened in use-of-force cases.
The units are known by different names in different sectors of the border — Critical Incident Team, Critical Incident Investigative Team or Evidence Collection Team among them. Advocates have unearthed documents from cases spanning years that suggest regardless of name and location, these teams have worked to cover up wrongdoing by border officials when they kill or otherwise use lethal force. According to an internal presentation about the San Diego team, their job was to mitigate officials' liability.
Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency to Border Patrol, has maintained that the teams are there to help other investigating agencies in such cases, but police documents show that these teams have impeded or even taken over investigations by local law enforcement. The teams do not have authorization from Congress to investigate fellow agents' lethal uses of force.
