US Border Patrol agent, Matthew Bowen, 39, is charged with striking a Guatemalan man with his Border Patrol truck on December 3, 2017, and lying about the attack.
In texts, released in court documents, he called undocumented immigrants “disgusting subhuman shit unworthy of being kindling for a fire,” and asked the president to “PLEASE let us take the gloves off trump!”
Bowen sent messages to another border patrol agent, Lonnie Ray Swartz, who was recently acquitted of murder charges in the shooting of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez.
Other texts, shortly after the vehicle attack, show someone asking Bowen, “Did you gas hiscorpse or just use regular peanut oil while tazing?? For a frying effect.”
Bowen responded using a derogatory term for Guatemalan people, “Guats are best made crispy with an olive oil from their native pais.” País is the spanish word for “country.”
Bowen’s lawyer said the language in the text messages were “commonplace throughout the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, that it was part of the agency’s culture, and therefore said nothing about Mr. Bowen’s mindset.”
Bowen has a long record of violence against migrants.
Image: “Binoculars” by Anarchimedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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