Report paints picture of rampant human rights abuses from US border agents

A report from two human rights nonprofits claims that U.S. border patrol agents frequently treat migrants poorly and that Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the county’s largest law enforcement agency, has systemic problems.

“(CBP) has a persistent problem of human rights abuse without accountability,” reads the report compiled by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Kino Border Initiative (KBI).

“Many, if not most, CBP officers, and agents in CBP’s Border Patrol agency are professionals who seek to follow best practices. However, the frequency and severity of abuse allegations indicate that a substantial number of officers and agents don’t meet that standard.”

A WOLA database has listed more than 400 incidents of abuses against migrants encountered by CBP in the field or in custody since 2020, including physical violence, withholding of food and medicine and racial profiling.

Last month, debates flared over the use of horse patrols, after CBP concluded an investigation into a patrol that chased down migrants in the Rio Grande River last year.

The investigation found there were “multiple failures,” including training and “unprofessional and dangerous behavior” by the officers, but denied that any officer struck migrants.

One case the report focused on is that of Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, an 8-year-old Panamanian girl who died in CBP custody in May. She was denied critical heart medication, and her death was recently classified as “preventable.”

Alvarez’s is one “of the most serious and concerning cases,” and “accountability is rare,” the report states. The report lists 13 cases where a person died due to the use of excessive force or a department failure to care for a person in custody.

The report claims that poor department policies make injuries and deaths more common, including encouraging high-speed car chases and improper use of force in crowd control situations.

Most cases of abuse go unreported, the report claims.

“Many abuses do not garner media or Congressional attention. Investigators and law enforcement never arrive at the scene, and [Department of Homeland Security] and CBP leadership likely don’t know they even occurred,” it reads.

Some of the problems are due to “opaque, bewildering, and slow-moving” reporting procedures, making it likely that cases slip through the cracks or never get reported in the first place, the report says.

“Right now, outside efforts to gain accountability for abuse must go through a convoluted system that has been cobbled together in the 20 years since the DHS’s founding,” it reads.

“Four agencies with overlapping responsibilities handle complaints and pass cases between each other. All suffer from personnel and other capacity shortfalls, and some have insufficient power to make their recommendations stick.”

A KBI study of 78 CBP complaints made from 2010-22 found that 95 percent failed to have a proper investigation. Only 1 percent resulted in disciplinary action.

Almost 20 percent of migrants who enter the U.S. suffer some form of abuse, KPI said, again acknowledging that the figure is likely an undercount.

“Most of the cases ... would have gone completely unknown without reporting from victims and those, outside of government, who accompany them. That such abuses are happening so frequently at CBP and Border Patrol indicates that DHS’s accountability system has done little to dissuade or disincentivize them,” the report says.

The Border Patrol contested the claims made in the report. A spokesperson said the agency has worked extensively in recent years to reduce incidents of abuse by improving policies and increasing transparency.

“CBP takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, investigates thoroughly, and holds employees accountable when policies are violated. We have also implemented significant reforms that make CBP more transparent and accountable to the American people,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.

The agency has recently changed policies around high-speed chases to make them safer, deployed body cameras to officers in the field, and changed the internal investigations process, the spokesperson said.

“We recognize building and maintaining our culture of integrity is a generational commitment. We remain focused and deliberate in establishing, promoting, and enforcing our standards from recruitment to retirement through training, leadership development, and retention of those who embody the virtues and character the American people deserve in service to our nation,” they added.

The report lists more than 40 recommendations to improve the agency and stop human rights abuses at the border, including rewriting the complaint process, following through on investigations and punishing agents who commit abuse and changing agency culture to discourage abusive behavior.

“A U.S.-Mexico border that is well governed and that also treats migrants and asylum seekers humanely can go hand in hand and should not be seen as an unattainable aspiration,” the report states.

“For this to happen, U.S. government personnel who abuse human rights or violate professional standards, must be held to account within a reasonable amount of time and victims must receive justice.” 

Republicans in Congress have floated attempting to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the border patrol, due to what they view as inaction on the southern border.

According to department statistics released in July, the number of border crossings has gone down in recent months.

Updated on Aug. 3 at 2:29 p.m.

Feds Catch More Than 460 Known, Suspected Terrorists In Nine Months, Most At Northern Border

By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

There have been hundreds of known or suspected terrorists apprehended at the northern and southern borders in the current fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

As foreign nationals illegally enter the U.S. and are apprehended, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations agents screen them against a federal Terrorist Screening Dataset, which includes sensitive information about terrorist identities. It originated as a consolidated terrorist watch list “to house information on known or suspected terrorists, or KSTs, but has evolved over the last decade to include additional individuals who represent a potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of watch-listed individuals,” CBP states.

As of June 15, OFO agents apprehended 53 KSTs at southwest border ports of entry and 284 at northern border ports of entry, totaling 337. CBP’s fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

They also apprehended 125 KSTs between ports of entry at the southern border and two between ports of entry at the northern border, totaling 127 KSTs fiscal year to date. 

Combined, they’ve apprehended 464 known or suspected terrorists.

That’s nearly a 30% increase in one month after previous increases were roughly 87%.

Related: Illegal Border Crossers So Far This Year Outnumber The Population Of 8 States

Roughly one month ago, The Center Square reported OFO agents apprehended 332 KSTs at both borders. They apprehended 125 at the southern border (45 KSTs at ports of entry and 80 between ports of entry) and 207 at the northern border (205 at ports of entry and two between ports of entry).

These numbers were up from 284 KSTs apprehended by March, which was significantly up from 38 apprehended by January, an 87% increase in just two months.

