U.S. Border Patrol agents freely used the derogatory slur “tonk” to describe unauthorized migrants on government computers, at times while joking about killing or beating them, according to emails and text messages disclosed to HuffPost under the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents, from 2017 to 2020, reveal yet another instance of the Border Patrol’s use of a slang term that officials in Washington have condemned but have struggled to stamp out. This is the second disclosure that Border Patrol personnel used the word in internal communications since HuffPost first requested a global search of its use among Border Patrol agents four years ago.
The origin of the term is uncertain, but most insiders believe it comes from the sound made by bashing an arrested migrant’s head with a government-issued flashlight. Some of the records reference that origin story, with one agent writing: “ah, savor the sound.”
Use of the term remained surprisingly common among both rank-and-file agents and those in leadership positions, the records show. Many agents appeared to use the term as a synonym for unauthorized migrants, with little apparent derogatory intent.
“Make sure to change the country of citizenship to match your tonk, (i.e. Honduras) …” one agent wrote in a May 21, 2019, email explaining a new data collection tool.
But the slur often appeared alongside expressions of raw contempt for the people whom Border Patrol officers police, which disproportionately included Central Americans attempting to gain entry to the United States on humanitarian grounds.
Many agents wrote the term in all caps to highlight it. Several described COVID-19 as “Tonk flu,” with one agent telling a colleague, “Hope you’re wearing a mask, don’t let those dirty TONKS get you sick.”
Border Patrol agents who used the slur at times gloated about migrants’ misfortunes or made references to beating them. In one instance, agents joked about killing migrant children in their custody.
The El Paso Sector watch commander forwarded a request on March 4, 2019, for donations of clothing and toys for unauthorized migrant children and families traveling together. An unidentified official in the email chain noted that some agents “have performed some of these kind gestures” in the past.
“I donated a car seat that expired shortly thereafter in the hopes that it would alleviate our processing number by exactly one,” one Border Patrol agent responded. “That count?”
“We’ll leave that one out, along with the Rice Krispy Treats that [redacted] brought in one day that may have been laced with cyanide,” another agent wrote.
“You call it cyanide, he calls it tonk seasoning …” an agent responded.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
One agent shared a story in an email about Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arresting an unauthorized migrant in front of his daughter. The subject line on the email was “I can read these all day, they make me happy.”
“Adios Tonk,” the recipient responded.
“I donated a car seat that expired shortly thereafter in the hopes that it would alleviate our processing number by exactly one. That count?”
– U.S. Border Patrol agent responding to call for donations of clothes and toys for migrant families
Some agents described themselves as “tonk smasher” or “tonk stomper.” One agent goaded a colleague to go “smash some tonks.” When an agent complained that there were “tonks everywhere” and that officers were getting rocks thrown at them almost daily, another wrote: “Ugh, would rather crack skulls down south than be there bro.” One aging agent lamented that his “tonk arresting days might be over,” forcing him into “some office puke job.”
Several agents appeared to reject U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s condemnation of the slur as a sign of political correctness, with many of their comments striking a right-wing political tone.
In one email chain, an agent mocked another for using the word “migrants.”
“Now you’re leaning left and sounding like a snowflake,” the agent wrote.
“Do you know how hard it is for me not to drop ‘F’ bombs and say tonk??” the other agent responded.
“I know… embrace your disability, let those F-bombs drop with wanton disregard for the innocent ears you will forever rape with your vitriolic symphony of pooty laced verbiage,” the original agent responded.
In another exchange, an agent shared a story from the right-wing news website The Blaze describing how a New York City housing discrimination policy could lead to fines of $250,000 for calling people “illegal immigrants.”
“I wonder what ‘Tonk’ would have cost someone,” an agent responded.
Few outside the U.S. Border Patrol were familiar with the slur “tonk” until former President Donald Trump took office. His controversial first pick to head U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Thomas Homan, got his start in the Border Patrol and used the slur in Washington. Democratic senators weighing his confirmation sharply condemned Homan’s use of the term after HuffPost first disclosed it in a 2018 profile. Homan resigned two months later and never appeared for a confirmation hearing.
The prosecution of Border Patrol Agent Matthew Bowen for striking a Guatemalan migrant with a government truck also cast a spotlight on the term. Bowen referred to unauthorized migrants as “tonks,” “Guats” and “disgusting subhuman shit unworthy of being kindling for a fire” in text messages that appeared in court filings. (Bowen ultimately pleaded guilty in August 2019 to a single misdemeanor civil rights violation and avoided trial.)
Despite publicly discouraging use of the slur, the emails indicate that in some areas, leadership remained aware of its widespread use and only reluctantly tried to tamp it down after the news media brought greater attention to it.
“As per upper management, we have been told to remove all coins that have the word ‘TONK’ on it,” one agent wrote in an email sent Aug. 7, 2019, describing plans for a luncheon and Christmas party. “They have expressed that with all of the recent media attention our agency has been undergoing, the last thing they want is for someone to get in trouble.”
One official showed contrition for his past use of the term. In June 2020, as protests over the police murder of a Black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis spread across the country, an assistant chief of the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C., emailed a colleague looking for a “sanity check” on notes he had prepared to raise concerns about racism in law enforcement.
The assistant chief planned to ask whether then-Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott would be willing to say “Black lives matter” without adding “All lives matter” or “Blue lives matter.”
“Racism is not just a police problem, but we as law enforcement have power and authority,” the assistant chief planned to say. “And that means we have a duty to call it out and not just say something but do something.”
He also planned to ask whether his colleagues had seen the comments made on “that dishonorable Border Patrol Facebook Page.”
“I did, but I didn’t say anything,” the assistant chief wrote in the email to his colleague.
“Some time ago, I recall hearing agents say Tonk in Headquarters,” the notes say. “Again, I didn’t say anything. And I remember saying it as a younger agent. Shame on me.”
