Top Border Patrol Official Tony Barker Resigned Amid Allegations He Pressured Female Subordinates for Sex.

 

Top Border Patrol Official Tony Barker Was Accused of Pressuring Female Employees for Sex

Tony L. Barker wasn't some low-level Border Patrol employee.

He was the acting chief of law enforcement operations, making him one of the highest-ranking officials in the agency.

Then, in October 2022, he abruptly resigned while under investigation.

Customs and Border Protection's Office of Professional Responsibility was investigating allegations that Barker used government equipment for inappropriate communications and pressured female subordinates for sexual favors.

One subordinate reportedly accused Barker of retaliating against and threatening her after she tried to end what she described as a consensual relationship.

Other women came forward with similar allegations.

Barker publicly denied the accusations, calling them "entirely and unequivocally false." The material here does not establish a criminal conviction, so that distinction matters.

Then came another strange chapter.

In 2023, the University of Texas at El Paso briefly listed Barker as a research fellow at its Center for Law and Human Behavior. Internal emails later showed the center's director had given him the title in an effort to make him appear "less risky" to prospective employers.

After public backlash, UTEP removed his name and said he had never been an official university employee.

Barker spent more than two decades in Border Patrol and rose nearly to the top.

Then multiple women accused him of abusing the power that came with that position.