A TikTok video has exposed a conspiracy of sexual harassment and abuse of power against at least three Mexican citizens in Las Vegas. A United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent, whose identity has not been released, was fired for attempting to contact the women on social media after their visas were revoked, the agency said itself get intimate with them by offering to help them process it. “He used his position to take our personal information and put us to bed,” Yanin Cabrera, one of those affected, explained on her Twitter.
CBP said in a statement to Univision on Tuesday: “This complaint is being investigated internally. The agent concerned is no longer working for the agency (…) We will not tolerate corruption or abuse within our ranks and will cooperate fully with any criminal or regulatory investigation into alleged misconduct by our employees on or off duty”.
Cabrera recounted the whole process on her social networks, initially in a casual tone, until two other women contacted her and assured them that the same agent had repeated an identical pattern with them. “When this went viral, I got a lot of messages saying the same thing had happened to them. Many officials take advantage of how vulnerable we become in these “small spaces.” [las salas donde fueron interrogadas en los aeropuertos] and how sad it is to lose a visa and it’s easier to manipulate us. We want them to kick out this manipulator, harasser, opportunist and sexist and investigate the entire department,” the young woman denounced in a Twitter thread.
Cabrera traveled to Las Vegas over a weekend in June to celebrate his birthday. A few months earlier, he had worked illegally in the United States for two months on a tourist visa. “I arrived at customs and as always everything was normal, they asked me for my documents, I handed them in and it seemed that they already had me on file because as soon as I gave them to them they said to me: ‘You you’re in the US for six months'”. The agents took her to another room, “some offices where there are many police officers”. After an interrogation, during which they thoroughly checked the personnel files on her mobile phone, the young woman finally admitted to having worked in the countryside.
One of the agents told him that his visa would be canceled for five years. Finally, after begging him, the police officer told him that he could process his papers again when he returned to Mexico. Also, at Cabrera’s request, he allowed her to spend the weekend in Las Vegas to celebrate her birthday. When the young woman returned to Mexican territory, she found a message from the same official. They struck up a conversation and a few weeks later he offered to visit her in Puerto Vallarta. She accepted even though they had never met.
All this process was told by Cabrera on his social networks. His publications gradually went viral. Eventually they reached two other women, Paloma Sandoval and a third, who preferred to remain anonymous but told Reforma her story under the pseudonym Daniela. In all cases, the modus operandi was identical: withdrawal of visa for working illegally in the United States – although in Sandoval’s case the young woman affirmed that she had never done so and only recognized him during interrogation out of fear -; followed by a promise to help them recover and later a message on social networks that he found thanks to the personal data he extracted from the young women’s documentation.
In the case of 19-year-old Daniela, according to Reforma, the agent invited her to his Las Vegas home where they slept together. He also came to travel to Mexico City to visit her and even meet the young woman’s family, always according to Cabrera’s testimony on her social networks. The police officer arranged to meet the three of them in Puerto Vallarta – at different times but in a timely manner – although in the end he never showed up and stopped answering the messages. Then, with the help of a lawyer, the three women filed a complaint with CBP, which went unanswered for more than three months.
Cabrera has indicated that since she began sharing the information on social media, other stakeholders have contacted her to report similar situations involving US border officials, “many in Las Vegas and some at other airports.” Roberto Serrato, attorney for the three young women, is collecting testimony from women who have had similar experiences with CBP officers.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information about current events in this country