4 border agents fired over racist & violent secret Facebook group; Escobar says it’s not enough

LOS ANGELES, California -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, has fired four border agents and suspended more than three dozen other employees without pay after a year-long investigation into what the agency called “inappropriate social media activity,” the Los Angeles Times has reported.

A secretive Facebook group called “I’m 10-15," the code used by Border Patrol for migrants in custody, had nearly 10,000 members at one point. It often featured violent, sexist and racist posts about migrants and Hispanic members of Congress.

El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar was one of those targeted by “hateful attacks” from the group which she said also "mocked the deaths of migrants, vulnerable people dehumanized by a broken system.”

Escobar said on Twitter that she has never received the investigation results from CBP, but added that the probe didn't go far enough in her view.

“The posts shouldn't have just triggered firings but also an investigation into why other members never reported it,” she said.

The internal agency investigation was launched last summer after media reports first brought the secret group's existence to light.

Texas Congressman Joaquín Castro, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told the L.A. Times that he would be requesting more information “on why so few individuals were terminated and held fully accountable.”

“For far too long, there has been a rancid culture and systemic problems within Customs and Border Protection,” Castro told the newspaper.