Border Patrol Critical Incident Teams

The US Border Patrol maintained Critical Incident Teams, commonly called BPCITs, in each of their 20 sectors for decades. BPCITs are the nation's largest secret police coverup teams ever discovered. These teams were developed separately of each other and at differing times at the request of each sector chief. To date, there has been no evidence found that BPCITs were created by Washington D.C. management. 

BPCITs became known when Jenn Budd came forward and blew the whistle through Southern Border Community Coalition and their investigation of the 2010 Anastasio Herenandez Rojas killing by over a dozen CBP agents. The research and information supplied by by Jenn Budd showed that each sectors' CIT unit was developed independently but with influence and insight from other sector CITs. It was common for CITs in different sectors to use different names such as Sector Evident Team (SET), Critical Incident Investigative Team (CIIT) and even Evidence Collection Team (ECT).

The first BPCIT was established in secret in the San Diego sector in 1987 during a time when the sector was experiencing a large increase in agent involved shootings. As time progressed, each sector chief called upon the San Diego CIT agents to recreate the team within their own sectors. Sector chiefs used these teams to investigate any incident they deemed newsworthy. This included all use of force cases, sexual assaults by agents, injuries, pursuit crashes and deaths, agent suicides, in custody deaths, basic traffic accidents and anything the chief believed could reflect poorly on the agency. This includes on-duty as well as off-duty cases.

There is no legal authority granted by Congress for BPCITs to exist. 

Legal authority for Border Patrol agents can be found under 6 USC 211. Although this authority allows agents to enforce immigration, customs, and narcotics laws and to conduct preliminary investigations, these investigations are limited because the agency’s authorities are under 1896 series designation instead of the 1811 series of authorities that agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) holds.  

1896 authorities limit the Border Patrol’s powers to “general inspections, investigation, enforcement, and compliance actions” only when they are enforcing their immigration duties at the time.  Agents may make arrests outside of this scope but only if the crime is committed within their presence and they must call other agencies with those powers to make the arrest and conduct the investigation. Agents do not have legal authority to investigate any crimes outside of their authority.  

The US Border Patrol is specifically not allowed to conduct investigations into themselves because they lack this authority. Local and state law enforcement agencies are given this power if the incident occurs within their jurisdiction. Federal oversight into the agency requires investigations to be conducted by the Department of Homeland Security-Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or Customs and Border Protection-Office of Professional Responsibility (CBP-OPR). Cases prior to the development of DHS and CBP in 2003 were handled by local, state, the FBI and OIG. 

The US Border Patrol and its agents do not have any legal authority to investigate outside of their authorities. BPCITs were therefore illegal investigative units. They secretly and illegally acted as evidence technicians into the actions taken by their own agents both on-duty and off-duty for 35 years without the knowledge of Congress. Being the first on the scene, CIT agents often engaged in obstruction, evidence tampering, witness tampering, intimidation and threats. The evidence collected by CITs is often incomplete, tampered with and the chain of custody is rarely maintained making the evidence unusable in a court of law. There has never been any documentation or evaluation of their existence or training evaluated by a court of law, yet courts across the country, state and federal, allowed them to act as if they were legal and trained evidence technicians. 

As Jenn explained, "People outside of the US Border Patrol were unaware of the BPCITs existence because we kept our Use of Force and Pursuit policies secret by claiming they were 'all enforcement sensitive.' It wasn't until after the Anastasio case that the agency released a public Use of Force manual. The main difference between the secret 2010 Use of Force Manual and the new 2014 Use of Force Manual was that Border Patrol deleted the 'law enforcement sensitive' information that ordered agents to call the sector BPCIT unit before calling outside investigators. This was how we doctored the scenes to match our narratives."

On May 3, 2022, CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus ordered the BPCITs to disband 6 months  after the Southern Border Communities Coalition filed their complaint. As usual, the Border Patrol will not be held accountable for all the crimes they covered up as it appears that they had CIT agents simply resign their positions and re-hired them under CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The same agents who covered up every single serious incident in the US Border Patrol secretly and illegally for decades continues under CBP-OPR. 

