# Secret Border Patrol Facebook Page **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 1, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358 "2019-07-01T18:30:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/221 "2019-07-03T14:11:58Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > …ICE is a modern version of the local hillbilly police, wielding excessive and abusive power against strangers or any known entity who protests, simply because it can. It does seem that way. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/222 "2019-07-03T14:20:11Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > ICE is a modern version of the local hillbilly police, wielding excessive and abusive power against strangers or any known entity who protests, simply because it can. So what you’re saying is that bad news, the US is going to be swamped in John Rambos in the near future ; but on the upside you might get to win Viet-Nam a \*lot \*as a result ? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/223 "2019-07-03T14:22:46Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Yes. Thank you for your response(s)? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/224 "2019-07-03T15:55:51Z")
CNN spoke to a CBP agent, who made it pretty clear that denigration and dehumanization of migrants is quite common in the agency: [https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/border-patrol-official-confirm-poor-conditions-migrant-detention-centers](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/border-patrol-official-confirm-poor-conditions-migrant-detention-centers) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/225 "2019-07-03T16:49:19Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Right, right, and the swastika is a sun symbol, and the Confederate battle flag has nothing to do with slavery, and there is no such thing as a dog whistle. Good point. > [@Eonwe](#): > > Last year I was spending some time with a friend who lives in a nearby rural border town (US/Canada) where DHS/ICE is a (the only) major employer. He reported that at school events the parents swap stories pridefully about how they inconvenience, harass, and physically intimidate or abuse people. > > I don’t expect this second-hand story to be proof for anyone on the boards, but it illustrates for me that at best ICE agents hold all the people they interact with, citizen or not, in low regard, and particularly when those people speak a different language or have dark skin, and at worst they are are intentionally abusive and violent, whether because of some righteousness complex or simple antisocial/racist feelings. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and in their tiny world, ICE agents have been given absolute power. > > ICE is a modern version of the local hillbilly police, wielding excessive and abusive power against strangers or any known entity who protests, simply because it can. Cosigned. Also true of many of the border customs agents with maple leafs on their uniforms IME. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/226 "2019-07-03T17:07:09Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Cosigned. Also true of many of the border customs agents with maple leafs on their uniforms IME. Maybe the Canadians are simply making extra sure that no Ugly Americans (i.e.: Trump supporters) slip through into their fine country. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/227 "2019-07-03T17:10:05Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Maybe the Canadians are simply making extra sure that no Ugly Americans (i.e.: Trump supporters) slip through into their fine country. 😉 They should build a wall! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/228 "2019-07-03T17:57:01Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Well I was never arguing about the etymology of the English word “concentration camp.” I was talking about what AOC was calling civil servants. This discussion reminds me of the weird George Allen “macaca” kerluffle of 2006 or whatever when he called a pool reporter a weirdly out of date and rare racial slur, and pretended he didn’t know it was a racial slur when he used it. > > Or maybe you believe AOC was referring to early 20th century British concentration camps. Or that someone with her deficiency of IQ and logic and education would even know those ever existed. Are Customs and Border agents civil servants? ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/229 "2019-07-03T18:03:25Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Right, right, and the swastika is a sun symbol, and the Confederate battle flag has nothing to do with slavery, and there is no such thing as a dog whistle. > > Regards, > Shodan Not that it matters, but in the video where she first made reference to concentration camps she ended with “never again.” That is the title of Meier Kahanes book, and he is the one that first brought the phrase into light and popularized it and created a movement about it in the 1970s. It remains in common usage as a slogan in Holocaust Memorial literature. I suppose that it is possible that AOC was referring to the Boer war with her mention of concentration camps and not Nazis and that the “never again” might be a non sequitur shout out to the Parkland survivors who it appears unknowingly coopted the phrase (to the annoyance of some.) The skinhead with the tattoo of a swastika might just have it there to celebrate his Neolithic Vinka ancestry, or because he is an aficionado of old Coca-cola symbols. Similarly, his confederate flag might be suggesting that he opposes federal interference in constitutionally protected state issues in the form of unfundated mandates. You have to be very careful because these things are incredibly murky and mysterious and impossible to pin down. It could mean anything! My take on it is that the cover up is worse than the crime. Everybody knows exactly what she meant, and it’s really not so terrible. Weaseling waxy from it, and trying to redirect by frignuing anger at anyone who dared imply she was invoking the holocaust is the real problem. On a scale of 0-10 I am bothered a 0.248. For comparison when someone uses the term irony to refer to poetic justice this bothers me a .386. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/230 "2019-07-03T18:41:43Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Are Customs and Border agents civil servants? Yes. In fact, outside of the military, you are more or less either a civil servant or a presidential appointee, subject to confirmation by the Senate. That’s simplistic, of course, there are exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/231 "2019-07-03T19:08:26Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Right, right, and the swastika is a sun symbol, and the Confederate battle flag has nothing to do with slavery, and there is no such thing as a dog whistle. > > Regards, > Shodan Right. And continuing to argue a point after a moderator has placed it out of bounds is a path to success. Warning issued. Pay attention next time. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/232 "2019-07-03T21:02:12Z")
Deleted because I think it goes against last page’s moderation. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/233 "2019-07-03T22:33:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes. In fact, outside of the military, you are more or less either a civil servant or a presidential appointee, subject to confirmation by the Senate. That’s simplistic, of course, there are exceptions. And those exceptions would be? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/234 "2019-07-03T23:35:52Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > What violations are you referring to? Something posted to the private FaceBook group or something unrelated to it? There are numerous reports of children in the camps being subject to sexual assault or harassment. They may not be suffering diagnosed mental or psychological maladies, but the abuse they have inflicted certainly meets the standard of _A pattern of high-risk, irresponsible, aggressive, anti-social or emotionally unstable behavior._ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/235 "2019-07-04T00:59:48Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > And those exceptions would be? Temps, contractors, elected officials, etc etc. > **[Who Are the Bureaucrats? \[ushistory.org\]](https://www.ushistory.org/gov/8c.asp)** > > Who Are the Bureaucrats? _About 90% of all federal bureaucrats are hired under regulations of the civil service system. Most of them take a written examination administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and they meet selection criteria, such as training, education levels, or prior experience. Some of them take special tests and meet special criteria, such as postal employees, FBI agents, CIA intelligence officers, foreign-service officers, and doctors in the Public Health Service._ ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/236 "2019-07-04T01:31:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Thank you for your response(s)? You’re welcome. You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/237 "2019-07-04T05:09:32Z")
Style iip: Don’t be repetitious and redundant. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/238 "2019-07-04T05:12:11Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Style iip: Don’t be repetitious and redundant. Another tip: dot your i’s, cross your t’s, but don’t confuse them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/239 "2019-07-04T05:35:20Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Another tip: dot your i’s, cross your t’s, but don’t confuse them. You’ll be okay dotting your t’s. But if you cross your i’s, they could get stuck that way. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358/240 "2019-07-04T05:36:31Z")
When was it, about ten years ago or so? When everything started getting printed in tiny, illegible fonts? About the same time as they started welding shut the caps on pickle jars? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secret-border-patrol-facebook-page/836358.md?page=13)