By comparison, in fiscal 2022, 478 KSTs were apprehended in fiscal 2022. Agents apprehended 165 at the southern border (67 at ports of entry and 98 between ports of entry) and 313 at northern border ports of entry. 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas maintains that the border is closed and secure. He’s refused to resign despite growing calls for him to do so. Multiple attorneys general and members of Congress have called for his impeachment.

While border security experts acknowledge the commendable work of OFO agents in apprehending known or suspected terrorists, they also express concern about how many have illegally entered the U.S. unabated. 

Related: Border Patrol To Release Foreign Nationals En Masse Into Communities As Title 42 Ends

Last month, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Trump administration Tom Homan warned, “What’s happening is the greatest national security threat since 9/11. Border Patrol has arrested people from 171 countries. Many of these countries are sponsors of terrorism.”

He also pointed to the record number of gotaways, those who’ve illegally entered the U.S. and evaded capture by law enforcement, totaling over 1.7 million reported by Border Patrol agents since the president’s been in office – that number’s since gone up.

“If you don’t think a single one of the 1.7 million is coming from a country that sponsors terrorism, then you’re ignoring the data,” Homan said. “That’s what makes this a huge national security issue.”

While many have focused on the southern border, a congressional Northern Border Security Caucus was formed in March to call for additional security along there. It’s mainly left unmanned when comparing the amount of personnel to square mileage.

The U.S. northern border is the longest international border in the world, spanning 5,525 miles. Fourteen states share the U.S.-Canada border; 13 to Canada’s south and Alaska to its west.

By comparison, four states share 1,954 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, with Texas sharing the most of 1,254 miles.

Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

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Border Patrol Chiefs To Testify Before House Committee After First Being Blocked By Mayorkas

By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

U.S. Border Patrol chiefs will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Tuesday after they were first blocked by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas from doing so.

Last month, Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, sent a letter to Mayorkas stating the committee would be investigating the “Biden Administration’s creation of and failure to resolve the worst border crisis in American history. … The American people deserve answers about [DHS’] role in undermining Customs and Border Protection agents’ efforts to secure the southern border.”

Four Border Patrol agents overseeing southern border sectors were called to testify: Chiefs Jason Owens, Gregory Bovino, Gloria Chavez, and Acting Chief Patricia McGurk-Daniel. Initially, two were cleared to testify by Mayorkas and two weren’t.

Comer then threatened to use the “compulsory process” to require them to testify. By Jan. 31, Mayorkas agreed to all four testifying and Comer sent another letter to him saying, “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially sought to prevent Congress from hearing invaluable testimony from Chief Patrol Agents, believing that DHS’s internal protocols superseded Congressional oversight prerogatives. I am pleased that the DHS is no longer taking such a position, and will make available as witnesses” all four agents.

Comer last week told reporters at the National Press Club that the committee requested they testify about “the worst offenses with respect to illegal border crossings are occurring, just to come before the committee. … We need to hear from people on the front lines” to ask their advice and how Congress can help them do their jobs.

Comer’s initial Jan. 19 letter to Mayorkas requested documents and copies of internal communications from DHS including data on border crossers released by DHS into the U.S. and DHS’ plan to terminate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), otherwise known as “Remain in Mexico,” over which Texas sued. A federal court halted the administration’s plan to terminate it although Texas maintains the administration isn’t following the court order.

The letter also requires Mayorkas to provide information about “the effect of historic numbers of illegal border crossings on retention rates, staffing, recruitment and morale among” Border Patrol agents. The National Border Patrol Council, the union representing them, has argued that under this administration more agents are retiring and recruitment and morale is at an all-time historic low.

Comer also requested all documents and information about an ICE memorandum Mayorkas issued in September 2021, which drastically altered enforcement policies. Texas and Louisiana sued to stop it, supported by 19 states that filed a brief with the Supreme Court.

“President [Joe] Biden’s radical open borders agenda has ignited the worst border crisis in American history,” Comer said in a statement last month when he announced the hearing. “The Biden Administration’s deliberate actions are fueling human smuggling, stimulating drug cartel operations, enabling deadly drugs such as fentanyl to flow into American communities, and encouraging illegal immigrants to flout U.S. immigration laws. … Republicans will hold the Biden Administration accountable for this ongoing humanitarian, national security, and public health crisis that has turned every town into a border town.”

In early January, Biden said on his first day in office he sent to Congress a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would extend amnesty to a wide range of people illegally in the U.S. He also announced DHS’ new mobile app that allows foreign nationals to file asylum claims remotely from anywhere in the world as well as expanding the parole process and creating a new visa process. Multiple states also sued over the parole and visas policies, which they argue are illegal.

The hearing comes after Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified in a case brought by Florida that Biden policies led to increased illegal crossings and one of his emails revealed the administration’s plan to release people en masse into the U.S. once Title 42 was lifted.

Since Biden’s been in office, over 5 million people from over 150 countries have illegally entered the U.S. while Mayorkas has consistently maintained the southern border is closed. A record 3.3 million people were apprehended or reported evading capture by law enforcement in fiscal 2022, according to Border Patrol data obtained by The Center Square, including nearly 1.8 million in Texas alone.

Several House Republicans have called for Mayorkas’ impeachment; two Republicans from Texas and Arizona each filed separate articles of impeachment. Mayorkas says he isn’t resigning and has blamed the previous administration for the problems he says he’s inherited.

The NBPC disagrees, tweeting on Monday: “Two years ago we ceased to have any semblance of a functioning border. It’s just an out-of-control free-for-all … a disaster zone of massive human misery, death and lawlessness. How much longer can this country continue to absorb millions of illegal aliens?

“Everyday thousands more illegal aliens enter our country by crashing our border between ports of entry. Has Biden thought about how many millions he’s going to shuttle in? Is he even aware enough to realize that many of these people can’t be ID’d and no way to check records?”

Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

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