Border Patrol union refuses to believe FBI report on agent's mysterious death

When a Border Patrol agent died under mysterious circumstances in November, President Trump quickly labeled it a killing and used the incident to call for more border security.

“We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible,” Trump tweeted at the time. “We will, and must, build the Wall!”

But according to the results of an FBI investigation released Wednesday, it appears the agent died in an accident.

“None of the more than 650 interviews completed, locations searched, or evidence collected and analyzed have produced evidence that would support the existence of a scuffle, altercation, or attack on November 18, 2017,” the FBI’s report says, according to the Washington Post.

The FBI still isn’t sure exactly what happened to cause the death of Rogelio Martinez, who was found dying in a roadside tunnel near Van Horn, Texas, and they have vowed to continue investigating the incident, which also left another Border Patrol agent seriously injured. A local sheriff suggests the agents probably fell from the road into the tunnel.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, long before investigators could get a full picture of the facts on the ground, Trump and others, including Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, suggested that Martinez had been attacked. Local authorities called that speculation “premature.”

The investigation subsequently revealed that Stephen Garland, the agent who was injured in the incident, said in a distress call that he and Martinez had “ran into a culvert.” Other details from the FBI’s report also support the theory that what happened was an accident — not an ambush.

Despite the evidence, Chris Cabrera, spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents agents, continues to maintain that Martinez and Garland were attacked.

“We believe it was an assault on our agents and a murder of one of our agents and an attempted murder of another,” Cabrera told the Post. “We hope that they take this very seriously and continue to look for those that attacked our agents.”

Cabrera didn't immediately respond to an inquiry from VICE News. Trump hasn’t commented on the FBI’s findings.

The FBI is offering a reward for new information on the case.

Cover: U.S. Border Patrol securing the Mexico-United States border, in October 2017. (Frank Duenzl/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)