FALFURRIAS, Texas – The U.S. Border Patrol said an investigation is underway after a video shows one of their agents allegedly abusing a K9 in the Rio Grande Valley.
Video of the incident was shared to social media on Wednesday from the border checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, which is located approximately 165 miles south of San Antonio on U.S. Highway 281.
Does anyone recognize this Border patrol agent? She dragged the dog took him to the side of the building and started...
Posted by Jessica Pena on Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Jessica Pena, who recorded the video, claimed she saw a Border Patrol agent “drag” the dog and “took him to the side of the building and started kneeing him.”
“I tried getting off (sic) my car to maybe ask her to stop (because) it was ugly,” Pena said in her post to Facebook. “They yelled and told me to get back in my car.”
Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said in a statement Wednesday that her team has “made proper notifications to conduct a full investigation into this event.”
Chavez said the agency “takes every allegation seriously” and that the dog is safe.
STATEMENT U. S. Border Patrol Falfurrias Checkpoint K9 Incident "The U.S. Border Patrol takes every allegation...
Posted by US Border Patrol RGV Sector on Wednesday, January 1, 2025
“We love our dogs. They are very special law enforcement partners,” Chavez said in the statement posted to Facebook. “Any mistreatment or abuse by their handlers will not be tolerated in any capacity.”
The union representing U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, known as National Border Patrol Council Local 3307, expressed its support for the agent and how they handled the incident.
“The video shows the agent utilizing proper corrective techniques as she was trained to do by the Border Patrol’s own canine handler instructors,” the union said, in part, in a social media post on Thursday night. “The agent, as are all certified Border Patrol canine handlers, is a graduate of the USBP canine academy, a rigorous course in which prospective handlers are trained on how to ensure that they are the ‘alpha’ over the canine, which includes immediate corrections for a myriad of issues, to include disobedience.
The union described the incident captured on video as “corrective action” and “not abuse.”
On January 1, 2025, an incident involving a Border Patrol agent and her canine partner was recorded on video by a member...
Posted by Border Patrol RGVTX on Thursday, January 2, 2025
KSAT reached out to the Border Patrol on Thursday for more information on the incident and the agent in the video but has not heard back.
