Agency officials declined to provide details about Martinez’s alleged wrongdoing, citing privacy laws, but said he was not under arrest. Additional details were not immediately available.
In a statement, CBP spokesperson Erin Waters said the agency does “not tolerate misconduct within our ranks.”
“When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations,” Waters said. “Federal privacy laws prohibit discussion of individual cases.”
Martinez, a native of San Benito, Tex., was chief of the Laredo, Tex., sector before his most recent promotion. He previously held leadership positions in the agency’s Rio Grande Valley and Big Bend sectors.
The Border Patrol is one of two main branches of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agency, with more than 60,000 officers, agents and other personnel.
CBP’s internal affairs division, the Office of Professional Responsibility, completed more than 800 investigations into alleged misconduct during the 2022 fiscal year, the most recent for which data is available. The investigations resulted in 18 criminal arrests, 10 convictions and 152 administrative sanctions, according to CBP.
