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Trump Customs and Border Protection nominee probed on 2010 death in custody
Rodney Scott, President Donald Trump's nominee to be commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, prepares to testify during his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on April 30, 2025. Scott previously led the U.S. Border Patrol. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that he would focus on the agency’s workforce to manage trade and border crossings, while the committee’s top Democrat accused him of covering up a 2010 death at a CBP facility he oversaw.
If Rodney Scott, of Oklahoma, is confirmed by the Senate, he would play a major role in the president’s border-enforcement agenda and lead an agency tasked with managing ports of entry and stopping unauthorized migration at U.S. borders, which he pledged to do by focusing on CBP personnel.
“I will leverage my experience to empower the men and women of CBP to do what they were hired to do – safeguard every American by securing our borders and keeping trade and travel moving,” the former Border Patrol chief said in his opening statement to the committee.
Scott added that he wants to focus on the morale of CBP officers and also ensure that the most up-to-date technology is being used during screenings at ports of entry to intercept any illegal drugs.
“I think it’s really important to highlight a lot of that technology, it just detects anomalies,” he said. “It takes an actual officer or an agent to determine if there’s actually something illegal there or not, so making sure that we … use those officers and agents in the most effective manner possible is critical.”
Scott served as chief of Border Patrol, an agency within CBP, during the first Trump administration and former President Joe Biden’s administration. In that role during the first Trump administration, he implemented a policy that required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases were pending in immigration court.
Death in custody
The top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, raised concerns about a 2010 death at a CBP station in San Diego that Scott ran.
Anastasio Hernández Rojas was detained by CBP officers where he was beaten and later died from his injuries, Wyden said.
Scott was later accused of covering up the death of Hernández Rojas, Wyden said.
“Rather than following the agency’s own policy and immediately referring the incident to outside investigators, the San Diego CBP office began its own investigation,” Wyden said. “In the course of that investigation, the CBP officers taped over the only video copy of Hernández Rojas’s death and tampered with physical evidence, according to court documents.”
The U.S. paid $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Hernández Rojas’ widow. The U.S. Department of Justice in 2015 declined to pursue federal charges against any of the officers or leaders involved in the Hernández Rojas case.
Committee Chair Mike Crapo, a Republican from Idaho, defended Scott and said that U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote a letter to the committee to inform members that she reviewed the 2010 incident and that Scott’s work “was in accordance with his duties, the law and professional standards.”
“Mr. Scott did not impede any investigation, nor did he take steps to conceal facts from investigators,” Crapo said Wednesday.
Wyden argued that Noem was not head of DHS in 2010 and that he had spoken to officials who were present at the time of the investigation that took place surrounding Hernández Rojas’ death.
“There have been these serious allegations made by the former heads of internal affairs about Mr. Scott’s involvement and the cover up of the death of Mr. Hernández Rojas,” he said. “I don’t believe this committee should take this letter on faith. And I have some additional information from those who were there at the time, as opposed to Secretary Noem, who was not.”
CBP has more than 60,000 employees and manages the more than 300 ports of entry at borders, airports and seatports.
