Dozens of demonstrators occupied and vandalized a privately owned U.S. Border Patrol museum near El Paso, Texas, over the weekend, according to the site's top official.
Museum director David Ham told the Washington Examiner his staff and guests worried for their safety Saturday when a group of about 50 rowdy protesters entered the facility, defaced property, and refused to leave the grounds.
"Say it loud, say it clear, Border Patrol kills!" group members standing inside and outside the facility yelled.
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Security cameras set up outside the private museum captured protesters pulling into the parking lot and putting on face masks before going inside around 2:15 p.m. local time.
"That was really intimidating to our staff, plus their kind of aggressive attitude," said the museum official, a 31-year veteran of the Border Patrol. The museum is a nonprofit and apolitical.
Ham, who was not at the museum at the time of the incident, said he got a call from an "upset" staff member.
"We have cameras, and we saw them gathering in the parking lot. We saw them come in the museum, and she had called 911. I was able to watch the cameras on my cellphone. They came in after putting masks on," Ham told the Examiner in a phone call Monday.
"They proceeded to set up a bunch of signs and just went all over the museum. They of course had an agenda, they were chanting and singing songs, and then a couple of them got on a bullhorn," Ham said. "We had visitors in the museum. They started talking and kind of harassing them. Of course the staff was asking them to leave, and they wouldn’t leave."
Ham said his staff led non-protesting visitors to the back of the gift shop, so they could hide until police arrived on the scene.
The group, which calls itself Tornillo: The Occupation, livestreamed the protest. Footage showed dozens of people whose faces were covered with garments walking into the museum and fanning out through the building.
The group's Facebook page said its goal was "exposing the true violence of borders and border patrol" following the deaths of two Guatemalan children after being taken into custody by federal agents near the U.S.-Mexico border in separate incidents in December.
Protesters plastered dozens of images on pictures, glass, painted walls, mannequins, and vehicles throughout the building. They also posted the pictures on the faces of Border Patrol agents who died in the line of duty.
The pictures showed three children, including Jakelin Caal. The 7-year-old died hours after illegally entering the United States near Antelope Wells, N.M., and an autopsy cited sepsis, a blood condition she would have had prior to being taken into custody, as the reason for her death.
Ham said the pictures had an adhesive on the back of them that was stronger than normal tape.
"It’s very hard to remove. They [staff] tried to remove some and they tear off. We’ve got antique cars, old Border Patrol vehicles, and an aircraft. We’re kind of worried it’s going to peel the paint off," said Ham. "I know it’s peeled the paint off some of our walls."
Ham said police are investigating the incident and an insurance adjuster will visit the museum Monday to estimate the amount of damage the group caused.
Because of the museum's remote location on federal land, military police from Fort Bliss responded to 911 calls. Once the protesters were outside the museum, police detained everyone on site and took down their information.
"BREAKING: Military police have blockaded our people at the Border Patrol Museum after our Nonviolent action to tell the true story of violence behind borders and those who patrol them. ... After demanding everyone's IDs, collecting personal information, and looking for warrants and immigration status, the military police have let our people go from the Border Patrol Museum parking lot," a group member wrote on Facebook.
The museum head has already vowed to go after the protesters who defaced the museum. In a Facebook post Sunday, he said "efforts to prosecute them will be pursued once damage is assessed."
One of the protest organizers, Elizabeth Vega, was previously involved in demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo., following the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014.
Vega told El Paso television station KVIA that the museum protest "was an act of civil disobedience done because we believe there is a humanitarian crisis and human rights violations being perpetuated by a corrupt and broken immigration system."
She denied vandalism accusations but admitted the group did plaster sticky pictures of Caal and other children on various items inside the Border Patrol museum.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
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