UTEP created research role for ex-Border Patrol official being investigated

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A University of Texas at El Paso administrator created a research place for a former U.S. Border Patrol official accused of sexual harassment so different universities would discover it “less risky” to finally rent him, based on emails obtained by El Paso Matters.

“Although I cannot pay anything, it will attach you to a university making it less risky for another university to take a chance. It will also allow me to include you (in) any future grants and you can use it for journal articles we will be submitting. It would be the start of your academic career!” Victor Manjarrez Jr., the director of UTEP’s Center for Law and Human Behavior, wrote in a Dec. 22, 2022, e mail to Tony Barker.

Two months earlier, Barker had left a high-ranking Border Patrol job amid an investigation into sexual harassment claims. Federal officers haven’t disclosed the standing of the investigation.

Manjarrez is a former Border Patrol sector chief in El Paso and Tucson who has been with UTEP since 2013. Since 2020, he has directed the Center for Law and Human Behavior, which does research on border safety and associated points that’s largely funded by the federal authorities, he has said.

Barker and one other controversial former Border Patrol official, Jeffrey Self, have been listed as research fellows on the middle’s web site for a month this yr.

Those fellow positions were eliminated, and their information was stripped from the center’s university website, on Feb. 6 and seven amid media questions and criticism from a minimum of one alum, based on paperwork obtained by El Paso Matters underneath the Texas Public Information Act.

In paperwork and statements, Manjarrez has mentioned he was unaware that Barker had been accused of sexual harassment till Feb. 5.

NBC News and The New York Times reported on Jan. 23 that Barker resigned from the Border Patrol in October after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced when he was being thought-about for a promotion. At the time of his resignation, Barker was the appearing chief of the Border Patrol’s regulation enforcement directorate.

Barker has denied allegations of sexual impropriety whereas on the Border Patrol. He didn’t reply to e mail, textual content and telephone requests for remark from El Paso Matters.

Manjarrez didn’t reply to emailed questions from El Paso Matters in regards to the fellowship program, and the way Barker and Self have been chosen.

According to emails, Manjarrez proposed the research fellow concept to Barker on Dec. 22. In the preliminary e mail, Manjarrez seems to show sympathy for Barker, although he doesn’t point out Barker’s departure from the Border Patrol.

“As always, it was great speaking with you. Sometimes you have to ask, is it worth it,” Manjarrez wrote.

Manjarrez adopted up a couple of hours later with the proposal to make Barker a research fellow.

“Oh my gosh, thank you! I will absolutely take you up on that,” Barker responded.

Manjarrez instructed Barker he would add him to the middle’s web site when a webmaster returned from vacation break. Manjarrez has mentioned Barker was added to the web site as a research fellow on Jan. 5 or 6.

Self, the opposite research fellow listed on the middle’s web site earlier this yr, is retired from the Border Patrol and served as chief of the company’s regulation enforcement directorate. While with the Border Patrol in 2017, Self initiated a pilot take a look at in El Paso of taking away kids of migrant mother and father when households crossed the border with out authorization, based on reporting in The Atlantic.

The Trump administration, inspired by what it seen because the success of the El Paso household separation program, carried out it throughout the U.S.-Mexico border within the spring of 2018, taking greater than 5,000 kids from their mother and father for weeks or months.

The program was shortly deserted after widespread public criticism, however about 1,000 kids are still separated from their parents.

El Paso Matters requested UTEP for all written communications that led to Self’s appointment as a research fellow, however the college mentioned it had no such paperwork.

El Paso Matters couldn’t find Self for remark.

Appointments rescinded

On Feb. 4, El Paso Matters despatched inquiries to UTEP and others about Barker’s research fellow place. News of the appointment started circulating on Twitter later that evening.

The subsequent morning, a UTEP alum despatched an e mail to Manjarrez that criticized Barker’s role with the college.

“UTEP should have done its due diligence in the vetting and hiring process. UTEP has always promoted a safe space for its students and should not have sexual predators on its staff,” mentioned the e-mail from Liz, who obtained bachelor’s and grasp’s levels from UTEP and now lives within the Washington, D.C., space. She requested El Paso Matters to make use of solely her first identify as a result of she has considerations for her security.

Within 90 minutes of receiving Liz’s e mail, Manjarrez forwarded it to his supervisor, Roberto Osegueda, UTEP’s vp for the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects. He defined the research fellows program to Osegueda.

