Joel Martinez, acting deputy chief of U.S. Border Patrol, was suspended on Thursday amid allegations of misconduct, according to a report.
The Washington Post, which cited three Customs and Border Protection sources, reported that Martinez left the agency’s Washington headquarters immediately following the suspension.
He was not placed under arrest, it said, and no details about his alleged misconduct were made available.
CBP spokeswoman Erin Waters said in a statement to the Post that her agency does “not tolerate misconduct within our ranks.”
“When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations,” she said.
“Federal privacy laws prohibit discussion of individual cases,” Waters concluded
Martinez has been acting deputy chief since last month, the Post reported.
According to a June post on the CBP website, he had worked for the agency for 31 years at that time.
Martinez began his career as a Border Patrol agent at the Laredo South Border Patrol Station in 1992.
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According to his LinkedIn page, he began his career in the role of senior Border Patrol agent.
He spent the next three decades working his way up into senior leadership positions.
“In May of 2019, he became the Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of the Laredo Sector, before later assuming the duties as Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of the Rio Grande Valley Sector,” CPB said in the June post.
Martinez earned a bachelor’s degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Management from Ashford University, which is now called the University of Arizona Global Campus.
It was unknown whether his role would be filled by another individual within the agency during his suspension.
The misconduct allegation comes as CPB and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, have come under fire for failing to secure the country’s border with Mexico amid a historic flood of illegal immigration under the leadership of President Joe Biden.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