• Al Jazeera's Fault Lines - December 12, 2022

• Washington Post - May 12, 2022
• American Friends Services Committee - April 22, 2022
• American Civil Liberties Union - July 7, 2022
• CBS - November 1, 2021
• Jenn Budd - July 27, 2021

1. Anastacio Hernandez-Rojas  - On May 28, 2010, Hernandez was beaten and tased to death because he requested medical attention after Border Patrol Agent Gabriel Ducoing kicked him. BPCIT agents tampered with evidence, deleted videos and photos of the incident, changed reports and obstructed the San Diego PD in their investigation. To date, no agent has been held accountable, and several were promoted. Southern District of California Court Case #11CV00522-L-DHB, BPCIT Report #100528F1.CHU.
2. Valeria Munique Tachiquin-Alvarado - On September 28, 2012, Border Patrol Agent Justin Tackett confronted Tachiquin (a US citizen) as she was leaving an apartment. He placed himself in front of her vehicle and claimed she bumped into him forcing him onto the hood where he then shot her 9 times killing her. He was not wearing a uniform or showing his badge according to reports. No one was ever held accountable for her killing. Southern District of California Court Case #13CV01202-LL and #13CV01202-W-JMA, BPCIT Report #120928F1.SDC.
3. Alexander Arthur Martin - March 15, 2012 Border Patrol agents driving unmarked cars stopped Martin (a US citizen) near the I-8 Checkpoint. Agents ordered him out of his car. Before he could exit his vehicle, Border Patrol Agent Roy Salcedo fired a taser that ignited a fire within Martin's car and he burned to death. The federal court denied any restitution to his family. Southern District of California Court Case #13CV1386-LAB-BGS, BPCIT Report #unknown.
4. Jose Alfredo Yanez-Reyes - June 21, 2011 Yanez was shot by Border Patrol when agents Dorian Diaz and Chad Michael Nelson claimed he threw rocks and debris at them while he was perched in a tree right on the border. Neither agent was injured or showed any evidence of being assaulted. No one was held accountable. Southern District of California Court Case #13CV0469-WQH-BGS, #16CV01216-WQH-BGS, #16CV01156-WQH-BGS. BPCIT Report #110621S1.
5. Julian Ramirez-Galindo - In February 2014, Border Patrol Agent Daniel Bassinger shot and killed Ramirez. BPA Bassinger claimed Ramirez a rock at him. No injuries were reported by agents. No one was held accountable.  District of California Court Case #15CV01694-W-NLS. BPCIT Report #140218F1.CHU.
6. Guillermo Martinez-Rodriguez - On September 30, 2005, Border Patrol Agent Faustino Campos shot and killed Martinez. No one was held accountable.  District of California Court Case #06CV02753-W-JMA. BPCIT Report #05064A1.CHU. 
7. John Hendrickson - In August of 2009, Hendrickson (US Citizen) was riding his motorcycle when Border Patrol Agent Ryan Moore hit him with his vehicle. Hendrickson's leg was damaged so badly that it had to be amputated. BPCIT was first on scene and blocked California Highway Patrol from interviewing BPA Moore and moved the vehicles before he could conduct his investigation. No one was held accountable.  District of California Court Case #11CV01746-LAB-NLS. BPCIT Report #090827T1.CHU. BP Serious Incident Report (SIR) #09SDCCHU-082709000061(0).

1. José Antonio Elena-Rodriguez - On October 10, 2012, 16-year-old Jose was walking down the street in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to meet his brother after work. At the same time, drug smugglers nearby were trying to smuggle some marijuana when Border Patrol responded. Border Patrol Agent Lonnie Swartz claimed that his life was in danger from Jose throwing rocks up a dover the giant steel border wall. There has never been any evidence provided to show that Jose was doing anything other than walking down the street. BPA Swartz ran past other law enforcement officers and when he reached the wall, he unloaded his gun into the back and head of Jose killing him. Swartz and other agents on the scene allowed agents and vehicles to walk and drive over the evidence for 45 minutes before BPCIT showed up. The FBI agent in charge of the investigation testified that she always allowed the illegal and unauthorized BPCIT to identify and collect all the evidence and based her conclusions on that evidence. The BPCIT agents only collected the rocks that agents involved pointed to, improperly used a 3D imaging system which got the measurements wrong, failed to pinpoint the area where the gun was fired from, failed to conduct DNA tests on the rocks they claimed Jose threw and failed to secure video surveillance. The Sonoran State Police conducted the investigation into Jose's body, but the jury and court were not aware they were trained by the illegal BPCIT. The court allowed the evidence obtained by BPCIT as if they were a legal evidence collection team and experts in forensics. The jury ended up hung because the evidence was so poorly collected and maintained. No one was ever held accountable. No law enforcement personnel were injured. District of Arizona Court Case #15CR01723-RCC-DTF. BPCIT Report # unknown. BP Serious Incident Report (SIR) #13-TCANGLE-101112000012(4). BP Use of Force Incident #UFB20121010004. BP Assault on an Agent Report #NGL-13-1000244. ICAD #1789. 
2. Francisco Dominguez-Rivera - Dominguez was shot and killed by Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett on January 12, 2007. Witnesses to the shooting testified that BPA Corbett was driving around them with his gun in his hand. When he exited the car to confront the group, he shot Dominguez. Agents on the scene gave conflicting statements, and Corbett's own testimony did not match the evidence or witness testimonies. Still, thanks to the poor evidence collection of the BPCIT, two juries hung and BPA Corbett was never held to account. No agents were harmed in the incident. District of Arizona Court Case #07CR01508-DCB-BPV. 
3. Jesus Castro-Romo - On November 16, 2010, Romo was whipped and shot by Border Patrol Agent Abel Canales. BPA Canales used his long reins of his horse to whip Romo and when Romo tried to escape the whipping, he shot him in the stomach. Romo survived. BPA Canales was not injured and claimed Romo tried to throw a rock at him. BPA Canales was later convicted of taking bribes. (See the corruption page of this site.)  Although prosecutors objected to BPCITs being used in court by the federal government as expert witnesses, the judge allowed their testimony. The same FBI agent in the Elena-Rodriguez case was assigned. She once again allowed BPCIT to identify and collect all the evidence, and then used that evidence for her report and conclusions. BPCIT never confirmed the location of BPA Canales when he shot Romo. BPCIT stated they had no idea which rock was used, but they gathered some rocks from the general area to use in court as evidence. District of Arizona Court Case #12CV00041-JAS. BP Serious Incident Report (SIR) #11-TCANGLE-111610000052(9). BP Assault on an Agent Report #NGL-11-110319. ICAD #632. Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office Report #101116002. 