“The Fellows program is a non-paid position but with the potential to be paid as a consultant if certain requirements are met. As this program is relatively new for us I expect all fellows will be remote associations with the Center. This is the first that I hear about the allegations regarding Dr. Barker,” Manjarrez wrote.

He really helpful to Osegueda that Barker’s appointment as a research fellow be ended and that he be faraway from the middle’s web site. Osegueda emailed Manjarrez three hours later with directions to “proceed as described.”

Two hours after receiving Osegueda’s blessing, Manjarrez emailed Liz: “Although Dr. Barker is not an employee nor was hired (paid) by the university as a Center for Law & Human Behavior (CLHB) Fellows, the CLHB will end its association with Dr. Barker. We will also review our internal processes for fellow’s collaborators in a non-paid status.”

References to Barker have been scrubbed from the middle’s web site the subsequent day, Feb. 6. References to Self have been eliminated on Feb. 7 after El Paso Matters raised questions on his appointment.

Manjarrrez despatched an e mail to Self on Feb. 7 stating, “The Center for Law & Human Behavior’s [CLHB] fellowship program procedures are currently being revised. As such, your association with the CLHB has been placed on hold and you will be required to reapply at a later date.”

UTEP didn’t present any report of Manjarrez notifying Barker that his fellowship had been withdrawn.

How they have been chosen

Selection of fellows was to be finished by way of a “careful and extremely selective process,” based on an idea paper Manjarrez shared with Osegueda on Feb. 5. Candidates have been to be reviewed by representatives of the Center for Law and Human Behavior — Manjarrez is the one worker listed on the middle’s web site — and UTEP’s prison justice division, based on the idea paper.

However, the choices of Barker and Self present no indicators of a selective course of. Documents offered by UTEP present that Manjarrez was the one particular person concerned in making them research fellows.

Manjarrez supplied Barker a fellowship inside six hours of receiving his curriculum vitae on Dec. 22, emails present. Barker didn’t present different paperwork supposedly required for the fellowship, equivalent to proof of a safety clearance.

The report for Self’s choice is even skimpier. UTEP didn’t present El Paso Matters any written report of an utility or choice course of for him. The solely paperwork offered by the college to El Paso Matters have been a photograph and biography from Self that have been used for his entry on the middle’s web site, and the Feb. 7 e mail terminating his fellowship.

UTEP officers didn’t reply to a sequence of questions from El Paso Matters, together with whether or not the college had a coverage for these kinds of fellowships, whether or not any insurance policies and procedures had modified within the wake of this incident, and whether or not any disciplinary motion had been taken.

The college additionally declined to reveal the quantity of grant income obtained by the Center for Law and Human Behavior during the last three years, or the character of Manjarrez’s employment contract with the college. UTEP spokesperson Victor Arreola mentioned Manjarrez is paid $110,079 a yr and studies to Osegueda.

“Jeff Self and Tony Barker are not, and have never been, employed by UTEP or received any compensation from UTEP. They were erroneously listed for a brief time on the Center for Law and Human Behavior website as research fellows,” Arreola mentioned.

“Throw it under the rug and call it a day”

Liz, the UTEP alum who wrote the e-mail to Manjarrez criticizing Barker’s affiliation with the college, mentioned she was stunned when she bought a response from him inside a couple of hours on Feb. 5 informing her that Barker was being stripped of his appointment.

She mentioned in an interview that she was suspicious that such a choice was made so shortly, with out an investigation of her criticism.

“I was, like, somebody’s trying to cover themselves. It raised that flag for me,” Liz mentioned.

She didn’t disclose an important little bit of information when she emailed Manjarrez: She is buddies with one of many girls who’ve filed complaints towards Barker.

Liz mentioned she didn’t know when she despatched the e-mail that Manjarrez was a former Border Patrol official. Her pal instructed her later that he and Barker had stayed in contact with one another after Manjarrez left the company in 2011.

“That made me even more mad because then I knew that it was more like, I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine,” she mentioned.

Liz mentioned she and her pal don’t consider Manjarrez’s claims that he didn’t know in regards to the investigation into sexual harassment allegations towards Barker earlier than her e mail. She mentioned his fast response to her criticism was telling.

“It was more like right away, I didn’t know anything about it. Let’s get rid of him,” she mentioned.

Liz mentioned she has been dissatisfied in her alma mater’s response to the appointments of Barker and Self as research fellows.

“I feel now that they removed them just to do like a quick, throw it under the rug and call it a day, but that they’re not really taking into consideration that the processes were broken, that they were not followed,” she mentioned.

This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished right here underneath a Creative Commons license.