Prosecutors: border patrol agent sent racist texts

(NBC News) Federal prosecutors say a border patrol agent in Arizona sent racist text messages the month before he intentionally struck a fleeing Guatemalan man with his truck.

According to court documents filed earlier this month, Agent Matthew Bowen sent a text message to a fellow agent in November of 2017 that described migrants as quote “mindless, murdering savages” who are “unworthy of being kindling for fire.”

Two weeks later, prosecutors say he intentionally hit the Guatemalan man with a truck in Nogales.

The man was hospitalized with abrasions to his right hand and knees.

A few days after the incident, court records show Bowen sent another text message that said “Guats are best made crispy with an olive oil from their native pais.”

Lawyers for Bowen are trying keep the messages away from a jury, arguing that those phrases are common among all Border Patrol agents.

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