Letter to Congress flags more than 170 allegations of sexual violence by CBP and ICE
The letter from the Southern Border Communities Coalition and Alliance San Diego calls for Congress to halt funding to the immigration agencies until legislators can conduct a thorough investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Maya Srikrishnan
Note: This story contains some descriptions of sexual violence and may be triggering for readers.
A journalist and human rights researchers found more than 170 instances of allegations of sexual misconduct by agents and officers working for Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a letter sent to Congress on Wednesday.
The letter calls for Congress to investigate Department of Homeland Security agencies, as it did the U.S. military after allegations of rampant sexual violence surfaced, and to stop funding the agencies in the meantime. It comes as members of Congress are considering giving CBP and ICE more than $60 billion in additional funding.
“The records are abhorrent in the breadth and the depth of sexual violence committed against women, children and vulnerable community members,” said Andrea Guerrero, executive director at Alliance San Diego, one of the organizations that sent the letter. “We know that sexual violence is underreported and we expect the same is true within DHS agencies.”
The Department of Homeland Security, CBP and ICE did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
The letter includes a list of incidents from 1975 through 2026 that span both the northern and southern border as well as a few other states. The list has 22 incidents in California. Journalist John Carlos Frey did much of the initial public records research to create the list, the letter says.
Among the cases are charges of sexual assault, rape, child pornography and sex with minors.
Guerrero emphasized that the list is not exhaustive. Rather, she called it a “collection of anecdotes” and said more investigation is needed to understand the full scope of the issue.
“What we presented was just the tip of the iceberg, but it is enough to ring all of the alarm bells, especially when Congress is considering a massive amount of additional funding,” Guerrero said.
According to the researchers’ list, 78 of the agents and officers were convicted in court. While many of them served or are serving time for their actions, at least five of the agents and officers convicted of crimes did not serve any jail time, according to the document.
Most of the people on the list worked or currently work for CBP, Guerrero said, particularly the Border Patrol.
The letter notes that several members of the Border Patrol's top leadership are on its list, including current Chief Michael Banks.
The Washington Examiner reported in April that Banks was previously under investigation after bragging about taking regular trips abroad to pay for sex but the investigation shut down abruptly under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. CBP told the outlet at the time that the allegations were from years before and had already been reviewed.
Among the many allegations, Guerrero said a few stuck out to her, including a Border Patrol agent who had sex with a child participating in a youth program run by the agency.
She noted that DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari had attempted to cover up information that 10,000 DHS staff had reported experiencing sexual harassment or assault at work, as reported by the Project on Government Oversight. Mother Jones and Reveal have also reported on the culture of impunity around sexual assault within the Border Patrol.
“Not only is that concerning for the scale of misconduct within the agency, but what does it mean for the scale of misconduct outside the agency for millions of people that DHS agents encounter every year?” Guerrero said.
She lamented the Trump administration's dismantling of oversight offices that are supposed to monitor DHS.
Some of the agents on the list, including Agent Juan Angel Prishker, who worked in the San Diego sector at the time allegations were made against him, were acquitted in court. Prishker resigned and now lives in Texas, according to inewsource.
Guerrero said that misconduct that didn't have enough evidence to meet the legal standard required for conviction should still be investigated by government oversight offices.
Through the attorney who represented him in the criminal case, Prishker declined to comment, citing an ongoing civil suit from one of the people who brought allegations against him.
After numerous sexual assault allegations arose against members of the military, Congress set up an independent commission, created a bipartisan caucus to follow the issue, passed legislation regarding it and funded oversight mechanisms, Guerrero said.
“We need all of that for DHS,” Guerrero said. “None of that is in place now.”