1. Sergio Adrian Hernandez-Guereca - On June 7, 2010, BPA Jesus Men, Jr. shot and killed 15-year-old Hernandez from the US side as he played in Juarez, Mexico. BPA Mean claimed that Hernandez had thrown rocks at him and that the feared for his life.   Video did exist and it showed that Hernandez did not throw a rock but that he was in fact hiding behind a bridge pillar. When Hernandez peeked around the pillar to see if it was safe to leave, BPA Mena shot and killed him.  No agent was ever held accountable for Hernandez' death. No law enforcement were injured. Western District of Texas Court Case 11CV00027-DB. BP Serious Incident Report (SIR) #1-EPTEPS-06071000125(3). 
2. Jesus Guerra - On August 30, 2017, Border Patrol Agent Ruben N. Zamora was driving a Border Patrol service vehicle when he failed to yield for Guerra's vehicle and hit him. This was not a pursuit. Guerra was injured and the BPSET did an investigation even though they had no authority to do so. In civil court, they used their findings to try and deny Guerra and compensation for bis injuries. The BPSET even followed Guerra around taking pictures of him walking or working years later to try and prove he was a liar. They even included his past driving and criminal records to say he was lying even though the Border Patrol management found BPA Zamora to be negligent in the accident. Border Patrol refused to hand over their BPSET report without heavy redactions claiming it was law enforcement sensitive. Western District of Texas Court Case #18CV00270-FM. El Paso PD Report #17-242112. 

1. Juan Mendez, Jr. -  Mendez was shot and killed by Border Patrol Agent Taylor Poivenent in October 2010. There is no contesting the fact that Mendez was smuggling narcotics at the time he was encountered by BPA Poivenent, however the coverup that ensued afterwards by the BPCIT was illegal and never discovered until now. As Border Patrol secret policy dictated, the BPCIT was called within 7 minutes of the killing. The independent investigative agencies who had authority to investigate were not notified until 1.23 hours later. This was to allow the BPCIT to get the evidence and agent testimonies in line with the narrative they would put forth to the press. The BPCIT report only listed Border Patrol agents involved as witnesses and did not mention or identify any of the residents who witnessed the killing. In court, then Del Rio Sector Chief Rodolfo Karische was forced to submit a declaration stating who all investigated the case and he omitted that his BPCIT agents were the ones who identified and collected the evidence. This is documented in the BPCIT report (number is redacted). The official investigation was assigned to Texas Ranger's Coy Smith who claimed the scene's evidence was processed by the FBI and Maverick County Sheriff's, but again, it was the BPCIT who did this according to their own report. Ranger Smith did not arrive on the scene until late in the evening after the shooting and only used BPCITs evidence , maps and calculations to write his report and conclusions. Witnesses did confirm that Mendez did physically fight with BPA Poivenent, but that he escaped and was running to the border when BPA Poivenent shot him twice in the back. No one was held accountable for Mendez' killing. BPA Poivenent was not seriously injured. Southern District of Texas Court Case #13CV00054-AM. BP Serious Incident Report (SIR) #redacted but available. BP Use of Force Report #redacted but available. BPCIT report #redacted but available. Texas Ranger Report #RG-2011-00015.