CBP chief says Texas border patrol retweeted 'offensive' content from ex-Trump aide

Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection says a federal agency is investigating "unacceptable" retweeting of far-right posts that were written by former White House presidential adviser Stephen Miller.

CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said that he would deactivate an account connected with the West Texas border patrol, which was the one that did the retweeting.

Miller was an adviser for former President Donald Trump's controversial immigration policies.

Retweeting is a feature of Twitter that allows users to essentially pass on something that someone else has written. In most cases, it functions as a firm show of support for whatever was written by the original poster.

One of Miller's posts that was shared by the West Texas account, according to screenshots, said: "Violent criminals lay waste to our communities undisturbed while the immense power of the state is arrayed against those whose only crime is dissent. The law has been turned from a shield to protect the innocent into a sword to conquer them."

A second shared tweet said: "The media's greatest power is its ability to frame what is a dire national crisis (eg 'cops are racist' summer '20) and what is not. [President Joe] Biden's eradication of our border means we are no longer a Republic -- he's ended nearly 250 years of constitutional government. The media is silent."

Magnus said the Office of Professional Responsibility will investigate the retweets.

"Totally unacceptable and disappointing that any CBP Twitter account was used to [retweet] offensive, unauthorized content," Magnus said in a statement. "We've removed the content and will deactivate the account."

Magnus added that the retweets were unauthorized by CBP and called it "inappropriate content" for the agency to be displayed on social media.

"The tweets do not reflect the values and of this administration and our work to rebuild humane, orderly, and secure immigration system," he noted.