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Can Mad Men spruce up the image of border patrol agents? Stay tuned.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. on

SAN DIEGO -- CBP needs PR. ASAP.

Tasked with carrying out the Trump administration's barbaric policy of taking migrant children from their parents to scare off future refugees from coming here, the reputation of Customs and Border Protection has been dragged through the mud.

The entity responsible for CBP's image problems is not the media or even the White House but -- wait for it -- CBP itself. The agency has been sloppy in implementing the family-separation policy and ham-handed in dealing with the human beings that the policy impacts.

Immigration officers are cops, not social workers. But is it too much to ask that cops have a dash of social consciousness?

The mess has gotten so bad that the agency is now paying big bucks to Ogilvy -- a legendary New York City-based advertising, marketing and public relations company -- to clean it up. Forking over $12 million for one year's work, CBP wants the firm to craft a kinder and gentler image.

But can Mad Men overcome the madness on the U.S.-Mexico border?

 

According to media reports, many on Ogilvy's staff are disgusted by their new client. Many would probably sooner polish the public image of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Who can blame them? Take it from the son of a retired cop, CBP is a disgrace to the policing profession. Too many of its officers are brutes who get their kicks from bullying the powerless.

And since most of the families and kids being mistreated have brown skin and hail from Central America -- as opposed to having white skin and hailing from, say, Norway -- it's a short walk to accusations of racism.

So what if about half of the CBP workforce is Latino? Did someone tell you that Latinos can't be racist toward one another? As a Latino, I'd say you were misinformed.

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