Two veteran U.S. Border Patrol agents – brothers Raul and Fidel Villarreal – abruptly resigned for unspecified reasons last week, a spokesman for the agency confirmed yesterday .
Supervising Border Patrol Agent Richard Kite , declined to confirm a Los Angeles Times story that the two agents had been under investigation for smuggling drugs and immigrants into the United States.
The newspaper, quoting Border Patrol officials, reported the agents had apparently been tipped off about the probe and had disappeared.
“I can't say if an investigation is going on or whether it is not,” Kite said yesterday. “It's not public information.”
Kite said he was unable to say how long the Villarreals had worked for the Border Patrol or when they resigned. He did say the men had worked for the agency for several years.
The Times said the agents did not show up for work on June 26, and had later notified supervisors that they had quit because of a family illness. Raul Villarreal, 36, and Fidel Villarreal, 32, both of National City, had been assigned to patrol the border near San Diego, the newspaper said. Several years ago, the older brother had also worked as a Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego.
The alleged investigation was reportedly being handled by another federal agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but an ICE spokeswoman also declined to confirm or deny if the Villarreals were being investigated.
While the agencies' public affairs officials were tight-lipped about the matter yesterday, a local Border Patrol union leader expressed anger and frustration with a series of recent arrests of Border Patrol agents for corruption.
“If they (the Villarreal brothers) were in fact involved in smuggling, every Border Patrol agent would like to see them prosecuted,” said Chris Bauder, president of the local chapter of the National Border Patrol Council. “Border Patrol agents are tired of corrupt agents giving them black eyes. The majority of agents are good agents and they care about their jobs guarding the border.”
Mark Arner: (619) 542-4556; mark.arner@uniontrib.com
