Border patrol agent, fired over drug comments, is suing

A 26-year-old former Border Patrol agent says he was wrongfully terminated from his job for expressing reservations about the drug war in a private conversation with a colleague. Now, he's suing for damages, and says law enforcement officers shouldn't be afraid to speak out about their personal beliefs, even when they clash with part of their jobs' mission.

Bryan Gonzalez explains in in a radio interview with The Story that one day in April 2009, while patrolling near his Deming, New Mexico station, he pulled over to chat with a fellow agent. Gonzalez told the officer, Shawn Montoya, that he thought legalizing drugs in the United States would end the bloody drug gang violence wreaking havoc in Mexico. The two hotly disagreed, though neither took the conversation personally, Gonzalez said. But the agent told another agent about Gonzalez's views, who then reported the comments straight to Border Patrol's Office of Internal Affairs, according to Gonzalez's complaint.

Click to expand...